[Elecraft] K4 Status

[Randy Farmer]

I watched Eric's EXPO presentation on the K4 and also monitored the 
following Q&A session. The radio looks fantastic, and there may 
eventually be one in my future. What I found even more impressive, 
however, was Eric's total candor in response to questions on the 
delivery timeline. He carefully explained essentially everything that 
was going on at the company and how it was likely to impact the delivery 
schedule. This included frank assessments of potential supply chain 
problems and ongoing product development work. It's absolutely 
astonishing to me that a principal of a company would be willing to 
discuss such things in a public forum. I doubt you'd ever see 
representatives of the major Japanese radio companies come anywhere 
close to such disclosure. I don't know much about Flex, but I gather 
openness is not their strong suit, either.

Wayne's talk on the KX2 mechanical engineering process was equally 
impressive. He laid out the intimate details of how they did the 
packaging. I've never seen such an in-depth presentation of the 
development of a product from any company. This far exceeded the detail 
that would occasionally be presented in the long-gone Hewlett-Packard 
journals.

Those of you who think Elecraft is trying to conceal information on the 
K4 rollout owe it to yourselves to check out the recorded sessions when 
they become available online. They should allay any doubts you might 
have about whether or not you're being given the straight info from 
Elecraft.

73...
Randy, W8FN