[Elecraft] K4

Sat May 19 12:38:35 EDT 2018

I'll weigh in on this a little before it gets stamped on again as being, 
unfortunately, irrelevant and pointless.

I think there is a big gaping hole in the Elecraft product line. Not in 
performance terms but more in ergonomics. A K3 has been my primary radio 
for a few years now and before that an Orion, before that a TS940, 
TS830- etc etc. Performance wise there is no doubt the K3 bests them 
all, I recently built a K2 and think that's scarily good in raw 
performance terms as well. My K3 is pretty much fully kitted out and I 
have a P3 as well which is extremely useful and they're going nowhere.

 From the super small super portable super capable K2 and KX3 to the 
small and portable and no less capable K3/K3S their market segments are 
well covered but KenYaeCom have surely sold enough 
TS990,FT9000,IC7800/50/51 that shows well the market demand for a 
quality high end desktop sized radio. If the pictures on QRZ are 
anything to go by not everyone operates out of a shoe box with many 
having dedicated rooms for their radio hobbies. If the shoe box is your 
limitation then the K3 is undoubtedly a superb choice but where space is 
less restricted a bit more in the way of panel acreage might well sway a 
lot more FT9000/TS900/IC78xx users I feel, not to mention those of us 
who just feel the K3 package is, for a desktop radio, just a bit too 
much of a compromise.

Key requirements on my end after considerable K3 usage. A better more up 
to date menu system that either removes or better, handles the myriad 
un-intuitive selections. There are a number of menu options which unless 
you have significant handbook familiarity lack explanation about 
additional keypad presses. There are even some for which software 
updates need to be consulted though that is a different matter. Some 
menu choices could well be better homed as front panel controls. The 
keypad is another area I find seriously lacking for a top end product. 
Again, great for the type of product it is but I find it lacking. Band 
keys, mode keys, a proper band stacking register, a better way to deal 
with the sub receiver settings, more, bigger and wider spaced control 
knobs, yes all of this needs panel space but that shouldn't really need 
to be a problem. It's possible the entire form factor could use a 
rethink, do we need a box 12 inches deep. Why not a front panel that is 
16 inches by 6 inches on a radio that is just 5 inches deep. Overall it 
would likely be a similar volume and contain just as much under the 
skin. The Orion was probably overkill with the amount of fresh air in 
every box, some careful plug in board stacking could have reduced the 
box depth by half whilst retaining the same front panel space. A good 
display with all info including the somewhat obligatory scope and 
waterfall properly integrated seems a no brainer today I guess, of 
course with a port for connection of 36 inch full 4k displays, ideally 
with different screen displays.

I like the PA options today 10 or 100 watts, not sure how many are sold 
as just 10 watt radios though. In a bigger box, something like the 7850, 
16x17x6, it should be possible to integrate the KPA500 allowing for a 
500 watt transceiver in one box.

Where space is a premium the integration of multiple controls carefully 
arranged for maximum apparent efficiency is obviously a good thing 
though I feel it can be overdone, the poor operability of the sub 
receiver is a case in point and I've had heat of the moment run ins with 
the mic gain compressor and monitor controls as well. Great when it 
works as you think of it, less so when you're acting more by feel and 
intuition doing 6 other things at once and get a mis-press.

Much of this is software, packaging and ergonomics/HMI, so far as the 
pure RF side is concerned it's clear that things are evolving still and 
it can't be long before pure wideband direct digital SDR becomes the 
mainstream.

It's hard to fault the K3 on so many levels, it's just such a great 
radio but it's by no means an unflawed or unlimited radio and there are 
areas of the ham radio business Elecraft are yet to tread.

Oh and I'd love them to do a 2-35Mhz 125 watt radio suitable for 
commercial use. So many opportunities where the options today are either 
VK mobiles or US mil spec but that really is another topic.

Martin, HS0ZED

On 19/05/2018 17:38, Stefan von Baltz, DL1IAO wrote:
> Now that Eric is at the Hamvention we can not annoy him too much with mail overflow on this list ;-)
>
> - I would like to see Elecraft revising the NR-function. While you can achieve nearly infinite noise attenuation with the K3’s NR it comes at the cost of signal intelligibility. At least I have failed to hit a setting for CW which works for me. The NR also seems to be dependent on AGC settings. With the IC7851’s NR at ca. 9 o’clock the band noise is cut about in half without affecting signals, even when they are weak. I do not miss this much in everyday operation. But the additional band noise really hurts in my ears when doing SO2R causing fatigue and ultimately increased error rate.
>
> - I continue to be impressed by ICOM’s APF function. Combined with a few dB of additional amplification in the APF level menu this sort of has become a great „panic button“ for me when a weak station calls or QRM shows up. Elecrafts APF is way too sharp for this purpose. Maybe another APF with wider bandwidth could be added?
>
> - It might also be helpful to add a simplified NB-menu which selects among some of your favourite settings. If you are forced to dig into the NB-menu in the middle of the heat the DX will long be gone until you have found the right setting to get rid of noise.
>
> - Elecraft should consider adding mouse support for the panadapter.
>
> - Coming from ICOM rigs I noticed that the knob resolution seems slow. This sticks out with the filter, RIT and power knobs. Too much knob spinning required for my taste. However, this may be subjective and there are work-arounds.
>
> - I would also like to see Elecraft using higher quality buttons which are more responsive. When the K3 came out one of the reasons I never got one was the wobbling feel of the A/B (and other) knobs. It simply was not compatible with my style of operation which involves constantly switching VFOs when S&P. Yes, there are work-arounds, too.
>
>
> I just realize that most of it may be another software upgrade. No K4 required!
>
>
> 73,
>
> Stefan DL1IAO, SA3CWW/SM9A
>
>
> --
> Stefan v. Baltz
> DL1IAO at contesting.com
> http://www.dl1iao.com
>
>
>
>
>
>> Am 19.05.2018 um 06:59 schrieb Jim Brown <jim at audiosystemsgroup.com>:
>>
>> On 5/18/2018 7:43 PM, Ed W0YK wrote:
>>> There are ham reasons for this request,  which I made to Wayne 2 years ago.  We need a bit more RX/TX bandwidth for the combined JT65/9 modes.
>>>
>>> With WSJT, the upper end of the JT9 audio range is not available on the K3.
>> Hi Ed,
>>
>> FWIW, I regularly copied JT9 signals up to at least 3 kHz; remember that, in those days, JT9 typically started around 2 kHz baseband, and it is possible to open up the RX IF bandwidth wider than that 2.8 kHz roofing filter.
>>
>> And although the worm will hopefully turn back in favor of JT65/JT9 on 160M, those modes have virtually disappeared since FT8 was introduced. Last season, you, W6GJB, and I all worked SM6 on JT65, and WSJT-X decoder logged several dozen EU stations. This year, I hear east coast stations working (or at least calling) EU, but I've decoded ZERO EU using FT8. (For those reading the mail, all three of us are within about 20 miles of each other, 70 miles S of San Francisco. What I'd love to see is JT9 take over on 160M. If I'm not mistaken, it's good about 10 dB deeper into the noise than FT8.
>>
>> And while it's true that any of the slow WSJT modes would benefit from greater IF and audio bandwidth by providing space for more stations, few other rigs offer that.
>>
>> 73, Jim K9YC
>>
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