[Elecraft] K3 - PA Temp Unstable

[Fred Jensen]

Hmmm ... I don't have a PA Temp problem, but ...

Occasionally, a tap or hold on a switch will cause some other action 
other than the desired one.  During NAQP SSB, I was running KPA500 off 
but with the KAT500 [KAT3 bypassed].  The 500 was having some problems 
on 160, so I bypassed it and was going to try the KAT3.  When I held the 
ATU switch to turn it on, the AGC shut off.  First time that's ever 
happened.  My hearing is very bad [disappeared one night on a mountain 
on the other side of the planet in my 20's], but believe me, it was LOUD 
in the phones.  Took about an hour for my ears to recover.

Is this symptomatic of the "Gold Pins Problem?"

K3 S/N 642, I built it and basically, it works perfectly except for this 
anomaly.  Next time I decide to use the KAT3, I'll take the cans off first.

73,

Fred K6DGW
- Northern California Contest Club
- CU in the 2014 Cal QSO Party 4-5 Oct 2014
- www.cqp.org

Anomaly [ah-NOM-ah-lee] n.  A term used by NASA to indicate anything 
from a burned out light bulb to the rocket landing pointy end down 
outside Phoenix.

On 1/21/2014 9:36 AM, KENT TRIMBLE wrote:
> To validate Wayne's suggestion . . .
>
> K3 serial numbers 008 and 021 both exhibited this problem within two
> years of their 2007 manufacture, and both were cured with the gold-pin
> replacement fix.
>
> Neither have exhibited any further misbehavior in the intervening years.