[Elecraft] K4???

[Eric Swartz]

Hi everyone,

At Elecraft, like many of you,  we are in our 9th week of shelter in place. This has been tough on all of us. Back on March 16th, when the initial California state and local orders were issued with an April 11 estimated end date, we suspected that it would last longer than that, but not as long as it this. The majority of our production team had to be furloughed immediately, with a few working from home.  Most of our sales, support and the K4 engineering team have also been working from home.  We allowed a minimal skeleton staff on site. ( Less than you can count on one hand, with each operating alone in large separate areas.). We've been able to ship a subset of our existing  radios and accessories from finished goods stock, which has kept cash flow coming in. (We thank you for the continuing orders! )

We’ve also spent this time totally reorganizing  our sales, operations, production and test areas for proper social distancing along with extreme cleaning and health screening procedures as per the  new local and  national COVID-19  guidelines for manufacturers. (Wearing masks at all times, Daily health screening upon entry to the building, additional spacing and partitions between work stations and  ‘you touch it, you clean it’ procedures etc.) I’ll be posting links to some pictures of this in the next couple of days. This is a required change as per our local and State health departments. 

Many of our local sub-contractors (sheet metal fabrication, circuit board assembly etc) have also been impacted by shelter in place orders. Over the coming weeks, as the State and local health authorities slowly allow more activity, we should be able to get better delivery estimates from them as they are able to ramp back up. Like us, they are eager to get back on line.  National and international parts suppliers have been similarly impacted. 

So what does this mean for first K4 shipments?  Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic we were projecting first K4 deliveries beginning sometime in the April - May window this year.  Obviously the pandemic has has thrown out those estimates.   Based on a gradual reopening in California and other areas, our current feedback from suppliers, and taking into account unexpected delays, shortages, last minute engineering changes etc., my estimate is that first K4 shipments will begin somewhere in a window of late this July through the end of August.  We’ll keep you informed as we get better information.

As a side note, I’d like to thank everyone who has ordered a K4 for your support. We anticipated seeing cancellations during this pandemic delay, but we have received very few. Our K4 order backlog has actually continued to increase over the past 9 weeks.  Wow!  You, as our supporters and customers, have continued to energize and amaze us as we have created new products for you these past 21 years. Thank you.

Also, as with all of our products, our engineering team keeps designing new features during the product‘s lifetime.  They certainly have not been idle on the K4 during the shelter in place order. (Our DSP S/W defined radio architecture  allows us to continually give you a ‘new’ radio with each new sw release. :-)  

Keep an ear out for us on the air too. While making a few short test transmissions with my K4 this morning I ended up in a very nice QSO on 20M SSB!  If you hear me, or others on our team, please say hello. We may be on a K4!

We hope you,  your family and friends stay well during this difficult time. 

73,
Eric
elecraft.com
_..._ 

> On May 15, 2020, at 3:55 PM, Don Wilhelm <donwilh at embarqmail.com> wrote:
> 
> We here in North Carolina will be beginning to open after next Friday, but very carefully.  We do not want to see a resurgence of this virus.
> I need a haircut, and an appointment with my chiropractor, but those will have to wait because those are close physical contact situations.
> Since many of us are in the high risk category due to age, we must remain careful and vigilant even as things reopen.  Facemasks and gloves are the order of the day for all outings as well as handwashing when we return home and hand sanitizer when not at home.
> 
> It would be nice if all of this just went away, but that is wishful thinking during a major worldwide pandemic.
> 
> The K4 will be ready when Elecraft can get the parts and start shipping.  In the meantime, firmware updates and some Field Testing is all they can do.
> 
> 73 and stay safe,
> Don W3FPR
> 
>> On 5/15/2020 6:29 PM, Al Lorona wrote:
>>  Jim is right. Those of you outside of California would probably have a difficult time imagining how differently we are experiencing the lockdown-- which is an aptly descriptive noun-- here in California. The latest long-term outlook we received from Sacramento earlier this week made most of us gasp. We're running two or three months behind the majority of the country. It doesn't help that confusing, conflicting, or downright false information abounds. Patience.
>> Al  W6LX
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