[Elecraft] K2 display failure

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

Hi, Bob! 

That sort of behavior is almost always caused by a missed solder joint. The
lead lying in the plated solder pad hole made good enough connection for a
while, but it is getting more oxidized over time and so the contact is
getting worse and more intermittent. 

Don, W3FPR, will certaily pick up your message too, and may have some
specific places to look, but I'd start with the board the display is mounted
on and study all the solder joints through a magnifier. 

Ron AC7AC

-----Original Message-----
Hi Gang,
I have been tolerating an intermitant problem with the display on my K2 
for several months now and finally I've decided to dig in and fix it. 
Here is the problem, After powering up the radio, the LCD display will 
go blank. Sometimes after 5 minutes , sometimes after 45 minutes. The 
S-meter still works fine and the audio from the radio seems ok. I can 
change frequencies and I get the expected sounds from the speaker. When 
I first started experiencing this , I merely powered the radio off and 
then on and the display returned to normal operation. However, now the 
problem is happening with greater frequency. Sometimes recently, I sit 
down and turn on  the radio I will get no LCD display and I can power it 
on and off 10 or 15 times in a row and still no display. I can come back 
10 minutes later and get the proper display on the first power up. Also 
sometimes when I change bands the display will only partially change, in 
other words the right hand side of the display doesn't change only the 
first few digits of the left side change. Many other peculiar anomalies, 
too numerous to mention, have presented themselves recently. Here is the
problem, I cant figure out a way to get a meter in the 
various places that might shed some light on this problem while the 
radio is in a failed condition. Short of disassembling the radio and 
tack soldering some enamel wire to various strategic points in the 
circuit,  reassembling the radio, waiting for a failure, to make voltage 
measurements and thereby make a reasonable guess as to where the failure 
might be. Has any one seen this problem before or have an idea on a good 
way to chase it?

Thanks in Advance,

Bob  K6GGO
_