A friend of mine just returned from the big Hamfest in Dayton and the premiere attraction for new radios was the new rig from Elecraft, The K4.
According to him, the radio is larger than his K3 and appears to be the size of the Elecraft KPA500 amp which my friend also owns. Elecraft has now joined the others with a fancy color LCD screen with touch control for the ultimate in eye candy. The buttons below the screen are mechanical but the button tag ID's will change for different functions though.
There will be 3 models available from a basic to the HD model which is a true hybrid of direct sampling and a super hetrodyne which should increase the dynamic range beyond the current Icoms and Yaesu SDR radios. Elecraft said the dynamic range will be up to 60dB.
The 3 models don't seem to have all the customizable buyer options like the K3's like filters and other internal and external parts, but these will already have filters with them and the built in goodies and spec's get better with the next model up.
The display is a 7 inch LCD screen with touch control. It also had a HDMI output for easy interface with an external larger LCD monitor if desired.
The rear panel was loaded with outputs like 4 antennas ports, 2 RX ports, 3 USB com ports and other audio and external outputs for just about anything you would want it for.
The expected street price for the top model K4HD will be about $4800 and quite less for the other K4 models. The models are expected to be available following FCC approval by the end of the year.
Here is a pic from today's Hamfest,
According to him, the radio is larger than his K3 and appears to be the size of the Elecraft KPA500 amp which my friend also owns. Elecraft has now joined the others with a fancy color LCD screen with touch control for the ultimate in eye candy. The buttons below the screen are mechanical but the button tag ID's will change for different functions though.
There will be 3 models available from a basic to the HD model which is a true hybrid of direct sampling and a super hetrodyne which should increase the dynamic range beyond the current Icoms and Yaesu SDR radios. Elecraft said the dynamic range will be up to 60dB.
The 3 models don't seem to have all the customizable buyer options like the K3's like filters and other internal and external parts, but these will already have filters with them and the built in goodies and spec's get better with the next model up.
The display is a 7 inch LCD screen with touch control. It also had a HDMI output for easy interface with an external larger LCD monitor if desired.
The rear panel was loaded with outputs like 4 antennas ports, 2 RX ports, 3 USB com ports and other audio and external outputs for just about anything you would want it for.
The expected street price for the top model K4HD will be about $4800 and quite less for the other K4 models. The models are expected to be available following FCC approval by the end of the year.
Here is a pic from today's Hamfest,
