Elecraft Discontinues K1, KX1

[W3WN]

Sometime at the end of August, Elecraft quietly flagged the K1 and KX1 rigs as "discontinued"

Once the word started going around and people asked questions, the following was posted to the Elecraft reflector on QTH.NET by Elecraft's Wayne Burdick N6KR, specifically referring to the K1:

We should have made a formal announcement here. Yes, we discontinued it because certain parts are hard to come by now, making it no longer cost effective for us to manufacture.

It was a great product for us, and I used mine for years, taking it on many trips. I thought of it as a “Sierra on Steroids” at the time (referring to an earlier design I did for the NorCal QRP Club). But we’ve moved on to more versatile field radios, including the KX2 and KX3.

73, Wayne N6KR
There have been reports on various reflectors and websites of late that certain K1 accessories were no longer available due to the lack of parts, and there have been posts referring to issues with boards containing newer SMD components that were now too small to fit on the original boards, so this bound to happen.

Nothing specific as of yet as to why the KX1 is now discontinued.

[W3WN]

Oh, regarding the KX1, a little more digging...

#61148 Feb 10 10:09 PM

For those of you that may have missed it...
The KX1 has been discontinued by Elecraft. This is reported to be due to the fab house that was making the cases being out of business, and other houses would have charged too much in small quantities to make it economically feasible to continue production. Options and parts are still available from Elecraft.
73,
Bruce N1RX

[N8YX]

Will it be replaced by a K4?

A larger version of the K3, with a P4 and similar sized accessories?

I'd buy a couple.

One of my area buddies has a 7850, 7851, K3 and a bazillion other late-model rigs. He prefers the K3 to all of them.

[W3WN]

One wonders. They just "upgraded" the K3 to K3S a couple of years ago, so would a new rig, aka K4, be far behind?

It looks like the days of the K1 have been numbered for a while. The last couple of years, you couldn't buy a "4 band" version, because the "4 band" board was no longer available; same problem, parts supply had dried up. And for all practical purposes, the KX2 and KX3 replaced the K1, but so long as they could get parts & the sales held up, they kept making them.

The K3/K3S is not a bad rig. (Nor is the K2/100 with all the bands and accessories). I wouldn't turn one down if someone wanted to give me one. The ergonomics of the rig, namely sized and placement of knobs, is not quite to my tastes, but isn't bad.

And I've seen the new ICOM rigs. I've used a TS-990. I'm with your buddy; given the choice of one of those or a K3S, I'd pick the K3S without hesitation and without looking back.

I just wish that we'd start getting rigs out of Tennessee again, and soon.

[N8YX]

One wonders. They just "upgraded" the K3 to K3S a couple of years ago, so would a new rig, aka K4, be far behind?
I just wish that we'd start getting rigs out of Tennessee again, and soon.

Colorado (DZ-Kit) is starting to look better all the time.

I like the looks and ergos of that rig. Reminds me of the CPI CP-2000, arguably one of the best SSB CB rigs of all time.

[W3WN]

Colorado (DZ-Kit) is starting to look better all the time.

I like the looks and ergos of that rig. Reminds me of the CPI CP-2000, arguably one of the best SSB CB rigs of all time.
Now up to $2000 for the Sienna XL kit? And they're only at the point now of shipping a handful of pre-production beta units?

Yeah, the specs look good on paper... we shall see...