[Elecraft] K3/K3S Options Last time buy update

[john at kk9a.com]

It has been 21 weeks since this post and to my knowledge there has been no
updates. I placed my order for a group 4 part 75 weeks ago and it has yet to
appear in my package box.

John KK9A


Eric Swartz WA6HHQ wrote:

Hi Everyone,

I apologize for not posting this update last week. It was quite busy
at Elecraft HQ, plus I had two unexpected visits to the dentist. (Lots of
fun :-)

As you know by now, the logistics and parts production shortage problems
caused by the COVID pandemic have caused huge production problems for us
and the rest of the electronics industry, car manufacturers etc. The delay
getting the K3/K3S Options status out has primarily been due to the fact
that our Elecraft production, purchasing and engineering teams, in addition
to their normal day to day tasks, they have also been heavily focused on
working together to find production quantities of parts (and alternate
parts) for our primary product lines (K4, K4D, KX2, KX3, KPA500, KPA1500,
KXPA100 etc.)  This is a herculean task, with new shortages popping up
every week. Even 'confirmed' scheduled parts ordered 12 months in advance
from major distributors can suddenly not show up on time. So far we have
been successful dodging these issues, finding alternate suppliers, locating
alternate parts, buying larger quantities of hard to get parts for
inventory etc. This has kept our primary products moving out the door in
steadily increasing quantities each month, (Feb. and March were record
months) but it also has slowed us from working on finding and purchasing
all the parts for the last run of K3/K3S options. That said, we are now
focusing more directly on this and have been successful getting many of the
critical K3/K3S option parts in house.   Below is our current Status.

I've initially broken the options into 5 groups with estimated shipping
dates, depending on which options we are currently focused on, parts we
already have in stock, expected parts delivery times, certainty of
acquiring parts, manufacturing time and how close we are to having all
parts for each option in house.  Dates will get firmer in general as we
move forward.

We will contact customers with currently booked orders (and wait list
customers in some cases) as each option gets close to shipping.  (Please
try to resist calling sales for new updates as they are heavily loaded and
will not have new K3/K3sOption information until the next update comes out.)

Group 1:
a.)  K144XV will be ready to ship within the next week.  (We will start
contacting customers this week).
b.)  K144RFLK: 6-8 weeks if everything goes ok. This board can be
installed after the K144XV is installed. (We're working to get this one
faster, if possible.)

Group 2:  (These two options received the highest quantity of orders)
a.) KSYN3A:  7-12 weeks if there are no last minute surprises. We have been
successful locating and purchasing the primary problem parts, including the
SI570, Pic processor etc.

b.)KIO3BUPKIT: 8-12 weeks

Group 3:
KXV3B, KBPF3A, P3TX Monitor, KAT3A:, KPA3A  10-14 weeks

Group 4:
K3/0-Mini, K3EXREF, KDVR3.  14-16 weeks est. This may change +/- depending
on parts deliveries and availability.

Group 5:
P3, P3SVGA:   After Group 4.  Working on locating several hard to get
parts.  Will update with estimated ship dates in following status updates
as this becomes better defined.

I will work to post updates every 2-3 weeks as we move forward. As parts
come in we hope some items in groups 2-4 will move to shorter times.

73,
Eric   WA6HHQ
*elecraft.com <http://elecraft.com>*