[Elecraft] K3S and expectations

[Don Wilhelm]

I believe the change from the K3 to the K3S has had a parallel in the K2 
A to B change.  The model number did not change from K2 to K2S in that 
case, but it was well known that a K2 above serial number 3000 had the B 
level boards.
In addition, taking that K2 upgrade as an example, there were mod kits 
offered to bring an older K2 "almost" up to the level of the newer K2.  
There were a few minor changes that were not practical to implement on 
the level A boards, but the performance of an updated K2 was as good as 
a new K2.

I see a similar upgrade path for the K3 - it will not quite become a K3S 
because it is unlikely the RF board will be changed, but other than the 
RF board and the added amp in the audio output, mod kits will be offered 
to bring an earlier K3 up to date as much as possible.
The biggest performance improvement is had by installing the new synths, 
and that has already been done on many K3s.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 5/16/2015 10:42 AM, Jim Sheldon wrote:
>  I don't usually chime in on these threads, but since everyone seems 
> to be speculating on Elecraft's marketing strategy regarding the K3S, 
> my take on the matter is they screwed up.  From all the whinging and 
> cribbing and whining about the fictional "K4" , Wayne and Eric should 
> have just rounded the corners on the front and rear panels, ala the 
> other manufacturers and called the K3S the K4.  All the people 
> complaining they'd rather have had a "new" rig called the K4 would be 
> satisfied and the reflector could go back to normal without all the 
> considerable garbage being generated by the grammar cops, the K3S(s), 
> K4 cops and the rest of the stuff that just clutters up the reflector 
> with mostly useless garbage.