[Elecraft] K3_no_xmit,_no_receive? FIXED! (for now)

[Dave New, N8SBE]

OK, I took the top cover off on the bench, and wiggled some of the TMP
connectors on the new synth boards, and viola!  Rx and Tx are back.

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find which, if any, connector was
flakey, as additional wiggling now doesn't make the issue re-appear.

So, off to the NA QSO party I go, better late than never...

73,

-- Dave, N8SBE

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3_no_xmit,_no_receive?
From: "Dave New, N8SBE" <n8sbe at arrl.net>
Date: Sat, August 01, 2015 4:38 pm
To: cx7tt at 4email.net, elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Cc: k3support at elecraft.com

Did you ever solve this?

My K3 just died, after being left on overnight. It was working fine
last evening, and this afternoon, I came down to the shack to start the
NA QSO party CW contest, and no receive, no transmit.

I've tried a number of things, including re-loading all the firmware,
with the requisite reboots, and restoring the configuration file I had
saved just before I took the rig out to W8UM field day. During Field
Day, we started getting ERR 12V errors, and the rig started
spontaneously shutting down, coming up in low power (less than 10W). We
had to finish operating the weekend at the 10 W level. Later, I
discovered that the rig was suffering from the dreaded tin-plated
connector issue, so I ordered the connector upgrade kit, and installed
it a couple of weeks ago. All seemed fine at that point, and we did use
the rig to make about 50 contacts (at full power) at the Detroit Maker
Faire N8M station last weekend.

So, here's what I know, so far:

1) When I change the filter/DSP controls, I can hear the receiver noise
change accordingly, so it seems that the receive chain is intact at
least from the crystal filters to the audio out.

2) I have the subreceiver installed, and I hear (don't hear?) the
identical things on it, so it seems likely that it is something that is
upstream to both the main and subreceiver, or something they both share
(like a mixer/oscillator).

3) I've tried all bands, and none of them are working, BUT

4) I can see signals on the P3 on all bands, so the signals are getting
at least to the IF takeout for the P3. I can see signals on ANT 1, ANT2
(I have the ATU), Rx ANT and on the XVTR IN with the KXV3 set to test
mode.

5) In all of these cases transmit shows 0 W out. The transmit audio
works on USB/LSB, showing ALC and compression readings on the meter.
With VOX on, the CW paddle switches the K3 into transmit mode, the TX
LED lights, and the CW decode shows the transmitted characters.

6) I tried to do an RF calibration with the K3 utility, and it seems to
complete, but the K3 displays "E 0400E2 ERR DSE", and I have to power
down/up the radio to get rid of the error message. This might just be a
red herring, as I've read messages that indicate this could be an
overrun error or some other communications error when using the KUSB
adapter (which I'm using on a Windows 7 PC).

In summary, the K3 serial 3105 seems to behave completely normally,
including all controls and displays, except that I cannot hear signals
from the antenna, although they are displayed clearly on the P3, and
transmit power is nil.

Any suggestions would be most welcome.

73,

-- Dave, N8SBE

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [Elecraft] K3 no xmit, no receive?
From: cx7tt at 4email.net
Date: Sat, May 30, 2015 11:08 am
To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Cc: k3support at elecraft.com

Hola,

I was scheduled to operate my K3 as a remote for the WPX contest.
Problems with VPN at remote site delayed that setup. As contest time
approached, I decided to deploy my Buddipole out the apartment window
and was gonna play around with 100w and dipole config.on 15m.

However, I could not hear any signals, at all. Nothing but white noise
on all bands. The Buddipole ends in a BNC which I had connected to
adaptor for PL259. Tried Ant 1 and Ant 2 with no luck. Thinking adaptor
may be bad, I hook BNC to RX in but no sigs there.

 This morning, more troubleshooting, I discovered that there is no power
 out (although I was tricked as ATU was finding perfect SWR , HI).

K3 has not been used for over a year and when I brought it to HP, it was
inside my rollaboard so I had a watchful eye on it during the trip. The
only thing I can think of, is perhaps one or more of the circuit boards
was dislodged due to vibrations of rolling around the airport or within
the airplane(s) themselves. 9 hours on B767 then 3 on a
 B737.

Before I open up the K3 and start messing around inside. any suggestions
or tips on where I should start? I am thinking of pulling circuit boards
then resetting them, just in case one or more was 'jiggled' loose during
transport.

73 Tom HP1/K6CT aka CX7TT

--

______________________________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post: mailto:Elecraft at mailman.qth.net

This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Message delivered to n8sbe at arrl.net