I agree with Dave,I had in the first half an hour a problem at FD with my K3 and it was a "Pyramid" PS that had a poor regulation,the K3 quit and it went off by itself and few mins later we figured out after powering it back that voltage at the K3 display was droping from 13.8 to 12V when keying on CW at 110W out,so we switched PS to an Astron 35A and it remained at 13.8V droping only 200mV.Then I spent 6 hours with no problem at all with it. Aparently voltage regulation is very important to keep the K3 up and running properly.My two cents to the topic. AD4C
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits".. -- Albert Einstein --- On Tue, 6/30/09, David Y. <w7...@cox.net> wrote: From: David Y. <w7...@cox.net> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Problem with K3 #353 at Field Day To: "James R. Kauten, MD" <kau...@atnex.net>, Elecraft@mailman.qth.net Date: Tuesday, June 30, 2009, 3:21 AM Jim, Is the K3 working correctly again now that you have it back home??? If so, I would question the power setup used on Field Day. Did you happen to check the voltages the K3 was seeing? Lots of times on Field Day power connections are questionable. The K3 does not like low voltages, which can often be the case on an outing like that. The fact that the other K3's worked O.K. may not be indicative, since you may have had a different connection setup, or even been on a different power connection. Just a thought! Dave W7AQK ----- Original Message ----- From: "James R. Kauten, MD" <kau...@atnex.net> To: <Elecraft@mailman.qth.net> Sent: Monday, June 29, 2009 10:02 AM Subject: [Elecraft] Problem with K3 #353 at Field Day We had 3 K-3’s at our field day QTH this year. Two worked flawlessly, however, mine; #353 developed some front panel issues. I have had no problems with my K3 prior to this. The rig would work as usual for a period of time then with no error messages; the front panel controls would not function normally. Here is a summary of what happens: Band—cannot switch bands up or down Mode—cannot switch mode Menu and Disp—do not work Xmit and ATU tune-- do not work RX Antàturns on NB Antàturns on NR All potentiometers work Push function of 4 knobs, shift, width, speed/mic, and CMP/PWR do not work VFO A knob—changes VFO A VFO B knob—changes VFO B A/B, REV, AàB—do not work PREàturns on notch, toggles between auto and manual AGCàplays contents of M3 voice keyer when on SSB Xfilàshows M1—M4 in display window NB, NR, NTCH—do not work SPOT—toggles between LO/HI and Shift/Width (shows LO and FC) CWT—toggles PWR and CMP settings in display AFX—toggles between LO/HI and Shift/Width (shows HI and BW) VàM, MàV—do not work M1, M2, M3, M4, REC—do not work RIT, XIT, CLR—do not work None of the long press functions work (yellow labels) I can power the rig off and on. The rig will intermittently begin working properly for a while then the front panel repeats what is described above. We had to remove this rig from the operating position 20 minutes before the start of field day. Heat is not a problem as we were in an air-conditioned room and we had not been generating RF. I am running firmware version 3.19 and reloaded it after the first time the front panel locked. I have looked through the manual but see no mention of these phenomena. Any suggestions would be appreciated. ________________ Jim Kauten, MD kaute...@me.com kau...@atnex.net ________________ ______________________________________________________________ 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 ______________________________________________________________ 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 ______________________________________________________________ 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