[Elecraft] RE KE: issue with installation of K3EXREF interface

[Edward R Cole]

Jim,

Take a look at the photos of my EXREF installation:
http://www.kl7uw.com/K3EXREF.htm

in particular the sma cable in photo one showing components of the 
kit, and the photo at the bottom showing it installed in the radio 
(case off).  You can see the brass compression ferrule.  That holds 
the shield of the coax in contact to the connector so with it broken 
off you may not have a good RF ground connection with the coax.  That 
would result in 10-MHz not reaching the EXREF board at high enough 
level.  Pretty much the same effect as not having the sma connector 
threaded on tight enough.

Why the ferrule broke could be either you overtightened the nut 
holding the sma connector to the back panel or more likely the cable 
twisted while trying to tighten the nut.  How did you hold the back 
of the connector when installing the nut?

You probably need to replace the cable assy but talk with Elecraft first.

73, Ed - KL7UW
PS: sorry the other photos are blurry.


-------------------------
From: "Jim Spears" <n1nk at cox.net>
To: <elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: [Elecraft] KE:  issue with installation of K3EXREF interface

While installing the K3EXREF SMA-TMP cable, I ran into an interesting issue
which I do not yet know if it is a problem or just interesting.

There is a ferrule or something similar over the cable where it attaches to
the SMA fitting that is installed on the back panel.  while tightening the
hex nut down, I must have torqued something as the ferrule broke into two
pieces and fell off.  I finished off the installation and verified that the
GPSDO does provide a suitable 10 MHz signal into the radio.

So the question becomes:  is this interesting or a problem?   I took a close
look and the problem might be improper grounding of the shield to the
chassis at the SMA connector end.

If it is deemed to be a potential problem, I can request a new cable from
support.  It will not take long to replace the cable.

Jim/N1NK


73, Ed - KL7UW
http://www.kl7uw.com
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