[TenTec] Software / Firmware Upgrades

Tim Wininger ky5rtim at gmail.com
Fri Apr 11 16:04:33 EDT 2014


Am I on the Ten-Tec reflector  or  did it get hijacked by the EleCraft
group?

Just need to know......

TNX Tim, AB4B


On Fri, Apr 11, 2014 at 11:37 AM, Jim Brown <k9yc at audiosystemsgroup.com>wrote:

> On 4/10/2014 3:47 PM, Mike Stricker wrote:
>
>> There are still some known hardware and firmware issues with the K2 that
>> haven't been addressed since they shipped their first unit.
>>
>
> The K2 started out life as a QRP CW kit, that demand from owners caused to
> be gradually expanded to be a 100W SSB rig. Design decisions made for a 10W
> CW rig, and using parts available c.a. 1999 when the rig was designed,
> placed limitations on performance on SSB and at higher power levels. I
> owned a pair of K2s that I used for contesting and general operating, and I
> was well aware of those limitations.
>
> The K2 is also quite different from the K3 and KX3. The K2 is an analog
> radio with a microprocessor as a controller. When you want to
> upgrade/update the firmware, you must program a chip and ship it, and the
> user must install it. That's hardware, and while you may not realize it, it
> costs the business owner to do all that. When you need a part for your car,
> the dealer charges for it. And when you want your car to do something it
> wasn't designed to do, you sell it and buy a new one.
>
> The K3 and KX3 are SDRs with knobs. It's my understanding that the Orions
> are also SDRs with knobs. With these radios, the user can update firmware
> by downloading it from a website and feeding it to the radio via a serial
> port. Elecraft has a simple software utility for each of their products
> that makes that process nearly automatic.
>
> In both of these upgrade scenarios, the vendor still has the engineering
> costs of writing the firmware updates, but both Ten Tec and Elecraft have
> made the business decision to consider that cost a part of customer
> support, and not pass it along to the customer.
>
> 73, Jim K9YC
>
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