[Elecraft] RE: Help, I think I've killed my K1

[Jessie Oberreuter]

On Wed, 19 Feb 2003, Morrow, Michael A. wrote:

> John wrote:
>
> >  ... the K1 would not switch on.  No LCD or LED or relay
> >  clicking on powering up.
> >
> > I've opened the rig and checked the following:
> >
> > 2. +6v and +8v regulated power supplies seem OK.
>
> Are you absolutely sure the front panel board 6 volt regulator U4 is
> working?  Are there 12 volts in and 6 volts out at FP U4?  Symptoms 4, 5,
> and 6 below could be due to no output voltage from FP U4.

     I had a very similar thing happen about two years ago and the culprit
was the 6v regulator.

     The K1 was near the transmatch and antenna cables.  It was powered
up, but not connected to the antenna.  We were tuning up a sort of loop
antenna, and when the match hit, the little K1 started flashing and
clicking.  I reached up and turned it off without a thought.  When I tried
to use it a few minutes later, it didn't work.  We we able to quickly
track the problem to the head (we had a spare K1).  With the broken head,
it would start consuming current at an exponential rate.  On inspection,
the regulator was actually cracked.  My guess is that the RF got in and
confused the regulator.  It sacrificed itsef and lost the battle with heat
in the process :).  I replaced it, and the rig has been running fine ever
since!