[TenTec] Elecraft K3 vs Orion?

[Grant Youngman]

> Think of it -- the [K3] ]radio is modular and software upgradeable. 
>   That means 
> you can swap out boards as well as upgrade the software to 
> keep the  thing 
> cutting edge for a long long time.  

As for being the Orion killer, I think waiting for some test reports and
real world experience might be a reasonable thing to do.  Which does not
imply that I think the K3 won't be a mighty good radio.  Probably too small
for my fat button-pushing fingers, though.  But as any one radio gets better
and attracts all the praise for it's moment (instant, as t->0 in the limit)
in the sun, some other one comes up behind it pushing the envelope even
further.  The good news is that there are a goodly number of mighty good
radios -- out there now, and coming to an operating desk near you soon :)

I find the whole "roofing filter" business interesting in the least --
actually started years ago by Drake and others, with consiousness raised by
the Orion, now being a centerpiece of many of the "new" breed.  Heck even
one relatively old breed had to modify their otherwise 'perfect' radio to
meet the demands of people who probably didn't need the extra roofing filter
anyway.  If we haven't already passed it, we're probably close to the point
at which all of the marketing BS about this dB and that dB means virtually
nothing from the perspective of differentiation in performance in any real
ham band -- regardless of how owning something with better numbers helps us
sleep more soundly.

However, since there are no tubes in any of them, they require no annual
lubrication, they don't hurt my back to move them, they don't occasionally
require the drilling of an extra hole in the chassis, and the parts are too
darn small to be worth what we pay for them, I'm totally suspect of these
new-fangled things in general.  There was a time when one had a long-term
"relationship" with a radio.  Now, it's the equivalent of a series of
one-night stands, ever moving on to seek that one better feature, or dimple,
or whatever :)

Grant/NQ5T