Elecraft, Inc. is an American manufacturer of

amateur radio Amateur radio, also known as ham radio, is the use of the radio frequency spectrum for purposes of non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, radiosport, contesting, and emergency communic ...

("ham") equipment and kits, based in

Watsonville, California Watsonville is a city in Santa Cruz County, California, located in the Monterey Bay Area of the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California. The population was 52,590 according to the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Predomi ...

. It was founded in 1998 by Wayne Burdick and Eric Swartz. The company's first product was the K2 transceiver; first prototyped in October 1997.

Products

The company is most notable for the Elecraft K3 high-performance HF

transceiver In radio communication, a transceiver is an electronic device which is a combination of a radio ''trans''mitter and a re''ceiver'', hence the name. It can both transmit and receive radio waves using an antenna, for communication purposes. The ...

, a 32-bit DSP based radio covering HF plus the 6-

meter The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its prefi ...

VHF band and the 160-meter MF band, introduced in 2008. The reception of the K3 was overwhelmingly positive, with a comprehensive review in

QST ''QST'' is a magazine for amateur radio enthusiasts, published by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL). It is a membership journal that is included with membership in the ARRL. The publisher claims that circulation of ''QST'' in the United St ...

stating that ''"The K3, in any of the available configurations, provides a high performance, modular and expandable transceiver that can fill the needs of almost anyone looking for an HF and 6 meter transceiver for home station or portable use"''. At the time of its introduction, the K3 received the highest Sherwood Engineering ranking of any amateur radio receiver. Elecraft's product lineup includes a range of QRP CW transceivers, the K2 and K3 all-mode 100 W transceiver, KX2 (80m-10m) and KX3 (160m–2m) portable transceivers, linear power amplifiers, two panadapters and a range of accessories including antenna tuners and

signal generator A signal generator is one of a class of electronic devices that generates electrical signals with set properties of amplitude, frequency, and wave shape. These generated signals are used as a stimulus for electronic measurements, typically used i ...

s. Many Elecraft products are available both as kits and as ready-built units. All offer expansion options. One K3 option, the K144XV, adds a 10-watt 2-meter internal transceiver. The KX3 can accommodate a single internal VHF transverter module. The KX3-2M adds the 2-meter band and the KX3-4M adds 4-meter band, both with 2.5-watt RF output. The 2-meter module receives 120-165 MHz, and transmits on the 2-meter amateur radio band. The 4-meter module covers 65–72 MHz. Sensitivity gradually falls off outside the ham bands, though the 2-meter module is capable of receiving 162 MHz weather-band stations and 120 MHz airport tower AM. The KX3 transceiver is a portable

software-defined radio Software-defined radio (SDR) is a radio communication system where components that have been traditionally implemented in analog hardware (e.g. mixers, filters, amplifiers, modulators/demodulators, detectors, etc.) are instead implemented by me ...

(SDR) transceiver with a full-featured knob-and-button interface. Although it is an SDR transceiver, it does not require a computer connection. The company's well regarded "K-Line" consists of the K3 transceiver, the KPA500 500W solid-state power amplifier, the KAT500 automatic antenna tuner, and the P3 panadapter. Also the P3SVGA add-on to the P3 to display the panadapter data on a large screen and the W2 HF/VHF/UHF wattmeter are sometimes considered part of the K-Line. Most recently Elecraft has introduced the "KX-Line" consisting of the KX2 and KX3 transceivers, the PX3 panadapter, and the KXPA100 100W power amplifier. In 2015, Elecraft introduced the K3S Transceiver as a direct replacement for the K3 Transceiver. The K3S is a redesign of the K3 with new or upgraded features, most of which can be back fitted to an older K3. The K3S is currently ranked 4th in overall performance by Sherwood Engineering company. In 2017 Elecraft introduced the KPA1500, a 1500 watt (full legal limit) amplifier. The KPA1500 covers the 160 through 6 meter bands. Its most notable feature is a built-in wide-range antenna tuning unit (ATU). The amplifier's power supply is housed in a separate enclosure, allowing the RF deck/control unit to be quite small relative to other full legal limit amplifiers. Elecraft’s impending release of the K4 transceiver will replace the K3S. Elecraft co-founder Eric Swartz discusses the radio in detail on the watersstanton YouTube channel.

References

External links

www.elecraft.com
nbsp;— Elecraft Inc. site
www.arrl.org/qst
nbsp;— QST magazine site
www.arrl.org
nbsp;— American Radio Relay League {{Commons category Amateur radio companies Electronics companies of the United States Technology companies established in 1998 1998 establishments in California American brands Radio manufacturers