[Elecraft] K3 Repair

[Wilson Lamb]

Hi Bert and Everyone,
That was a prophetic post!
My friend, who has assembled two K3, came over and we replicated all the symptoms, problems still present.
We opened the rig and installed the magic jumper that bypasses the 100W amp.
All was well, RX and TX!!
Then we reinstalled the amp, connected the circuit breaker, and all was well again!!
Our only theory is "dirty pin"!
It is worth noting that turning off the amp did not restore low power operation. Apparently, the magic jumper completes some circuits needed in both XMIT and RCV,
We checked the firmware date and found it was current, but I have no idea how it got updated. I've had the rig for years and have never done an update.
SO, after a celebratory beer, we have declared victory and I no longer need service, though I'd still like to know if there is an alternative to shipping to CA?
73,
Wilson
W4BOH


On Sat, 10 May, 2025 at 1:28 PM, n4cw at aol.com <n4cw at aol.com> wrote:
 

To: wilson lamb



Sorry about your K3 misfortune! I just wanted to tell you that I had an R-599 back in the late 70's or early 80's. The receiver overloaded VERY easily, but I absolutely LOVED the gear drive on the main dial! It was better than any other receiver I had ever used...smooth with no backlash whatsoever! 

As for the K3, I have three of them (serial numbers in 1500 and two in 8000 range) and never had a major failure.I have every mod installed that Elecraft's.
come up with for that rig. So I don't consider failures imminent. 
My first thought would be for you not to be "gun shy" about opening 'er up, removing cables, plugging 'em back in, doing the same with all the plug-in boards, including the finals, and maybe even replacing the battery! That won't hurt, and it's cheap!
Good luck.
Bert, N4CW 






On Saturday, May 10, 2025 at 01:12:33 PM EDT, Wilson Lamb via Elecraft <elecraft at mailman.qth.net<mailto:elecraft at mailman.qth.net>> wrote: 






It's finally happened to me too!

Last night I talked for a few seconds before realizing My antenna was disconnected for storms.

After a few seconds, the K3 gave a strenuous bunch of beeps, a flashing err message, and wouldn't stop.

Cycling power stopped the excitement but now I have NO RF out and NO RX signals.

In the excitement of the moent, I didn't think to reember the error code and it won't come back.

It's hard to believe that a few seconds, literally, blew up this veteran rig, serial in the 3K range!

Much fiddling and reading the book has produced no improvement, so I think I have a hard error.

I'm no stranget to circuitry or troubleshooting, but really have no interest in plunging into the morass that is the K3 guts. Not to mention that, at almost 84, I may not live long enough to get through it.









The only observations I have are that keying and RX options, like filter adjustment are working.

If I talk on SSB, I get ALC indication.

In FM mode, the RX hiss comes up VERY loud, while audio out in all other modes is very low, even at max gain.

Main and SUB RX act the same.





SO, does anyone have any advice about what to do next (too soon for recycling)?

Is Elecraft providing reasonable turnaround time on this sort of repair?

Is there quality service available closer to the east coast?

Should I worry about hexes and avoid turning on my spare K3?





I have some level one checking lined up with an experienced friend, but doubt it will show us much.

The loss of both TX output and receive sensitivity points to something common to RX and TX, but who knows???

Thanks,

Wilson

W4BOH





PS: My Kenwood T-599 and R-599, from 1975 or so, are online now, if anyone wants to talk to me via the ether.

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