[Elecraft] K3 New fw loader

[Joe Subich, W4TV]

Don, 

> The date of manufacture (or shipment) is a much better indicator 
> of vintage for K3s during that backlog period.
> 
> Mine is of the December 2007 vintage and it has the same behavior 
> as Brian's which is June '08.  It would appear that many earlier 
> K3s do not 

My first unit is between yours an Brian's ... I can't see the 
failure as date of manufacture related.  S/N 622 was a kit - 
staged in the factory in early April 2008 and received almost 
exactly one year ago.  

However, out of curiosity, I connected the second K3 (S/N 1450 - 
kit, manufactured in August 2008) and updated its firmware.  The 
second unit exhibits the "failure." Both units have identical 
options and all settings are as nearly identical as I can make 
them from memory.  The "failure" will be a real PITA for RTTY 
operator unless one is using AFSK with a non-standard mark 
frequency! 

73, 

   ... Joe, W4TV 
 




> -----Original Message-----
> From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net 
> [mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Don Wilhelm
> Sent: Friday, April 17, 2009 9:07 AM
> To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 New fw loader
> 
> 
> Joe and all,
> 
> It seems much of Elecraft has gone to Visalia for the 
> weekend, so we may 
> not get any further ideas until they return.
> 
> The serial number is not the best indicator of the K3 vintage until 
> after the extreme backlog was cleared last year.  If you 
> recall, factory 
> assembled K3s spent longer at Aptos than the kits, and serial numbers 
> were pre-assigned at the time the order was pulled.  The date of 
> manufacture (or shipment) is a much better indicator of 
> vintage for K3s 
> during that backlog period.
> 
> Mine is of the December 2007 vintage and it has the same behavior as 
> Brian's which is June '08.  It would appear that many earlier 
> K3s do not 
> display the same behavior.
> 
> *If* the Data mode is stored in EEPROM, then I do have a good 
> guess for 
> the source, but we will have to wait on Wayne and Lyle for that 
> information - patience is good, the problem has been 
> identified and it 
> will not be ignored.
> 
> Many thanks to Brian for spotting this.  My data mode stays in DATA A 
> normally so I for one would not have noticed in normal operation.
> 
> 73,
> Don W3FPR
> 
> Joe Subich, W4TV wrote:
> >> Perhaps if we knew which S/N's are involved that might also
> >> help unravel what's going on.
> >>
> >> Mine is #1129.  Another reported his #980 had it.   W3FPR is 
> >> seeing it also.  I believe he has an even older K3.
> >>     
> >
> > I don't understand it either ... I've been TRYING to duplicate
> > the symptoms and can't make the rig come up in anything except 
> > FSK D when that's where it was set.  S/N is 622 but I've heard 
> > of "failures" with both higher and lower s/n. 
> >
> > 73,
> >
> >    ... Joe, W4TV
> >  
> >
> >
> >   
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: Brian Alsop [mailto:alsopb at nc.rr.com]
> >> Sent: Friday, April 17, 2009 6:36 AM
> >> To: lists at subich.com
> >> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 New fw loader
> >>
> >>
> >> Joe,
> >>
> >> There has to be a common failure mode for those of us
> >> experiencing this.
> >>
> >> Rumors have it that some EEPROMs are slow to write for series
> >> of boards.
> >>  
> >> Perhaps if we knew which S/N's are involved that might also
> >> help unravel 
> >> what's going on.
> >>
> >> Mine is #1129.  Another reported his #980 had it.   W3FPR is 
> >> seeing it
> >> also.  I believe he has an even older K3.
> >>
> >> The odd thing is that whatever triggered this,  can't be
> >> cured by going 
> >> back to older FW versions and older FW loaders.
> >> It's like an EEPROM memory bit is bad or not being written on 
> >> shutdown.. 
> >>   Behaves like what you get when turning off power supply 
> rather than 
> >> the K3 power switch.
> >>
> >> A mystery indeed.
> >>
> >> 73 de Brian/K3KO
> >>
> >> Joe Subich, W4TV wrote:
> >>
> >>     
> >>> Strange ... I'm also running 3.10 loaded with the new utility. I 
> >>> loaded 3.10, DSP1 2.15, DSP2, 2.15, FP 1.00 and the data tables 
> >>> twice.  Power was cycled power between the two uploads.
> >>>
> >>> I have not checked the second K3 ... it's offline at the moment 
> >>> waiting for me to make a couple of the updates.
> >>>
> >>> 73,
> >>>
> >>>   ... Joe, W4TV
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>       
> >
> >
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