[Elecraft] K3 problems

[John]

Has anybody on the list seen either of these problems. This is a copy 
of what I sent to the service dept.

received K3/10 kit on Feb 28, Ser#501.

Assembly went well. I have assembled two K2's and a K1 with no 
problems. I used an anti static mat and wrist band throughout assembly.

Problem#1

Upon power up, the K3 will not recognize the KAT3. I receive the ERR 
IO1 msg. I removed the KAT3, powered up and did not get the ERR IO1 
msg. Reinstalled the KAT3, power up,  get the ERR IO1 msg. I went 
through the configuration steps, no help. I tried switching between 
ant 1&2, and received a ATU not installed msg. Assume a faulty KAT3?

Problem#2

This one is a booger. I have a horrible S8 to S9 plus noise (sounds 
like line noise), at various places throughout the 1.8 to at least 25 
mhz. It shows up on the 160 thru 40 hams bands, misses 30M, shows up 
again on 20M and 17M, misses 15M, shows up on 12M, clean on 10 &6M. 
Using a non metallic tuning tool, if I put pressure on the little 
mixer board I can cause it to go away or change. The sensitive area 
is the component, looks like a transistor, three leads, that looks 
like a pop rivet in the center. lower left on the board when looking 
in from the front. I can't read a component number on the board. If I 
put pressure on this component I can cause the noise to go away, or 
shift off the freq I'm listening to. I removed, inspected, and 
reinstalled the mixer board a couple of times, no change. The noise 
must be being generated prior to the roofing filters because changing 
the filters has effect on the noise, DSP does too.

There are no external antenna connections, the only connection to the 
K3 is the power. The PS is a Astron and it powers my K2's and K1, so 
it's not PS noise.

If you want, I can phone you and let you listen to the noise.....

Did I get the lemon?



John
k7up
K3, almost, maybe
K2's 2012, 2223
K1 637
Things are more like they are now then they've ever been before.