[Elecraft] K3 intermittent RX drop-out

[Stefan Heck]

Hi Don,
Thanks for the reply. Yes, I have rules out all other causes but the K3. It
does not receive on any HF band (or only with about 40 dB attenuation) when
the problem is present. My first thought was also the XVTR but it is
definitely not the cause.

73, Stefan (LA0BY)



-----Original Message-----
From: Don Wilhelm [mailto:w3fpr at embarqmail.com] 
Sent: 24. mai 2014 14:36
To: Stefan Heck; elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 intermittent RX drop-out

Stefan,

You have not only the K3 in the receive path, but also the transverter,
coax, and perhaps a sequencer.

Have you tried changing the coax to the transverter IN jack?
Often problems of that nature are caused by faulty coax.
Have you ruled out a bad contact in your transverter or other external
switching?
Does the K3 receive at your IF frequency if an antenna is connected to the
SO-239 jack?

If you have an alternate source of 28 MHz signal (signal generator or an
antenna that will receive even noise on 28 MHz), try connecting that to the
K3 transverter input to see if the problem is in the K3 or something
external.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 5/24/2014 4:42 AM, Stefan Heck wrote:
> Hi gents,
>
> Since fall 2011 I am happy to own the basic version of the K3, with 
> the only extras being the KXV3A transverter interface, some CW filter 
> and the KDVR3 voice recorder. I have been using the K3 once or twice 
> each month only as IF unit for a 2 m XVTR. So I am not using the 
> SO-239 rear socket. The K3 worked very fine for almost 2 years but 
> started then to exhibit intermittent drop-outs of the RX signal. The 
> path was not completely gone, just had extra attenuation of 30-40 dB. 
> Transmission seemed never affected. Initially it resembled a hanging 
> contact of a T/R-relay, and could be cured by pushing the PTT once or
twice.
>
>   
>