[Elecraft] K3 bugs

Fri Jan 16 21:40:54 EST 2015

After 40 years as a programmer in just about every imaginable platform 
and environment, I would agree.
This statement is absolutely true.  To those who have never attempted 
programming, its hard to fully imagine just how complicated software 
really is.

Software written by the world's greatest programmer and tested by the 
world's greatest software tester would still be something I would never 
risk my life with.

73, Doug -- K0DXV

On 1/16/2015 2:55 PM, Guy Olinger K2AV wrote:
> I find it simply amazing that some folks could think Elecraft in some buggy
> error-prone category. A K3 is a software defined radio with a degree of
> necessary hardware adjunct. To anyone who insists that software should not
> be shipped until all bugs are removed, my answer is "GET REAL".
>
>
>        <<<    ALL software is buggy.   >>>
>
>
> ALL of it. For ANY purpose. On ANY platform. In ANY software language. From
> ANY developer. From ANY country. ANY length of time in the field. No
> exceptions, ever.
>
> Every piece of software, past, present or future, DIES in obsolescence,
> with bugs still in it. No exceptions, ever.
>
> No paid developer can fix, nor paid tester find all bugs. Cannot possibly
> be done.
>
> Nobody can imagine, and post up in a testing plan, the entirety of customer
> reality. None of us have brains that can hold anything but a tiny fraction
> of the entirety of customer reality.
>
> Software that has not been debugged by CUSTOMERS in REAL situations cannot
> be trusted in real situations.
>
> You will never eat any food without a germ on it. That's why you, the
> customer, has an immune system.
>
>
> <<<   The only thing that counts is whether the company is RESPONSIVE, and
> has a HISTORY of improvements in their software.  >>>
>
>
> You go check all those other ham radio companies and find out who is
> responsive and has a history of improvements.
>
> 73, Guy.
>
> 73, Guy K2AV
>
> On Thu, Jan 15, 2015 at 8:51 PM, Harry Yingst via Elecraft <
> elecraft at mailman.qth.net> wrote:
>
>> I have not seen the issue hear and I'm running the latest released
>> firmware (and I suspect your was factory loaded with the latest)
>> Could be a mechanical issue; Something like the wrong length screw causing
>> something to short out?
>>
>> I would suspect a possible assembly error, but it could be a real issue
>> with the radio.Personally I'd call support and work with them to resolve
>> this issue.
>>
>> I'm a bit critical of Elecraft; because being the son of a German Engineer
>> and in a technical field I tend to look at things in a very critical
>> light).But even as critical as I am of Elecraft they do make a sound
>> product and they do listen to their customer base.
>>
>> I would say they do tend to spend a good amount of debugging time.
>>
>>
>> PS: Being the son of a German Engineer, and being in technical fields my
>> whole career I'm very critical of Elecraft.That being said they so make a
>> sound product, plus they do listen to their customers.
>>
>>
>>
>> On 1/15/15 3:05 PM, dave wrote:
>>> Recently purchased a K3 kit. Have noted a couple
>>> of bugs. Wonder if anyone else has seen these:
>>>
>>> 1) After I put the kit together, while doing the
>>> testing, I noted that if I cycled through the
>>> modes via the left side of the mode button (mode
>>> dn), every time it went into AM mode it keyed
>>> the TX for a second or maybe two. Did not do
>>> this when pressing the right side of the mode
>>> button (mode up) and going into AM. This was not
>>> simply lighting the TX light. The external power
>>> meter confirmed that RF was being generated. All
>>> other changes of mode appeared to be fine.
>>>
>>> 2) Just now turned the K3 on. Switched to 80m.
>>> Mode was CW before and after the change of
>>> bands. After a few seconds I noted there was no
>>> audio coming from the speaker. Switched to 60m
>>> (USB), audio. Switched to 40m (CW), audio.
>>> Switched back to 80, no audio. Cycled through
>>> the modes. Audio was heard on LSB, AM, Data, and
>>> suddenly audio was heard on 80m CW. And . . .
>>> while cycling through the modes I noted that the
>>> TX was no longer keyed when switching to AM via
>>> the mode dn button.
>>>
>>> Are these bugs related? Has anyone else seen
>>> either of these?
>>>
>>> I'd really like to see Elecraft spend the
>>> necessary effort to thoroughly debug the K3
>>> before spending much effort adding features that
>>> only a handful of ops will ever use.
>>>
>>>
>>> 73 de dave
>>> ab9ca/4
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