[Elecraft] Buying a K4 in UK

[Jim Brown]

On 8/3/2023 3:47 PM, G3WPF via Elecraft wrote:
> I would still rather travel one hour within this country to get things 
> sorted.  Your experience of Kenwood in the USD is a mirror image of the 
> situation here with Elecraft.  It seems a characteristic of US 
> manufactured equipment over here going back to Heath, Drake, Swan etc 
> which was always fraught with difficulties.  As a result, it's always 
> seemed to be considered as a "niche" market.  I just hope it can change 
> in the future.

The possibility for change is in Europe, not at Elecraft. When Elecraft 
felt there was a suitable partner, the had the relationship.

I'm not advocating for purchasing the K4 in the UK, but I can offer 
this. I've been running a K4 for about a year, and I love it. The only 
hardware issue I've encountered is a design issue, likely necessitated 
by discontinuance of the switching-type 3.5mm TRS jacks long used for 
headphones, which results in very strong susceptibility to RFI at one or 
more rear panel 3.5mm jack(s).

And while firmware has yet to be released for some functions (like 
remote control, but also a few operational functions and behaviors), it 
is under active development, and all firmware updates/upgrades are free 
and easy to install, in a manner similar to their other rigs. I'd guess 
that there have been 3-4 upgrades since I've owned the radio, and while 
I've always been very happy with it, each upgrade has improved the 
performance.

To get a full picture of the K4 and any issues, I suggest you subscribe 
to the dedicated K4 groups.io reflector. It's web-based, and can be set 
to send each post as an email, and if you join, you'll have access to 
the complete history of the group.

73, Jim K9YC