[Elecraft] K3-Intermittant Power Out

[Mike Flowers]

Hi Steve,

I had a similar situation where my K3’s receiver would go deaf intermittently. 

I was advised to open up the K3 and ensure that all the TMP plugs were firmly seated in their sockets. 

As I did this procedure, I did not ‘feel’ that any of the plugs was not secure, but apparently one was.  Afterwards, the problem has not reoccurred. 

It’s easy to do, harmless if you’re careful, and worth a shot. 

-- 73 de Mike Flowers, K6MKF, NCDXC - "It's about DX!" 

> On May 30, 2026, at 08:31, Steve Mollman via Elecraft <elecraft at mailman.qth.net> wrote:
> 
> 
> Intermittent no power out ontransmit. My K3 has developed an intermittent problem of no power output whenin transmit mode. 
> 
> 1.     The situation occurs in all modes (CW, Data and SSB) atrandom times varying from 15 minutes after turning the unit on to an hour or solater. The “TX” LED lights and there is a side tone but no power out isgenerated. 
> 
> 2.     I am sometimes (but not always) able to restorefunctionality by cycling the unit off and then on.  If that doesn’t work,turning the unit off and letting it set for about an hour usually restoresfunctionality. 
> 
> 3.     Switching antennas and using a dummy load results in nochange.  The no power out situation persists. 
> 
> The unit is factory built, servicedand upgraded to most K3S standards and equipped with the second receiver ATUand additional filters. The gold contacts were factory installed. 
> 
> I did talk to Elecraft about it andtheir only suggestion was to tighten the screws on the bottom of thecase.  The screws were all tight and there was no change.  
> 
> I have always hated intermittentfailures as they are usually very difficult to isolate.  Does anybody haveany ideas? 
> 
> Steve Mollman-KD9HL
> 
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