Absolutely. and a friend has one on order from a UK dealer at the present time
- delivery due March/April.
It will be interesting to see what warranty is offered by the dealer…
Dave
Probably 2 years.
And so we all wait again … for the FT-817’s successor.
Can there be such a radio that does everything the 817 does, but with:
- 10 watts
- Better filtering
- Lighter
- Waterproof
…or is the current 817, as we all know and love it, just unbeatable?
Definitely not. Niche Market opportunity with high volume sales doesn’t make a manufacture want to redevelop. They could improve on the technology in the FT817 by a considerable margin. The KX3 heads in the right direction. But the casing is terrible and unreliable in adverse conditions and is much too expensive overall to get the same functionality as the FT817. I don’t think you will ever see a Trx capable of 20W+ on HF and VHF as the singular PA technology currently just isn’t good enough for that size transceiver.
As Im new to ham, what is the average refresh rate of products like transceivers?
I know my 857d started its life more than 10years ago with the refreshed D model more than 5 years ago.
Im planning to get a KX3 in 2 months time. Anyone heard any rumours about updates?
73s
http://rigpix.com/ has lists of introduction dates for each manufacturer, so you can get an estimate there.
But Elecraft is different. All of their rigs are still in production. Last week, they introduced a major frequency synthesizer upgrade for the K3, introduced in 2007.
The KX3 is not as modular as the K3, so harder to upgrade bit by bit, but they are doing it. The latest is a bigger heatsink. You can see the four released KX3 mod kits here: http://www.elecraft.com/order_form_parts.htm#kx3
wunder
1 Like
One thing I wish they would do, which they have with the K2 etc is release the Firmware for the KX3 !
They put ISCP programming headers all over the PCB’s to entice you, and then don’t let you play !
Thats great!! I didn’t know that and I was going to order from another guy!
The heat sink announcement was made on the Elecraft mailing list. This is a flat heat sink with more mass, rather than a finned heat sink. It is standard in current production. From that announcement:
"Our lab tests show that for a given power output level, the new heat sink provides up to twice as much transmit time as the original before power is automatically scaled back under firmware control.
(Larger, third-party heat sinks can still be used, if desired, to allow extended operation in data modes at full power, or at very high ambient temperatures.)"
https://www.mail-archive.com/elecraft%40mailman.qth.net/msg176915.html
wunder
Thanks a lot for the help! Ill get the other then!
In case you’re not aware the new rigs come with the new heat sink:
“Elecraft” The new heat sink is already included in production KX3s, starting with S/N 7292 for kits, and S/N 7255 for factory assembled units.
The only reason you need anything else is if you intend to run outside the design criteria for the radio, i.e. high power at 100% duty cycle.
The rig works perfectly for most normal users as it is 
pete
Ah ! Mine missed it by about 20 places :rage2:
With Data modes it is more of an issue apparently.
I do use a lot of data modes to be honest and in general its good to run the electronics in the lowest temp possible.
High-Isn power with data modes would be great without stretching the life of the PA.
I was going to get the PAkx31 and the Side/cover protection.