I've not experienced that with my K3 which goes back to 2008 (S/N 00010), but I would suspect corrosion on contacts. You might remove the front panel assembly from the K3 and then plug it in again, and possibly do the same for the DSP board. I've seen others suggest exercising the troubled switches many times to good effect.
One reason I've not experienced it on ol' number 10 is that every time there a question about the assembly procedure or a kit change it comes apart to check the changes. The contacts get exercised a lot. I don't recall if you built your K3 from a kit, Fred, but if not download the KRX3 manual from the Elecraft web site. It has detailed instructions for R/R the front panel assembly as part of the sub receiver installation. After splitting logs for an hour this afternoon with trusty axe, I feel like my personal "tach" is on the peg just sitting here (puff, puff, puff). I might be experiencing some "corrosion" myself and in need of more exercise. Good hunting and 73 Ron AC7AC -----Original Message----- From: Elecraft [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Fred Jensen Sent: Friday, April 8, 2016 3:44 PM To: Elecraft Reflector Subject: [Elecraft] K3 front panel switches My K3, S/N 642, has been slowly developing "front panel dementia" [as am I as I accumulate birthdays]. A number of the switches are becoming intermittent, and often, the first push of one causes a totally unrelated action [e.g. tapping BAND UP turns on NR]. It doesn't happen with all of them and it seems like the ones I use the most are pretty stable. I find that a really positive actuation, as in hard, often makes it work correctly. My K3 is getting somewhat long in the tooth as the S/N would indicate, but I was under the impression that the front panel switches were rated at multi-millions of operations, and I'm sure I haven't come remotely close to exceeding that. My truck is 13 years old and is developing similar symptoms [Tach says the engine is doing 6,000 RPM sitting in the driveway :-)] Curious: 1. Anybody else experience this? 2. If so, what did you do? 3. How do I tell if it's time to send it into the Big E? 73, Fred K6DGW - Northern California Contest Club - CU in the Cal QSO Party 1-2 Oct 2016 - www.cqp.org ______________________________________________________________ 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 Message delivered to r...@elecraft.com ______________________________________________________________ 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 Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
