James.... I had exactly the same problem, in my case with the cmp/pwr/mon encoder only. In my case, the encoder shaft was "wobbly" ... lot's of lateral play, and as I'd rotate it was intermittently nonresponsive. I first thought it might be the knob, but found that that wasn't the case after pulling the knob. I found that if I put downward leftward pressure on the shaft as I rotated it the intermittents stopped, so continued to use the rig.
I called support to ask for a replacement, thinking I could change the encoder myself, but Dale, K6ZP, pointed out that desoldering the encoders can be a tricky maneuver and suggested I return the rig for repair (they're presoldered to the board in K3 kits). I sent it to Aptos, and he swapped out all four encoders. It was a 3 week turnaround in my case. Your comment about the better accuracy on the newer SNs if interesting. I have two K3s ... SN2625 and SN3579 (brand new)..... the encoders on 3579 are much tighter than 2635, which had encoders replaced just a few weeks ago.... but they're both equally responsive as far as I can tell. Don, N5LZ ----- Original Message ----- From: "K2QI" <k2qi....@gmail.com> To: "Elecraft" <Elecraft@mailman.qth.net> Sent: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 11:36 AM Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 potentiometer dead spots? > No one has experienced anything similar? I'm surprised... > > James K2QI > > On Mon, Oct 26, 2009 at 9:07 PM, James Sarte <k2qi....@gmail.com> wrote: > > > My 4 knobs (filter shift, width, mic, and pwr) have developed what seems > > like dead spots where turning them doesn't affect a change. If I turn the > > knobs slowly, sometimes the reading on the panel won't adjust. I've noticed > > on a friends K3 that has a much newer serial number that those 4 knobs no > > longer have a detent feel when spinning them, and are much harder to turn > > but have more accuracy in adjustments. Was there a change over in terms of > > component suppliers for those pots? It seems this problem on my K3 is > > getting worse. Should I send back to Aptos for replacement of those > > potentiometers? > > > > -- > > 73 de James K2QI > > > ______________________________________________________________ > 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
