[Elecraft] Problem with K3 #353 at Field Day

[Hector Padron]

I agree with Dave,I had in the first half an hour a problem at FD with my K3 and it was a "Pyramid" PS that had a poor regulation,the K3 quit and it went off by itself and few mins later we figured out after powering it back that voltage at the K3 display was droping from 13.8 to 12V when keying on CW at 110W out,so we switched PS to an Astron 35A and it remained at 13.8V droping only 200mV.Then I spent 6 hours with no problem at all with it.
Aparently voltage regulation is very important to keep the K3 up and running properly.My two cents to the topic.
 
AD4C
 


"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits".. -- Albert Einstein

--- On Tue, 6/30/09, David Y. <w7aqk at cox.net> wrote:


From: David Y. <w7aqk at cox.net>
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Problem with K3 #353 at Field Day
To: "James R. Kauten, MD" <kauten at atnex.net>, Elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Date: Tuesday, June 30, 2009, 3:21 AM


Jim,

Is the K3 working correctly again now that you have it back home???  If so, 
I would question the power setup used on Field Day.  Did you happen to check 
the voltages the K3 was seeing?  Lots of times on Field Day power 
connections are questionable.  The K3 does not like low voltages, which can 
often be the case on an outing like that.  The fact that the other K3's 
worked O.K. may not be indicative, since you may have had a different 
connection setup, or even been on a different power connection.

Just a thought!

Dave W7AQK

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "James R. Kauten, MD" <kauten at atnex.net>
To: <Elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Monday, June 29, 2009 10:02 AM
Subject: [Elecraft] Problem with K3 #353 at Field Day


We had 3 K-3’s at our field day QTH this year.  Two worked flawlessly,
however, mine; #353 developed some front panel issues.  I have had no
problems with my K3 prior to this.  The rig would work as usual for a
period of time then with no error messages; the front panel controls
would not function normally.  Here is a summary of what happens:

Band—cannot switch bands up or down
Mode—cannot switch mode
Menu and Disp—do not work
Xmit and ATU tune-- do not work
RX Antàturns on NB
Antàturns on NR
All potentiometers work
Push function of 4 knobs, shift, width, speed/mic, and CMP/PWR do not
work
VFO A knob—changes VFO A
VFO B knob—changes VFO B
A/B, REV, AàB—do not work
PREàturns on notch, toggles between auto and manual
AGCàplays contents of M3 voice keyer when on SSB
Xfilàshows M1—M4 in display window
NB, NR, NTCH—do not work
SPOT—toggles between LO/HI and Shift/Width (shows LO and FC)
CWT—toggles PWR and CMP settings in display
AFX—toggles between LO/HI and Shift/Width (shows HI and BW)
VàM, MàV—do not work
M1, M2, M3, M4, REC—do not work
RIT, XIT, CLR—do not work
None of the long press functions work (yellow labels)

I can power the rig off and on.  The rig will intermittently begin
working properly for a while then the front panel repeats what is
described above.  We had to remove this rig from the operating
position 20 minutes before the start of field day.  Heat is not a
problem as we were in an air-conditioned room and we had not been
generating RF.

I am running firmware version 3.19 and reloaded it after the first
time the front panel locked.  I have looked through the manual but see
no mention of these phenomena.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.
________________
Jim Kauten, MD
kautenmd at me.com
kauten at atnex.net
________________





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