[Elecraft] The market for Full Kit Radios?

[Kevin - K4VD]

Hey Harry... I hope you don't mind if I toss another idea out there. It has
to do with a conversation going on in another forum I'm part of and thought
it might make an interesting addition to your thoughts.

I do not believe the homebrew spirit of Amateur Radio is dead. I do believe
that there has been somewhat of a shift in thinking. As much a part of any
ham radio station today I think software falls right in there with
antennas, tuners and transceivers.

What if, instead of buying a hardware kit, you could buy the components of
software. Maybe some brilliant programmers can put together the building
blocks of the next great logging or PSK-31 terminal program? These
entrepreneurial programmers put together "kits" that you and I could key in
to something free like Visual Studio or whatever the current Linux or Apple
environment is. Along with the keying in, the programmers are guiding us
through the software from maybe simple how-to-program to more complex how
to interface with a certain rig's API.

I like to think that today's keyboard is equivalent to yesterday's
soldering iron. Both are responsible for the start of a lot of creativity.

Just a thought.

73,
Kev K4VD


On Sun, Feb 12, 2017 at 2:49 PM, Harry Yingst via Elecraft <
elecraft at mailman.qth.net> wrote:

> For me a large part of the enjoyment of Amateur radio is the process of
> building the radios and accessories.
>
> I tend to like kits because all the truly hard work making the board
> punching and painting the case etc has been done for me and I get the fun
> of building it and then using something that I have built.
>
> I would love to see an updated version of the K2 as a full kit, but that
> leaves me wondering is there really a market for full kits?
>
> I was curious as to what others think about the market for full kit radios.
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