[Elecraft] K3 No Receive, No Transmit - SOLVED

[Guy Olinger K2AV]

Vic has it correct. Thinking carefully about what I did, without ever
hurting my fingers:

I gradually insert the TMP lightly with a back and forth twisting motion
and ALWAYS wiggle the connector a little until I feel the opening for the
center conductor.  Then a slight bit more push after I'm sure the pin is in
the center. IMPORTANT and counter-intuitive:


===>>> Pushing hard on the TMP will frequently (always?) **NOT** force the
pin into the center hole if the tip is even just a little misaligned. <<<===


I think trying to force a misaligned center pin causes a lot of the finger
trauma and busted connector stuff. After correctly aligning the center pin
as above, seating the TMP is easy with the side of needle nose pliers held
flat across the flanges.

A little tool would be nice. **But if the tip is misaligned,** the
increased pressure possible from the tool would just break more things.

TMP connectors are a decent cost reduction if the folks using them are
educated to the technique.

SMA connectors? A lot of things could be better if the K3(S) was
manufactured to MIL-Spec. But what would it cost? Currently Elecraft is the
least expensive product still riding the bleeding edge of improvements in
our microscopic niche in the electronics world. We are capable of figuring
out and dealing with things like TMP connectors.

Eight years later and Yakencom is just now catching up. They certainly did
not want to, but were thrashed so badly in technical head to head
comparisons they HAD to. Elecraft technology is singularly responsible for
forcing the greatest improvement in both analog SDR hybrid and pure SDR ham
equipment across manufacturers. When JA1MP died, and the FT1000MP's were
out, Yakencom just went to sitting on their collective b*tts, and
concentrated on fluff to sell more units. Nature abhors a vacuum, and
Elecraft appeared.

These days one can't brag unless your rig is as good as a K3(S) in the tech
listings. And the legion of comparison-mongers out there will hit you on
every nit of difference on anything, CW keying shape, effectiveness of NB,
transmitting bandwidth, QSK, degree of overload in ridiculous
circumstances, yada, yada, you'll hear it about everything. Anyone sitting
on their laurels will be left in the dust. That "anyone" could potentially
include Elecraft. But thankfully Big E is still about doing things like a
vastly improved synthesizer and forever working on their firmware.

Good luck everyone, and 73,
Guy K2AV.

On Tuesday, October 20, 2015, Vic Rosenthal 4X6GP/K2VCO <k2vco.vic at gmail.com>
wrote:

> The TMP connectors are not that hard to insert, but the danger is that it
> is easy to apply too much force when they are not aligned properly, and
> damage the socket-board connection. You can lift the trace from the board
> if you are not careful (yes, I learned this the hard way).
>
> The trick is to start them by hand and make absolutely sure the center pin
> is in its socket, and then push them all the way in with a tool like very
> small needle-nose pliers or forceps.
>
>