[Elecraft] K3 receiver troubleshooting

[Rick Stealey]

Guy, thanks for the tip.  I will give it a try.
A relay in the kxv3 rev 2 failed, an Omron part.  It is now obsolete.
Elecraft sells a new rev 3 version of the kxv3 for $88 as an upgrade.  You trade in your defective module. 

The failure occurred during the night that we had electrical storms so I assumed some solid state part in the rx path had probably gotten zapped.
But we could inject a weak signal after the kxv3 and hear it, but not before it.  Of course that sounds like a simple diagnosis, and it is when you are reading the final outcome, but not when your rig is spread out on the bench.

> From: k2av.guy at gmail.com
> Date: Wed, 16 Jul 2014 16:06:24 -0400
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 receiver troubleshooting
> To: rstealey at hotmail.com
> CC: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
> 
> On Wed, Jul 16, 2014 at 10:58 AM, Rick Stealey <rstealey at hotmail.com> wrote:
> > Thanks to all who offered helpful suggestions.  They were all via email - you notice there were no helpful postings on the reflector.  Anyway, it's working again and I'm a happy camper.
> 
> I note you did not post what the actual solution was. You are the only
> source for that information.
> 
> Just a reminder that the Elecraft reflector is not an Elecraft
> technical support email address. While Elecraft employees may post
> here from time to time to answer email on the reflector, there is no
> guarantee that Elecraft employees or Elecraft owners will answer a
> particular question. For Elecraft help from Elecraft employees one
> should use support at elecraft.com or k3support at elecraft.com with issues.
> These emails are answered during normal business days and hours.
> 
> Reflector readers are not under contract to Elecraft to answer posts,
> nor is there a requirement that someone who does answer a reflector
> post must do so on the reflector.
> 
> Personally, I rarely offer help across this or any other reflector any
> more, because it is too hard to keep track of helping email threads. I
> set up a new folder with an intelligent name for a corresponder with
> filters to put new mail from him/her in that folder. Not putting that
> help conversation on the reflector also avoids trash talk (both on and
> off reflector) from a certain kind of reflector user which otherwise
> is a real and ugly disincentive. I will sometimes convert to telephone
> conversations if the writing becomes too complex. All that goes on
> without a clue on a reflector I was there.
> 
> I would say that it's up to the person who asked for help to post the
> eventual solution on the reflector. This makes the answer compact and
> only relates the answer that actually worked. And it cuts down on
> noise when someone is later searching archives for a solution.
> 
> Clearly those who answered you off-reflector saw the post on the
> reflector and so it would seem to me that the Elecraft reflector
> worked well. But email correspondence is no match for a technical
> buddy with test equipment working right there with you on the physical
> equipment. :>)
> 
> As to the schematics, using the current Adobe Reader to display the
> schematic PDF's, the search function will find all the occurrences of
> a wire label very quickly. I have found Elecraft schematics **very
> easy** to navigate and use with Adobe Reader. I decidedly prefer
> Elecraft schems to the microscopic lines in the paper schematic of my
> FT1000MP, and having to pencil trace a wire as it snakes around the
> page.
> 
> To find the KXV3, bring up the June, 2010 version of the K3 schematic
> PDF with a current Adobe Reader. Hit CTRL-F. This will bring up a blue
> "find" window at the upper right. Type in kxv3 and hit <enter>. You
> can repeat the search to see every instance of the characters kxv3
> (case insensitive) anywhere in the PDF.
> 
> Huge help in chasing stuff in PDF schematics.
> 
> 73, and glad you found the trouble.
> 
> Guy K2AV