Absolutely. The real question ought to be: Why do we put up with the crummy little ones?
Almost every radio I've had, including the K3, has had trouble with connections at the 3.5 mm jacks. I have come to think that the choice of plug matters. Some just seem to work better than others. In the cases where I went to the trouble to diagnose it, the fault was a failure of the sleeve to make a good connection to the the jack. I suspect inferior plating and/or corrosion on the sleeve. Buffing the sleeve with a bit of paper seems to have helped some of them. It's been suggested here that the problem is that there are two types of this plug, 1/8" and 3.5 mm, the latter being slightly larger. I measured all of mine with a dial caliper and they are all 3.5 mm. So that doesn't explain why some of mine give me trouble and some don't. I checked a few data sheets and all the drawings show 3.5 mm so maybe the 1/8" standard is a thing of the past. I'd suggest buying a good brand of plug and using it to replace the crummy ones. I'll be trying that to see if it makes a difference. Here's hoping that Switchcraft hasn't been bought out by some gang of quality-wrecking sharks. Maybe I'll lay in a lifetime supply while I'm at it... 73 and thanks for listening, Carl WS7L > I like the 1/4 jacks. They are more durable generally. ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
