[Elecraft] K3S no RF at CW

[kismarian at hotmail.com]

No, the TXTEST is not enabled and TX indicator is not flashing, The power level is set well above zero to 5 ,10 or 12 W. I tried DATA as FSK-Direct and PSK-Direct. With AFSK, feeding soundcard output to SSB modulator, I suppose DATA would work.

The problem appeared first as inability to calibrate. K3 Utility commanded K3S to RF power 5 W and radio responded with RF output power 0 W. TUNE was giving also 0 W RF power.

Then I set 2-Tone on and in SSB mode I got RF power as set with PWR knob. After setting MH-2 mic bias on and 2-Tone off I was able to transmit SSB to a dummy load. After setting SSB+CW I was able to transmit CW full power (12W) to dummy load in SSB mode.

With MODE set to CW or CW-R the RF power is still at 1 bar even with VOX on and PWR knob set well above zero  to 5, 10 W. TUNE gives two dashes ("- -") on main VFO  frequency display and "0.0 W" on VFO-B. RF power and K3 Utility is still unable to calibrate. TX_INHibit is set to off. I can hear my Morse code on another radio, but the RF power is very low.

I am afraid some solder joint around DSP might have failed during the bumpy UPS truck ride on old Route 66 from California to New York.

________________________________
From: kismarian at hotmail.com <kismarian at hotmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, June 17, 2017 1:21 AM
To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: K3S no RF at CW


Yes, I have VOX enabled and FL1 with BW=2.8kHz is set as TX filter for all modes - no ERR_TXF. The K3S switches from RX to TX, the red TX LED blinks and I can hear my Morse code on another radio when TXing into dummy load. Just output power in CW mode is minuscule to 1 bar on RF indicator, read as 0 or -15 dBm with K3 Utility Calibration. I measured 103 mV pk-pk on 50 Ohm load at ANT1 connector giving 26.7 uW or -15.7 dBm where 12 W should be. CONFIG:KXV3B is NORm. Everything is fine in SSB and SSB+CW mode but not with CW MODE selected.

________________________________
From: kismarian at hotmail.com <kismarian at hotmail.com>
Sent: Friday, June 16, 2017 7:17 PM
To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Subject: K3S no RF at CW


Hi Guys,

My newly built K3S is TXing fine on SSB and SSB+CW but gives only a little RF power with CW or DATA MODE selected. The EE_INIT or reload of DSP 2.88 and upgrade to beta FW ver 5.60 does not help. I cannot find older FW on Elecraft website to check out. The DSP outputs only a very small 15kHz signal in CW MODE. The TUNE and Calibration insert CW carrier and of course fail. TX_ALC off did not help either. Would you have any ideas how to fix this problem?

Thanks,

Marian, WS9M