[Elecraft] Software Update for KX3

[Jim Brown]

On 7/16/2025 10:39 AM, Gary Schulz via Elecraft wrote:
> Love the radio but stating it is bug free and doesn’t need update/ feature releases is a bit odd…

Let's get real. Elecraft is a small US company that is owned by two hams 
who are both engineers, and one is a great marketer/manager/businessman. 
It is a credit to their combined expertise that they've been able to 
stay in business for nearly 30 years! But it also means that when 
they're done with a radio, they're done!

It costs a lot of engineering time to produce firmware that provides new 
features, but most companies comes out with new firmware, it's free.

With the JA companies making our radios, you get to buy a new radio to 
get new features, or to get defects fixed. Which means we're paying for 
their goofs.

Yaesu went through three model changes over ten years to get AWFUL key 
clicks fixed. That's three radios we had to buy! In later years, they've 
sold radios with nasty splatter on SSB.

ICOM is better, but not by a lot. Kenwood keeps radios in production for 
a decade or more, fixes issues much earlier in their lifetime, and 
they're significantly better than the other JA rigs in many ways.

73, Jim K9YC