[Elecraft] FP switches

[Don Wilhelm]

Skip,

It is common (but not too frequent) for switches to develop a bit of 
sluggishness if they are not used much.  Just how much depends on the 
environment they live in.  Often they can be restored to 'like new' 
simply by exercising the switch - maybe 40 to 50 times.
I don't think those pushbutton switches are completely hermetically sealed.

Most of my experience is with the K2 where similar pushbutton problems 
sometimes show up (again, not often even on 20 year old K2s), and more 
frequently than not, repeated exercise of the switch will cure it.

For repair, you replace the entire membrane assembly.  Not terribly 
difficult, but then the amount of difficulty is in the eye (and hands) 
of the beholder.  See the K3 Assembly Manual and reverse the relevant 
assembly steps.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 3/20/2018 7:09 PM, Fred Jensen wrote:
> I have a very early K3 [#642).  After several years, the FP switches 
> started to get a little unpredictable ... AGC might cause some other 
> unrelated action.  I had been controlling the radio from the computer 
> much of the time, something I've now stopped.  I've found that repeated 
> exercise of the switches seems to have rectified the previous behavior, 
> and those I rarely if ever use [e.g. RX ANT, ANT] still exhibit the 
> anomaly.**
> 
> I suspect these are sealed membrane-type switches, probably integral 
> with the front panel PCB?  The radio works fine.  I'm a bit reluctant to 
> disassemble the FP, it's been so long I can't remember if I had to 
> originally assemble it or it came as a unit. Anybody know if this is 
> repairable?