[Elecraft] Ham Qualifications, Customer Service

[David Gilbert]

Actually no, the K3 isn't still being serviced within the limits of 
parts availability, and hasn't for some time.  When my K3IO board got 
zapped I wrote Elecraft and asked them to repair it.  The repair tech 
simply and flippantly refused to so.  I later went through the parts 
list from the schematic and all the key parts were available in stock 
from Digi-Key.  Luckily Don had a spare set of boards from someone who 
had swapped them out for the USB version.

In any case, age has nothing to do with it.  The original claim was that 
the modular nature of the K3 would allow it to have an almost unlimited 
lifetime because redesigns would handle both part obsolescence and 
technological improvements.  Supply chain issues didn't cause that to go 
by the wayside ... limited resources at Elecraft did.  By all accounts 
the K4 is a great rig, but why should its modularity offer any extended 
life compared to other brands than the K3 did?   It's a flawed premise 
and a flawed commitment if the ability to follow through isn't there.

I don't mean to keep flogging this, but people like you keep dredging it 
up and trying to convince me I'm wrong.

Dave   AB7E



On 6/28/2022 7:17 AM, Rick Tavan wrote:
> What do you mean, David? The K3 had a nearly 15 year run as Elecraft's 
> flagship transceiver and is still being serviced within the limits of 
> parts availability. K3S was a mid-life update, not a new design. It 
> had a few revised boards and they were available to retrofit to the 
> earlier K3 units. Other updated boards came along prior to K3S and 
> were also retrofittable. In my 60+ years of ham radio, the K3 stands 
> out as the longest-living, most modular, most upgradeable radio of 
> all, by a wide margin. I have no reason to expect anything less of K4.
>
> 73,
>
> /Rick N6XI
>
> On Mon, Jun 27, 2022 at 8:08 PM David Gilbert <ab7echo at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>     I remember that exact same statement being made about the K3 and K3s
>     (discontinued after 6 years).  Other than the new synths, it wasn't
>     honored for the K3 series so I see no reason to treat that as part of
>     the value proposition for the K4.
>
>
>     On 6/27/2022 5:32 PM, Wayne Burdick wrote:
>     >
>     > - The K4 is designed in highly modular fashion so we can replace
>     modules in the future as technology changes, including the main
>     processor board, ADC boards, and DAC board.
>     >
>     >
>     >
>     > Wayne
>     > N6KR
>     >
>     >
>
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> -- 
> --
>
> Rick Tavan
> Truckee and Saratoga, CA