[Elecraft] Sherwood Receiver Tests

Mon May 2 11:39:22 EDT 2022

I can not ever remember operating any radio longer than 5 years or keeping
any radio longer than 10 years. This includes the K3S/P3 that I owned for 5
years. I have learned my lesson about a bird in hand beats 10 in the bush.
I may not have the latest and greatest radio but I have one with a set of
capabilities that I can work with from day one, and day to day, turn on the
radio, twist the knobs and contest mode ready to go. Friends of mine have
Flex radios. They are still waiting for software to be developed. Me, I
went with the FTDX101 and FTDX10. Sure there are bugs in the radios. I know
what they are and work with them. For me, it is not a problem. Being
retired, I can't spend the huge dollar amount when I was working and have
to settle for things that work and are cheaper in price, not cheaper in
quality and underdevelopment.

I loved my K3S, P3, Not so much. Truthfully, I wish Elecraft had repackaged
the K3 in a K4 box and included the nice touch screen as a package...I
would have bought it. Instead the K4 was the evolution. There is no doubt
that the hardware is excellent. Although the K4HD module is not out and I
am wondering how much software engineering it will take to make those
boards work. The KPA500 and KAT500 is the best thing they have going for
them. That combination is excellent. It is nearly bombproof...but do not
run FT8 on it at full power as it will not hold up too well. Other than
that, it is fine. Running RTTY in a contest at 350 watts is fine for the
amp. It stays cool at that power level. The KPA1500, I was not in love
with. It was too loud and too much heat for my liking. I sold it and went
another direction. All of my antennas are resonant for CW and because I run
Tx band pass filters for SO2R, I can not use a tuner, therefore the KPA1500
built in tuner was worthless to me. I was paying for something that I did
not need. I bought 2 Mercury III amplifiers and they run 1KW solid with
high speed contest CW at 37WPM with quiet fans and cool temp 48C.

Would I ever go back to Elecraft? Yes, BUT there would have to be an
overwhelming reason to do so and right now that is not the case.

What would I love to see designed? I think that the world is in great need
of a SO2R interface that is mechanical and does not need a ton of
unreliable virtual comport software to make it run and bombs when windoz
makes an update. One USB interface to make the radio key CW and switch
between transceivers. I would love to have switches rather than software to
make the thing work. Mechanical as possible because once it is set it is
done and software will not be an issue. If Elecraft made an accessory like
that I would buy it at the speed of light. If it required to be run with a
K4, which at this time is a work in progress, I would stay with the MK2R+
which I am currently running.

Not all innovation is good. Sometimes small steps are better than jumping
off a cliff.

My 2 cents, which in today's economy is worthless and still waiting to be
delivered due to the supply chain. LOL!

73, Morgan NJ8M

On Sun, May 1, 2022 at 11:42 PM Barry Baines via Elecraft <
elecraft at mailman.qth.net> wrote:

> Chuck:
>
> > On May 1, 2022, at 10:04 AM, Chuck MacCluer <maccluer13 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > The K3 and K3S are dead ends --- they are frozen at their present
> > capabilities. The K4 is a partially filled canvas that can improve over
> > time. For example, the K4s I hear on the air still have, like the K3xs,
> > that ugly popup in the unwanted sideband. They compare in this respect
> > unfavorably with the lowly IC-7300. But the K4 will someday possess
> > predistortion and consequently a pristine transmitted SSB signal. Unlike
> > its predecessors, the K4 has an unlimited future. That's the nature of a
> > full SDR.
>
> Your point is certainly well taken.  Performance enhancements, new
> features, bug fixes, etc. are all possible given the old adage, “It is
> simply the software.”
>
> That said, exactly how a product line evolves over time can have a huge
> impact on both current customers and perspective customers. One can
> certainly argue that those that jumped in line on the day of product
> announcement for the K4 are ‘early adopters’ who are willing to purchase a
> hardware design and then be relatively patient waiting for the
> software/firmware to evolve to the point that announced features are made
> available.  The tradeoff is that ’needed features’ may lag behind the
> ‘basic features’ and that those that forked out real $$$$ for the latest
> generation of hardware may start to get ‘antsy’ about not being able to
> take full advantage of a product’s “potential” as software/firmware evolves
> later.
>
> While I have no idea what Elecraft’s development timeline looks like,
> presumably their development schedule is predicated on relative priorities
> as well as creating the building blocks necessary to enhance the software
> over time.  I also don’t know how large their development team is or
> whether they have other duties/responsibilities as well.  As far as I know,
> they have not released a ‘development roadmap’.  Bottom line is that those
> that purchasers of a new generation of hardware that is fully dependent
> upon software to ‘make the magic’ must recognize that such development work
> will likely exceed their presumptions of how quickly such software is fully
> developed.
>
> While Elecraft is not FlexRadio, one only has to look at the history of
> Flex to see how much longer software development takes over hardware
> development to create the ‘desired’ product.  When Flex announced their
> 6xxxx series at the 2012 Hamvention, they delivered the hardware within 18
> months of product announcement to those who ’signed up’ in the first few
> months after product annoucement.  I received my Flex-6700 in November 2013
> with SmartSDR for Windows version 1.0.  However, the first iteration of
> SSDR (v1.0) was simply the first step in a long evolution of software
> development.  It wasn't until May 2017 (five years after initial product
> announcement) that “SmartLink” was introduced in SSDR v2.0 that allowed
> remote connectivity of Flex-6xxxx series transceivers, a product feature
> announced in 2012 and which is why I got the Flex-6700 in the first place.
>
> Almost 10 years later, we’re now seeing hardware issues starting to crop
> up with the SD cards installed in older Flex-6xxx transceivers that contain
> the “smarts” of these products.   While Flex utilizes ‘industrial grade” SD
> cards, even these products apparently degrade after years of read/write
> cycles.  Customers are now experiencing issues where current firmware
> upgrades ‘brick’ their transceivers because of the longterm degradation of
> these cards means they fail during testing of SD card performance as part
> of the firmware update.  In other words, the testing is done to ensure that
> SD card is capable of accepting the new firmware and fails.  Flex has been
> very responsive is supplying replacement SD cards (even though radios are
> beyond their warranty period) which is certainly appreciated, but it does
> leave a “taste in one’s mouth” when this happens.  BTW, these SD cards are
> unit specific (they apparently contain serial number information) which
> means one can’t simply copy the contents of one SD card and install it on a
> non-Flex provided SD Card.
>
> I note this simply to point out that today’s world of “software defined
> radio” introduces not only new capabilities but also changes the paradigm
> about product development and longevity of products due to limitations.
>  Indeed, investing in a new product release such as the K4 or the
> Flex-6xxxx means that the purchaser becomes part of that product’s
> ‘ecosytem’ where it may take a significant amount of time to finalize that
> ecosystem.  This compares to the ‘old days’ where one purchased a ‘radio as
> is” with limited update capabilities and one simply purchased a replacement
> as needed.
>
> FWIW,
>
> Barry Baines, WD4ASW/5
> Keller, TX
>
>
> >
> > Chuck w8mqw
>
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