[Elecraft] K3 doesn't receive

[David Hachadorian]

Does your K3 have gold front panel pins?  The older tinned pins caused a 
lot of intermittent problems.  I think the changeover to gold happened 
around serial #5500.

Before I replaced mine with gold, I got so I could remove the front 
panel, spray the tin pins with DeoxIT, and reassemble the radio in under 
20 minutes. It was like a Wood Brothers NASCAR pit stop.

GL!

Dave Hachadorian, K6LL
Yuma, AZ


On 1/27/2025 2:31 PM, n0tt1 at juno.com wrote:
> Hi Gents,
>
> My K3 has a problem and it's intermittent.  Maybe someone
> has had the same issue and knows of a possible remedy.
> Here are the symptoms:
> 1.  Switch on radio.  Nothing being received except I can
>       hear the neighbor's electric fencer and I can hear *some* "normal"
>       powerline noise.  NO signals heard on the AM Broadcast Band
>       which is very unusual.  It's like the signals that need to be
>       processed/demodulated aren't.
> 2.  Radio doesn't transmit when the no receive problem occurs.
> 3.  Turn off radio...
> 4.  Turn radio on and everything is normal, sometimes.
> 5.  It doesn't seem to matter if the radio is warmed up or not.
> 6.  Voltage to the radio is okay at all times.
> 7.  Audio out is okay at all times., i.e it isn't totally dead.
> 8.  Gently "banging" on the radio doesn't help...connections all
>       okay in back of the radio.
> 9.  I can hear some noise increase/decrease when the RX pre-amp
>       is switched in/out.
> 10.  The attached P3 sometimes won't update either when the freq
>         is changed...recycle the K3's power switch and then all okay
>         with the P3....might be a separate issue.
> 11.  Other bands have the same "no receive" problem.
>
> So...any ideas to help me zero-in on something to check first after
> I open the covers?
>
> Thanks,
> Charlie, N0TT
>
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