Well I have been getting posts from Nabble regarding N8BX's weighted knobs for the K3 and K2 elecraft radios. There was also a run of posts back in April of this year on Nabble as well. Thought I would like to weigh in on the subject. Tony W7WO on Nabble put it this way when the subject came up again in September.
" Please, let's not do the knob thing again, been there, done that.
Check the archives."
I agree with Tony there are many of us who are guilty (including me) of not checking archives of the many online groups before we post, excellent advice Tony. The weighted knobs are not cheap,very well made mind you. Regarding price Hector AD4C post put it this way.
"228 for both knobs for our K3's ? NO WAY !"
Hector I hear yah when they told me it was 200,000 for the SLS AMG Mercedes-Benz I said the same and went with the Chev Malibu. I settled for price over the extra bells and whistles of the SLS AMG. You have all heard of radar but for ham's there also is the "wife-dar"!!! Jack KZ5A was up into his hips in the battle ground when .....
"I told her the $180 was just for the knobs......She looked at me and
said "you must be crazy" and walked out."
Jack hold strong brother it is not the battles you win but the wars. Then being ham's, we have the tendency to be very handy and find ways around things in practical ways. Well on Nabble Tom W8JI had a practical suggestion if you did not want to lay out the money.
" I was thinking though, if extra weight was needed, I would
take it to a local crankshaft shop and have a few slugs of
mallory metal inserted. A slug of mallory metal is only $40"
Well Tom unfortunately for me there are no crankshaft shops in town. I went out and purchased the black weighted knobs for my K3.....wait no I went over the top come to think of it I included a knob for my K2 as well. I will agree they are a bit on the pricey side it was not looked at as a necessity at all but as icing on the cake type of purchase. Do they feel different? You bet they do, also added is a nice polished look to the rigs as well.
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4 comments:
Hello Mike, sorry to say but I think you're crazy...;-)
73, Bas
Hi Bas, your not the first to think that nor will you be the last :)
That's quite a heavy knob compared to the original - 14 vs. 3.5 oz. I can't help but wonder about the longevity of the optical encoder over time with 5X the stress always on it...
Hi Mike,
I, too, bit the bullet and couldn't resist buying one of these for my K2 when I saw them. Yeah, it was doggone expensive, but the bottom line is, I love it. I never used the stock knob, I used one from a Yaesu FT-100, which worked fine, but there was no spin to it. This knob is so smooth and silky and looks great...gosh, I'm am talking about a darn knob, right?
I will add this. I recently shipped my K2 to Don, W3FPR, after I suffered some lightning damage. The package showed no signs of damage, but when Don unpacked it, he said the knob had fallen off and had pushed the face of the K2 in slightly. He did a fabulous job of fixing it, can't even tell. However, there is some warpage to the encoder shaft now. Slight, but noticeable. So, if you ever ship it, remove the knob, just too heavy, I guess.
73, Ed N4EMG
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