[Elecraft] A "My K3's coming question"

[Don Wilhelm]

Bob,

The problem with the K2 headphone jack has nothing to do with neither 
mono or stereo nor with the contacts.  There is a built-in independent 
switch at the back of the jack body whose activating arm  breaks and the 
the path to the speaker remains open after the headphone plug is 
removed.  I have done postmortem disassembly of several of those jacks 
and find the same fault with all of them - the switch activating arm in 
the jack is a plastic lever and seems brittle to me.

That being said, the headphone jack in my K2 and many many others I know 
of has not failed.  Yes, the failure percentage is higher than one might 
expect, but not all of them fail.  Now, if the jack manufacturer would 
just use a less brittle material for that activating arm, the entire 
problem would be solved.

73,
Don W3FPR

Robert Tellefsen wrote:
> Lyle
> Is that rear panel mic jack a true
> tip-ring-sleeve jack or a simple mono jack?
> If simple mono, I'd be uncomfortable
> putting a stereo plug into it.  Too many
> folks have had trouble with the K2's
> headset jack.    I'm a bit leery of small
> jacks in general due to the small leaf
> springs in them.
>   
>