[Elecraft] Is the Lab599 TX500 a "rip-off" of the KX3?

[Grant Youngman]

There are going to be a lot of nice little radios. This may be a really good radio.  Do you know that?  I don’t.

Personally, I wouldn’t touch this thing with a 10 ft pole.  No battery; no ATU; unknown specs; unknown, if any, support; non-standard connectors that won’t fit anything else;  and on.  It looks “cool”, and that will certainly appeal to some.  But it’s more than the radio that has to be carried in the end, and doesn’t come from a trusted source with a track record.  Will you be able to read the display in the sunlight?

Grant NQ5T

> On Sep 3, 2020, at 2:30 PM, Bill Frantz <frantz at pwpconsult.com> wrote:
> 
> It is certainly not a clone. It draws more RX current. It is a thinner. The panadapter is built in.
> 
> I didn't spend enough time looking at it to form a judgement other than it appeals to the same uses as the KX3 and is not a clone.
> 
> 73 Bill AE6JV
> 
> On 9/3/20 at 1:58 PM, johnae5x at gmail.com (John Harper) wrote:
> 
>> As someone who has one of these radios on order, I'd like to know if this
>> is fake news or true fact:
>> 
>> "This rig is copied from the KX-3. I was told this from a reliable source
>> inside Elecraft."
>> 
>> Source:
>> https://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/lab599-discovery-tx-500.683461/page-2
>>