[Elecraft] Is there a good reason to buy a K3S

[Dave Hachadorian]

-----Original Message----- 
From: Dauer, Edward
Sent: Thursday, July 30, 2015 7:31 AM
To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [Elecraft] Is there a good reason to buy a K3S

>I I would rather buy a K3S kit than a
>used K3 even if factory-built, to have the advantage of knowing
>my radio
>more intimately by building it.
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This point gets expressed frequently, but I don't really feel
that way about the K3 that I assembled.  Building a K3 is really
a mindless process of bolting together subassemblies following a
very well designed checklist.  A few months later, all of the
individual steps get erased from active memory, and when the time
comes for disassembly to perform a mod or repair, I have to dig
out a checklist for how to disassemble the radio.  About the only
thing I remember is how to take off and reinstall the top cover.
For example, when I recently smoked Diode D5 on the KXV3, I had
to dig out a procedure for installing the RXA Board on the KXV3
to tell me how to gain access to the KXV3.  It's not like I
remembered how to take the radio all apart.

On the other hand, I can say, "OK, I built this %$#@, so I guess
I can follow a checklist to take it apart and fix it."   Doing
the mods on an older radio, and fixing failed items have actually
been more beneficial to me than the initial build, because I have
become more confident, and purchased more tools to handle SMD's.
By the way, here's the best $8 tool I have found for working with
SMD's:
http://www.amazon.com/SE-MH1047L-Illuminated-Multi-Power-Magnifier/dp/B003UCODIA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1438269064&sr=8-1&keywords=headband+magnifier


Dave Hachadorian, K6LL
Yuma, AZ





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