[Elecraft] Re: K3 problems

[John]

Problem #2 Solved

While waiting for replacement boards, I started looking again. The 
problem was not on the mixer board as suspected, it was found on the 
Synth board. Because of the close proximity of the mixer board to the 
synth board, any movement in the immediate area caused to problem to 
come and go. A 150 ohm resistor on the bottom of the synth board was 
not soldered on one end. The lead was resting against the solder 
joint of one leg of L6. Lead soldered, problem cured.

Picture of unsoldered component. Lead near C69.

copy this link to browser. I get mail rejects if I put the entire 
link in the mail.

00497f5.netsolhost.com/radio/k3synth1.JPG

If you have or suspect intermittent s3 to s9 plus noise, it's worth a look.

One down, two to go. Still awaiting for replacement boards from 
Elecraft ( 9 days so far)

At 09:54 AM 02/03/08, John wrote:
>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.