[Elecraft] K2 headset jack

[Don Wilhelm]

Stan,

Having dissected a couple of those headphone jacks, I can say that there 
is a little plastic lever arm inside that operates the switch to close 
the contacts that are wired in series with the speaker - that little 
plastic arm is what breaks (at least in the ones I have examined) - 
nothing electrical at all, just mechanical failure.

As with all plastic mechanical failure, a lot depends on the age, amount 
of use, as well as the environment where the plastic lives - I can 
imagine that it would fail more often in areas of high ozone 
concentrations and higher levels of atmospheric acid (acid rain 
'fallout').  I do not know the plastic type used in this jack, but I do 
know that it fails on occasion - and some folks seem to experience 
multiple failures - maybe it is the environment, but that is just a 
guess on my part, no research is to be implied.

Replace the headphone jack and all will be well again.

73,
Don W3FPR

Stan Rife wrote:
> 	I plugged in my headset and used it the other day. When I unplugged
> it I had no audio from the external speaker jack, which is what I am using
> with an external speaker. Even when I unplugged the external speaker I still
> have no audio. The only way I can get audio now is the plug something in to
> the headset jack.
>
> 	What happens to these headset jacks? Is there a contact breaking off
> in there? It was never intermittent and always worked fine up until this
> incident. I'll have to replace it I am sure, I am just curious because I
> know several people have had trouble with this jack. It seems the life span
> on them is only a couple of years or so, at least for those of us that have
> the problem. 
>
>