[TenTec] Software / Firmware Upgrades

[Rick - DJ0IP / NJ0IP]

Tim, believe it or not, Wayne (chief technical architect of Elecraft) used
to hang out here on the Ten-Tec group back when the Orion first announced.
He hasn't posted here for many years now.

73 - Rick, DJ0IP
(Nr. Frankfurt am Main)


-----Original Message-----
From: TenTec [mailto:tentec-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Tim
Wininger
Sent: Friday, April 11, 2014 10:05 PM
To: k9yc at arrl.net; Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Software / Firmware Upgrades

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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