[Elecraft] K3 Mystery Problem

[David Yarnes]

Hi All,

There are at least two of us here in Tucson with K3's.  I have #96, and 
John, K7SVV, has #148.

Recently, my K3 developed a problem where it wouldn't turn off using the 
power button.  At first it would turn off, but cycle back on by itself after 
a couple of seconds.  Then it just wouldn't power off.  The LCD display 
would go blank when you pushed the power button to turn it off, but the 
backlighting would stay on.  The radio had to be disconnected from the power 
supply in order to completely turn the radio off.  When the power supply was 
re-connected, the K3 would come on immediately.

A couple of days later, K7SVV began experiencing the same problem with his 
K3.  Both of us were exchanging emails with Elecraft support, but nothing 
they suggested seemed to solve or clearly identify the problem.  Both of us 
made successful firmware updates, but that didn't make any difference 
either.  The performance of the radios was not otherwise affected.  They 
both worked just fine.  They just wouldn't turn off.

Then, as suddenly as the problem appeared, it disappeared!  Now, both K3's 
are working A-O.K.  We don't know what caused this problem to start or stop, 
but one possibility could be static electricity.  According to Elecraft 
support, we are the only two people who have experienced this problem, at 
least as far as they know.

So, my question is this--has anyone else had any problem whatsoever with 
their K3 not powering up or down correctly?  Possibly someone else out there 
did have the problem, or a similar problem, but perhaps it stopped before 
you felt the need to report it as a problem.  If anyone has experienced any 
kind of issue like this, we would like to hear about it.  It just seems 
incredibly strange that the only two occurances of this would be with two 
people only a couple of miles apart.  Maybe the Bermuda Triangle has moved!

Dave W7AQK