[Elecraft] K4 news?

[Gary Smith]

Eric,

You weren't replying to me, but as someone 
who has already spotted for the K4D a good 
while ago; my thoughts are to take your 
time. If parts aren't available, they will 
be. If the parts are not available because 
of a pandemic, they will be as soon as is 
realistic. It just takes patience when 
dealing with things nobody has an answer 
to or a timetable impossible to offer 
because of that.

I'm looking forward to the K4D when you're 
able, good, & ready to release it. I 
suspect we all feel that way.

73,

Gary
KA1J


> Hi Irwin,
> 
> We are also concerned about the impact of the COVID-19 virus on the
> shipping and supply chains we use for parts used in all of our
> products, including the K4. While managing the supply chain and
> quickly finding alternate parts when they go obsolete or when
> shortages pop up has been a normal part of our production planning
> process for years, it has certainly become more challenging as this
> situation quickly evolves.
> 
> We've been tracking and compensating for this on the K4 for some time.
> While we manufacture our radios, amps etc. here in California, the
> electronic components used by us and almost all other U.S.
> manufacturers come from both the U.S. and from suppliers all around
> the world. (Many are not even manufactured in the U.S.) We've been
> careful to source many of the major K4 items, like the flat screen
> display used in the K4, from other countries than China.  The biggest
> area of concern recently has been with the passive components
> (resistors, caps etc) used on all of our designs. Even when purchased
> from U.S. suppliers, many of these parts may come from China and other
> offshore sources.
> 
> We also have built up inventory on many critical K4 parts here
> (including Knobs etc.) but of course, as noted by others, it only
> takes a single critical part delay in the future to hold things up. 
> We plan with alternate suppliers when possible, but even then we have
> to periodically scramble to source new parts for production. Fun, eh?
> 
> In any case, so far we have not encountered any major show stoppers,
> though even prior to the current COVID scare began seeing delivery
> delays increasing. We'll have a much better picture on how this will
> impact the K4 as major component deliveries arrive at the factory over
> the coming weeks. Fortunately, we are busy both getting all aspects of
> production started and we are also working in engineering every day to
> add cool new features to the K4. Not much time to sleep at Elecraft
> these days.
> 
> Time for more coffee..
> 
> 73,
> Eric
> *elecraft.com <http://elecraft.com>*
> 
> 
> On Thu, Mar 5, 2020 at 5:14 AM Irwin Darack <idarack at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > I am curious to know if the reduction in manufacturing in China, do
> > to the COVID-19 virus, is having an affect on the ability of
> > Elecraft to obtain parts? The area of China that is the epicenter is
> > a major manufacturer of electronic components.
> >
> > Irwin KD3TB
> >
> >
> >
> > On Wed, Mar 4, 2020 at 6:11 PM Rick Miller - N1RM <n1rm at arrl.net>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Very clever post.
> > >
> > > When they announced the last delay, there was a statement that
> > > there
> > would
> > > be more frequent updates.  Perhaps, if nothing else, this thread
> > > will provide motivation for another update.  Since many of us are
> > > "investors"
> > in
> > > the K4, it seems reasonable to ask.
> > >
> > > 73 and hope your twitter remains under control!
> > > Rick
> > > N1RM
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --
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> > --
> > Irwin KD3TB
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