[Elecraft] K3 Repair alternative

[Edward R Cole]

Absolutely!

Try to narrow down where the problem is (call Elecraft for help with 
this if you are not able to do it on your own).  Saves you and 
Elecraft time in T/S.  One of the most difficult things I had, as a 
repair technician in my 45-years, was getting the customer to give me 
good input on what was wrong so I could start.  Since the K3 is 
modularized narrowing down to a board makes it faster-cheaper to fix.

On one job many years ago I worked in engineering as a tech so did 
the early prototype testing, preproduction testing, so that when the 
unit went into production we were called to provide instruction to 
the line QC techs on what to look for with certain symptoms.  Having 
worked on over 300 units we were thoroughly familiar with every 
component and bug.  I'm sure the Elecraft techs are similarly expert in T/S.

I'm also sure the tech's appreciate helping you on-line as it is more 
efficient.
Its nice to be retired and only fixing my own stuff!

73, Ed - KL7UW

------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 2 Jul 2010 04:41:37 -0700 (PDT)
From: Hector Padron <ad4c2008 at yahoo.com>
Subject: [Elecraft] K3 Repair alternative
To: Gary Gregory <garyvk4fd at gmail.com>
Cc: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Message-ID: <137727.13865.qm at web45815.mail.sp1.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
"The biggest difference I hear with Elecraft is that a lot of the problems
can be resolved quicker if the problem can be isolated to a board so that a
simple swap can be done and thus eliminates return to the factory for
repairs."
?
?
And that was the case with my K3,.my own mistake made the RX audio PA 
to be damaged.A simple call to Elecraft and a short talk to Dale 
with?my promise to send back my damaged DSP board,he sent me next day 
a new DSP board that I got in just two days in spite off the distance 
between CA and FL,.two more days to make time to install the new 
board and that was it,my K3 working even better than new because the 
new board came with all the mods done,price? Just $14 from that new 
board ?plus $10 more to ship the bad board back to them.Total bill 
for me,only $24. Time frame? 4 days, my radio was fixed.
This is an option guys you should consider,talk to the tech on the 
phone,most of the times by their experience,they can tell where the 
problem is and which board has to be replaced,so deal with them as I 
did,if you don't feel confident to replace it by yourself,get a tech 
that you know in your location and pay him to do the swap or maybe a 
friend of yours will do it by free. I am sure it will be faster this 
way to have your K3 repaired than send it to them,don't forget these 
guys has too many projects on hands,its not easy to keep up a 
production of new radios,new P3,repair,mods,etc I think they are 
doing a great job no matter what.
?
AD4C
K3 # 2192



73, Ed - KL7UW, WD2XSH/45
======================================
BP40IQ   500 KHz - 10-GHz   www.kl7uw.com
EME: 144-600w, 432-100w, 1296-60w, 3400-fall 2010
DUBUS Magazine USA Rep dubususa at hotmail.com
======================================