[Elecraft] Elecraft K4 and Accessibility
WILLIE BABER
wlbaber at bellsouth.net
Tue May 28 16:48:47 EDT 2019
K4 should succeed in that it appears to build upon K3/P3/KRX3 (highly successful) with added color screen, direct-sampling SDR, and increased I/O. The same K3 "upgradeable approach" applies to K4. If you are not into contesting then K4 SDR may be all you wish (especially if you already have a K3 for contesting). You do have to pay for the upgradeable approach
even if you are not interested in upgrading.
This is the advantage of Elecraft IMHO. I purchased my first k3 in 2008, and it is as good in 2019 as my K3s. An upgradeable radio also helps with radio repair cost, in addition to NOT purchasing a new model radio just to obtain improved performance.
Before I ended up with K3/P3 so2r in 2015, I went through a new board to improve K3 audio, the replacement of the pins affecting the KPA3 module, and new synthesizers (plus a few minor mods). My K3 eventually replaced ft1000mp, Omni VI, and (finally) Orion.
I'm satisfied using K3 so2r more so than at any point in the past. Based on my past experience I suspect K4 has a bright future!
73, Will, wj9b
PS: This is not the same as saying that I do not like other radios. I still have Orion and a broken Omni VI that I hope to repair.
CWops #1085
CWA Advisor levels II and II,:
http://cwops.org
--------------------------------------------
On Sun, 5/26/19, Rick Tavan <rick at tavan.com> wrote:
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Elecraft K4 and Accessibility
To: hwhite1 at maine.rr.com
Cc: "Elecraft Reflector" <elecraft at mailman.qth.net>, KX3 at yahoogroups.com, Elecraft-K4 at groups.io
Date: Sunday, May 26, 2019, 12:55 PM
Wow. Your preference seems to be
in a minority, Harry, although I have to
admit that my opinion is subjective and based
mainly on what I've read on
this
reflector which may well be biased by folks like me who
*like* the K3.
I think Elecraft retained in
the K4 many of the design points that made the
K3 very successful and enduring, including its
light weight and small size
which are two
major complaints on your list. So it may be a chocolate
vs.
vanilla situation - some people (like
me) value those characteristics while
other
people (like you) dislike them. Of course, you're right
that many
prospective buyers are aging and
some may come to dislike smaller knobs, I
for one still find the knobs and buttons plenty
big enough and I'm now 70
years old. I
once measured the K3 button size and spacing against my
prior
favorite rig, the FT-1000MP, and found
them practically the same. I never
had
trouble operating the K3 and its menu structure was logical,
rarely
needed, and self-documenting. The new
K4 screen is plenty large enough for
me and
comparable to many current, competitive radios'. It can
also be
blown up to as large as you like
through the addition of an in expensive,
external, HDMI monitor or a tablet. I've
seen it and it was gorgeous.
So you're certainly correct that some
people like big, heavy radios with
"substantial" knobs and they may not
buy the K4. Others like radios they
can lift
without back strain, carry to vacation homes and field
sites,
operate remotely with minimal
external hardware, and expect to survive
through upgrades for a decade. Many of them,
like me, have been K3 fans for
12 years or
so and will be delighted to buy the K4. The market will
decide.
I think the K4 will be highly
successful and I'm rooting for it. We'll see.
73,
/Rick N6XI
--
Rick Tavan
Truckee, CA
On Fri, May 24, 2019 at 5:00
PM <hwhite1 at maine.rr.com>
wrote:
> Wayne and
interested others,
>
>
Way back when, I bought a loaded K3. I believe the S/N was
around 4K? It
> was back in the day when
almost every DXpedition was using K3's so it was
> obviously the radio to own. (Around 2009?)
It was at the top of the
> Sherwood
ratings. Owner's bragged, incessantly, about its
Sherwood rating.
>
>
After a period of time I grew to really dislike that radio.
The audio was
> just plain awful and the
man/machine interface was the worst I have ever
> seen. I detest bar graphs. I suppose if
you play at ham radio 8 hours a
> day,
seven days a week, the interface is "normal", even
usable. For those
> of us who might get
on the air for an hour or two a week, the controls were
> a mystery. Tap this button to do this,
hold the same button for three
> seconds
to do that, the list goes on. NOTHING was intuitive. It did
not
> help that it was an incredibly
ugly, too light and unsubstantial, radio.
> It's looks may have been barely
acceptable when first introduced but it
>
aged badly, rapidly. Over a ten year period it's price
has become a real
> problem.
>
> There were many, many
questions on this reflector regarding the controls,
> the same questions about the same
controls, over and over and over again.
>
That should have been a very large hint that the controls
should be
> massively improved in any new
radio.
>
> I sold my
K3 and moved on to the big Japanese three, ANAN, and Flex,
over
> the years. All had many, fairly
easy to understand, controls. All were far,
> far more usable than the K3. Both the ANAN
and Flex service departments are
> as
good as Elecraft's.
>
> Eventually I left the Elecraft reflector,
and that is a whole other
> story.....
>
> Last week the K4 was
announced so I rejoined the reflector. It sounded
> like a really great radio. Sadly, I have
concluded it will be a dud, mostly
>
because it is designed with the same philosophy as the K3
was, a small,
> compact, easily
transportable radio, "a hallmark of Elecraft
transceivers",
> to quote you,
Wayne. From all that I have read, the controls will be
even
> more complex.
>
> Ham radio operators
are an aging group. Some suffer from the "fat
finger"
> syndrome, others have
vision problems, to name just two. The last thing
> they need or want is a tiny radio with
minimal controls, each of which
> serves
two or three or four or five purposes. They favor a radio
that has
> many single or dual purpose
knobs. They want bigger screens, the K4 screens
> are too small.
>
> I suggest you double the size of the radio
and change your design
> criteria.
Enlarging the physical size would not be a huge cost
driver.
> Remember who your customers
are.
>
> And when the
Flex 6700 kicked the K3 out of first place in the
Sherwood
> ratings in 2014, the Koolaid
drinkers on this reflector were heard to say,
> "People put too much faith in
numbers". Hypocrisy is thy name. I haven't
> stopped laughing.
>
> This email pertains to only the second and
third paragraphs of Wayne's
> reply
below.
>
> I wish
Elecraft well with the K4 but I really think your
minimalist/too
> complex way of designing
needs to change. You've probably already guessed
> that I won't be a customer of the K4
as currently proposed. And you really,
>
really ought to improve this reflector...........
>
> 73,
>
> Harry K1RSA
>
> -----Original
Message-----
> From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net
<elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net>
> On Behalf Of Wayne Burdick
> Sent: Friday, May 24, 2019 2:03 PM
> To: Elecraft Reflector <elecraft at mailman.qth.net>;
KX3 at yahoogroups.com;
> Elecraft-K4 at groups.io
> Subject: [Elecraft] Elecraft K4 and
Accessibility
>
> Hi
Buddy et al,
>
>
We've definitely been thinking about this.
>
> There's a
paradigm shift going on in transceiver design, and we
reached a
> point where we needed to
embrace it. This shift is not entirely aligned
> with accessibility, as you know. I'll
address alternatives in this email.
>
> As for the K4 specifically, its user
interface is dependent in part on use
>
of the touch screen. This was simply the only way to
integrate an
> equivalent of the K3S, P3,
and all of the new hardware/software required to
> implement a direct-sampling radio. The use
of a touch screen allows context
>
sensitivity (physical overloading) for controls, making the
K4 the
> equivalent of a much larger
radio without touch. The resulting compact size
> is still compatible with portable use
(4.5" x 13.5" x 11", 10 pounds, and
> power-efficient), a hallmark of Elecraft
transceivers.
>
>
Regarding accessibility, there are three possible
approaches:
>
> 1. The
K4's entire complement of controls, both hard and touch,
will be
> represented by a set of
"2-letter" commands. This API will be fully
public
> as it is for our other
transceivers. Presumably external devices or
> computers will be able to immediately make
use of these commands to effect
> a
flexible accessible interface.
>
> 2. In theory we could implement a
large-target version of the LCD's touch
> controls, with proximity-based audio
feedback and no panadapter. This would
>
be a very ambitious project requiring ongoing support,
similar to that
> needed for mobile/fixed
app development. We don't have the staff to support
> this, so we'd need to engage the wider
community to find a developer with
>
suitable skills and motivation. The API or spec for such an
effort doesn't
> exist at this
time.
>
> 3. The K3S
has very similar strong-signal performance and similar
basic
> features, without touch. Since
many of the added features of the K4 are
> panadapter-centric, a blind ham may very
well find that the K3S is a viable
>
alternative. No doubt there will be more used K3's and
K3S's on the market
> over the next
year. The KX3 and KX2 provide audio CW feedback on most
> controls and are another non-touch
alternative.
>
> I
hope the alternatives I've suggested to use of the
K4's normal UI will
> be helpful in
most cases.
>
> 73,
> Wayne
> N6KR
>
>
>
>
>
> On May 24, 2019, at 9:20 AM, Buddy Brannan buddy at brannan.name
[KX3] <
> KX3-noreply at yahoogroups.com>
wrote:
> >
> >
[Sorry, sent this to Gary instead of the list] Hey Gary,
> >
> > I’m
curious about this as well, as are others…see K8HSY’s
post on the
> blind-hams list. See also
my response full of speculation (below). Wayne,
> please feel free to comment on my comments
and correct me where I erred:
> >
> > I’ve been beating the accessibility
drum on the Elecraft reflector for
>
ages, and Wayne has assured that they would not go to all
touch screen
> access, for that very
reason. Elecraft has, in the person of one of their
> tech support people in the past, and Wayne
in emails to me, committed to
> doing
what they can in design parameters to make accessibility
attainable,
> and they have been super
cooperative with people like the Hampod folks and
> others who want to design accessibility
tools.
> >
> >
The K4 has a full GNU/Linux computer built into it, and
it’s got a
> client/server
architecture, with network access available, so it seems
to
> me accessibility should be possible,
even relatively easy, to implement.
>
Especially given that there are still a wide range of
physical buttons and
> knobs on board.
> >
> > And, unlike
Yaecomwoodlincotec, the principals at Elecraft are not
only
> available by email, but very
responsive besides. If you’re really
>
interested in a perspective direct from the horse’s mouth,
write to Wayne
> directly at n6kr at elecraft.com.
He really does answer email.
> >
> > Buddy Brannan, KB5ELV - Erie, PA
> > Email: buddy at brannan.name
> > Mobile: (814) 431-0962
> >
> > > On May
23, 2019, at 1:47 PM, Gary Lee kb9zuv at arrl.net
[KX3] <
> KX3-noreply at yahoogroups.com>
wrote:
> > >
>
> > could someone describe the front panel of the k4
with reference to
> that of the k3? With
the added touch screen, I am wondering about usability
> for the blind operator.
> > >
> >
>
> > >
>
>
> >
> >
__._,_.___
> > Posted by: Buddy
Brannan <buddy at brannan.name>
> > Reply via web post •
Reply to sender • Reply to
> group • Start a New Topic
• Messages in this topic (2)
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>
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> >
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> >
> >
> >
> > .
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> >
> > __,_._,___
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>
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