[Elecraft] Prospective K4

[Wes]

First, radios are like government spending, neither are investments; stocks and 
bonds are investments.  Radios are toys, so we need to examine how much money we 
can afford to squander on playthings.

Sorry, I can't predict the future but I can examine the past.   In 1998, I 
bought a Kenwood TS-870SAT.  It set me back $2575.  Contrast that to my first K3 
purchased ten years later for $2100!  I subsequently sold the Kenwood for a 
thousand bucks, making my cost of ownership (in constant dollars) $1575.  
Amortized over 10 years that came out to 13 bucks a month.  Now if the Kenwood 
had completely failed after 10 years (it didn't it was flawless, more than I can 
say for my Elecrafts) my monthly cost would have skyrocketed to $21/month. 
Hardly something to fret about.

Now I have the K3 sitting of the floor with a K3S on the desk.  I have no idea 
what the K3 is worth, or how much the introduction of the K3S lowered its value 
because it doesn't matter, I don't intend to sell it; I've learned to have a 
backup. If a K4 comes out in my lifetime and lowers the value of the K3S, so be 
it.  I'll play with it until then.

Wes  N7WS



On 5/5/2019 1:19 PM, Doug Hensley wrote:
> Has anyone got a good handle on how much the value of a K3 dropped after the K3S had established itself ?
>
> If so, what can we expect the average value of a K3S to drop once a K4 has spread its wings & shared its eggs ?   And how much further down in value is that going to push the venerable old K3?
>
> To me the wishful thinking about a K4 is disconcerting.  That much of my investment is going to go "poof" when a new model suddenly hits the market gives me cause to wonder if I knew what I was doing in the first place.  YMMV but  clairvoyant predictions are welcome 🙂 ....
>
> Doug W5JV
>