Well, I am happy / embarrassed to say, problem solved. Alan, your troubleshooting tips led me to the solution. I am closing the loop on this, in spite of my embarrassment, in order to possibly save someone else this problem.
The problem was simply carelessness on my part. I had installed the RF board upside down ... guess what, it physically fits either right side up or upside down .. the only apparent difference visually, from the back at least, is that the little dual-position switch ... doesn't poke out of the back slot when you install board upside down. D'oh! Flipping it right-side up solved my problem. What is odd is that it ever _sort_ of worked in the upside/down position. Well, thanks to all who offered comments ... I REALLY appreciate it. -- Joe -- WB2SSB -----Original Message----- From: Alan Bloom [mailto:n...@cds1.net] Sent: Saturday, September 11, 2010 9:04 PM To: Sanger, Joseph Cc: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] P3 Misbehaving? > and then today, it now appears that the P3 is basically deaf to the K3 ... > I see some low ampitude noise, which doesn't vary in appearance with or > without the coax cable to the IF OUT of the K3 plugged in. OM, On a K3 with the IF OUT modification, you should definitely see the noise level on the P3 go down when you disconnect the coax that goes from the K3 IF OUT to the P3 IF IN. I don't have a K3 without the mod to test with, but I'm pretty sure that, even in that case, if you turn on the K3's preamp you should still see a change in noise level when you disconnect the coax. If not, there is something wrong. First check the coax cable to be sure it is properly seated at both the K3 and P3 end. If you have another BNC coax cable available you might try it to see if the problem is a bad cable. You could also pop the top off the P3 and check the small coax cable that goes from the rear-panel amplifier board to the Front Panel board. Push with a twisting motion on the connector on each end to be sure it is well-seated in the receptacle. (On the amplifier board, support the board with your fingers while you do this to avoid flexing the board.) If none of that helps I would contact Elecraft customer support and get their recommendations on the next step. Alan N1AL On Sat, 2010-09-11 at 18:34 -0400, Sanger, Joseph wrote: > Just assembled P3 a few days ago. Having a problem that I can't seem to > solve. > > Background: Haven't done K3 OUT mod yet (SN 113 ---- fairly old) ... really > am apprehensive about opening up K3 again ... but I know I'm just being > neurotic ... will face any weekend now). > > The P3 was pretty much performing as expected ... given that I haven't done > the above mode yet, and I live in manhattan with a mediocre hamstick hung > outside my window .. I could generally see strongest stations above a lot of > noise on P3. That was good. > > But over past few days, it seems that the sensitivity of the device was > diminishing .. started to have trouble seeing the few stations that I could > actually hear above the noise on my K3 ... and then today, it now appears > that the P3 is basically deaf to the K3 ... I see some low ampitude noise, > which doesn't vary in appearance with or without the coax cable to the IF OUT > of the K3 plugged in. I am listening to a fairly strong Italian CW station > now on 20 meters now, sticking his head above the omnipresent S5-6 noise ... > armchair copy, if you will, but all I see is noise at the bottom of the P3 > screen. The center frequency tracks my K3 nicely ... but no matter how I > adjust the REF, SCALE and SPAN, all I see is noise. > > Any thoughts would be welcome. Yes, I will dive in and do the IF OUT mod, > but am trying to understand the curious behavior, and to see if it sounds > familiar to anyone. > > Thanks in advance > > -- WB2SSB > > Joseph J. 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