Re: [Elecraft] [K3] Err 12v
I recently had Q6 on the LPA board fail shorted, in which case you will get no power out at all. It's a MOSFET and very prone to an ESD event since it is on the antenna. Check gate-to-source resistance with an ohm meter. Should be 800 or so ohms. 73 N7RT - Original Message - From: "Randy Moore" To: "Elecraft Discussion List" Sent: Friday, January 07, 2011 7:45 PM Subject: [Elecraft] [K3] Err 12v >I am working on an friends K3 (#4446), recently purchased used. When I > got it, Power-On resulted in "ERR DSE." Firmware load failed, so I did > EEINIT, and then the firmware (4.22) loaded correctly. After going > through filter setups to match the on-board filters, things seemed to be > working correctly. But then I tried to increase power beyond 12w, and > now I get the "ERR 12V", which my friend had seen before. When that > error occurs, the KPA3 fans come on. The manual says to reset the > circuit breaker, but it wasn't tripped. Just for kicks, I tried to do > the Tx Gain Calibration through the K3 Utility (dummy load attached), > and even at the 5w level, it fails. > > I need some advice on how to proceed. > > Tnx es 73, > Randy, KS4L > __ > 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
Re: [Elecraft] Wanted: Elecraft K3 Options (KAT3 Tuner, 400 Hz Filters, 2nd RX, KXV3A, )
You will be better off just buying them new. You will have all the instructions plus guarantees. N7RT - Original Message - From: "spitze1" To: Sent: Monday, December 27, 2010 10:04 AM Subject: [Elecraft] Wanted: Elecraft K3 Options (KAT3 Tuner, 400 Hz Filters, 2nd RX, KXV3A, ) > > Hello! > > I am still looking for some options for my K3. KAT3 Tuner, KTCXO3-1 TCXO, > KXV3A RX Ant., IF Out and Xverter Interface (last Version), KFL3A-2.8K > 2.8 > kHz, 8-pole filter, KFL3A-400 400 Hz, narrow 8-pole filter, KFL3A-250 > 250 Hz, narrow 8-pole filter etc.. > > Thanks > > 73s Alex NH7VW > -- __ 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
Re: [Elecraft] Semi OT: vertical wire antennas
The only caveat I would add is DO NOT end your vertical in the tree. The tree will catch on fire even at the 100 watt level. The voltage potential at the end of a vertical can reach 10,000 volts or more. I have the experience... Instead, attach a U-Bolt with an insulator to extend the vertical another 20 feet or so above the tree. This worked for me. 73 N7RT - Original Message - From: "Guy Olinger K2AV" To: "Lew Phelps K6LMP" ; "Elecraft Reflector" Sent: Sunday, December 19, 2010 6:18 PM Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Semi OT: vertical wire antennas See interspersed. On Sun, Dec 19, 2010 at 7:21 PM, Lew Phelps K6LMP wrote: > I'm currently running my K3-10 into a 40 meter horizontal loop antenna, > mounted on my roof about 35 feet above ground. It's impractical to use on > 80, and has a very high angle of radiation on 40 and 20 meters. > > So, I'm thinking of replacing it with a 43' wire vertical. Yes, I know it > needs a wide-range tuner, because it's non-resonant on any ham bands. I > already have that. And I know that it needs a 4:1 balun. I can make that. > > I have three questions for the group. > > 1. Is there any reason to expect that a wire vertical will perform > significantly differently than one made from aluminum tube (e.g. 2" OD at > base)? EZNEC modeling shows a slightly lower gain for a wire antenna, but > not significant. Is this borne out in real life? The DX will never know the difference. The succinct reason for aluminum is when the wire has to support itself. With aluminum it is possible to make a self-supporting 43' vertical. This is really important in situations where there are no other suitable means for support. It's a choice based on common sense mechanical issues that relate to your particular back yard. The only performance issue in your design is radials. That will be entirely responsible for wow, or why did I bother. > 2. The available grassy yard space where the antenna would be installed > would permit a maximum straight-line radial run of approximately 30 feet, > well under the desired length of 58 feet for operation on 80 meters. Would > it affect antenna performance if the radials were laid out in a series of > Z jogs rather than in straight lines? Radials are self-terminating. The higher the frequency, the less length actually carries any significant current. Ground radials are NOT resonant devices. Do them straight. Individual radials on/in the ground are severely attenuated by the ground around them, and will exhibit a per wire ground-absorbed resistance of upwards of a hundred ohms each for some kinds of dirt. The secret is to divide that resistance by a large number in parallel so that the COLLECTION of radials APPEARS to be a SMALL resistance to the antenna system. This concept is the huge gorilla in the room. Just about nothing else counts until you deal with this. Use bare wire and notch each one well down into the sod. Keep the angles even. BECAUSE you intend to use this on the higher bands, notch a minimum of 60 bare radials into the sod. The resistance is divided by sixty, and the density NEAR the center is MANDATORY for the higher bands. DO NOT SCRIMP on ground radials. What you do with the radials is about ninety-five percent of the multiband performance. Without this the power loss in the ground around the vertical on the high bands can be astonishing, so much so that lossy ground induction completely controls the impedance and turns a 100 watt transceiver into a QRP rig AND WORSE. This situation is responsible for the old saw that "A vertical radiates equally poorly in all directions." If you don't have the patience or time for this, don't do radials on/in the ground. Ground radials are a special case with brutal penalties for partial implementations. What those buried bare radials have going for them though, is once sufficient numbers are notched into the ground under the sod, and the grass has recovered and been mowed a couple of times, you have the best you can do, and they are completely invisible. > 3. The antenna would be suspended from a large sycamore tree. Will it make > any difference in performance if I run the vertical right up the side of > the trunk, as contrasted with suspending it from a limb at some distance > (e.g. 5 - 10 feet) from the trunk? How much loss tacking a wire to a tree trunk will give you is controversial. But there is no point in tempting all the physics in that unresolved question. It may vary by species of tree and time of year. Just don't go there unless you have to. Pulling a vertical wire up through a tree, ten feet or more from the trunk, has been a wonderful stealth vertical in developments. What that has going for it is that a radial center out ten or 15 feet from a trunk will allow the radials to be kept even and still pass around the tree. It is important on the high bands to have a dense uniform center coverage of the radials without any gaps. 73, Guy. > > Th
[Elecraft] AF & RF knobs
Thanks to all who replied. Apparently this was a quality issue at one time that I was unaware of. I should have checked the archives now that I think about it. 73 Hardy N7RT __ 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
Re: [Elecraft] K3 Questions and gripes
Hi All, I just had my first failure on the K3. I noticed both the AF & RF small knobs were slipping so I thought the set screws were loose. But closer examination showed that both knobs were cracked. I replaced them with some small aluminum ones from Radio Shack. I don't think I over tightened the knobs when I built the radio. Is this a problem with other radios? Maybe I got a bad pair. 73 Hardy N7RT - Original Message - From: "David F. Reed" To: "elecraft Reflector" ; Sent: Sunday, December 12, 2010 8:59 AM Subject: [Elecraft] K3 Questions and gripes > Hi folks; > > 2. The power switch - early serial number (1476); my power switch - > well the rubber / plastic part you press on - is starting to look > like a mouse has nibbled on it, with little divots falling off > along the top and right side edges. It is looking quite ragged. > Has anyone else had this, or know if I can replace just the > rubber/plastic part, or do I need to replace the entire switch > assembly? > > Thanks and 73 de Dave, W5SV > __ > 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] VFO A & B tracking?
I just noticed when I turn VFO A knob, VFO B tracks along. I can't think of why that would be. I don't remember if it used to do that or not and looking at the manual did not yield an answer. There again I have wasted a couple of hours tweaking this thing and did not get it fixed. I don't think this is normal. N7RT __ 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
Re: [Elecraft] Need for advice was; (More Thorough Documentation)
Just my 2 cents on manuals. The N1MM, Logger32, Elecraft, et al all could use improvements. My suggestion is to write comments on the sides of each page (or somewhere), and when you think you are proficient at whatever you are doing, send them to each institution involved (scan, Xerox, whatever). Because they can't possiby guess at everyone's mind thinking process. Instruction manuals need feedback all the time from the users. We the users need to close the loop if we want the product in question to suceed. When I first turned on the K3 after completing the kit, I said this going to take some getting used to. The manual could have softened the blow. 73 Hardy N7RT - Original Message - From: "Jim Brown" To: Sent: Tuesday, December 07, 2010 6:05 PM Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Need for advice was; (More Thorough Documentation) > On 12/7/2010 9:16 AM, David Gilbert wrote: >> there is >> simply no question that the K3 user manual is a horrible piece of >> documentation. There is a lot of information there, but it is >> fragmented and terribly organized. I could understand how the manual >> might be weak coming out of the chute, but at this stage in the K3 >> development I think there is very little excuse for such a poorly >> structured reference. Whether in printed or pdf form it's just awful, >> and I fully agree that it fails miserably as a marketing tool to attract >> potential buyers. The K3 has an unwarranted (in my opinion) reputation >> as an overly complex rig to set up and operate, but the user manual only >> accentuates that perception. > > I strongly agree. > > 73, Jim K9YC > __ > 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
Re: [Elecraft] Re： soldering station
I use a couple of Therm-o-Trac irons made by Hexacon. They are very good for surface mount work. Metcals are good & expensive as you pointed out but they produce short range RFI. Hardy N7RT - Original Message - From: "w2bvh" To: "Johnny Siu" Cc: Sent: Saturday, November 13, 2010 7:56 PM Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Re： soldering station > I use a Metcal at work & think its the best I've ever seen. > Its just too expensive for mere mortals (they cost more used than many > stations do brand new. :-) > > --Lenny W2BVH > > On 11/13/2010 9:24 PM, Johnny Siu wrote: >> Hello Gentleman, >> >> I am using a 'Chinese version' of Hakko 936 which is 1/4 of the price. >> The >> trick is to replace the original soldering tip with the same from >> 'Goot' - made >> in Japan. >>  cheers, >> >> >> Johnny VR2XMC >> >> >> >> - 郵件原件 >> 寄件人﹕ Don Wilhelm >> 收件人﹕ riese-k3...@juno.com >> 副本(CC) Elecraft@mailman.qth.net >> 傳é€æ—¥æœŸï¹• 2010/11/14 (æ—¥) 10:18:21 AM >> 主題： Re: [Elecraft] soldering station >> >>  Bob, >> >> The Hakko 936 gets very high marks with most of those who have one, but >> there are others that are also good. >> >> 73, >> Don W3FPR >> >> On 11/13/2010 8:48 PM, riese-k3...@juno.com wrote: >>> Gang >>> >>> last week there was a thread on soldering stations,, before I ordered >>> one >>> I lost a week of e mail... I dont want to start the thread again but >>> could >>> someone off list give me a head up on the recommended station >>> I believe it had an isolated tip etc >>> >>> Bob K3DJC >> >> >> >> __ >> 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
Re: [Elecraft] [K3] Overvoltage protection?
To all on the net: I bought an AS35A at a swap meet and so far it's doing it's thing just fine with the K3. But there was no paper work. Are there tests I can do that say yeh verily this thing works as designed? 73 N7RT - Original Message - From: "Tom Hammond" To: "Dan & Jean" ; Sent: Sunday, February 28, 2010 7:35 PM Subject: Re: [Elecraft] [K3] Overvoltage protection? > Dan: > > If the Astron is working AS INTENDED, when the OVP SCR fires, the UA723 > VReg > will immediately go into over-current protect mode, reducing the output > current > to <1A WITHOUT damaging ANYTHING! Same as if you placed a short directly > across the output terminals of the supply. > > The ONLY time the fuse should blow is if the p ass transistors shorted. > > 73, > > Tom Hammond N0SS > > At 20:28 02/28/2010, you wrote: >>I recently purchased a 35 amp Astron power supply at a hamfest (in >>great condition). Upon inspection, I found that the crowbar SCR had >>failed, and had been removed. >> >>Although I've replaced the SCR, I'm wondering if the K3 has >>overvoltage protection of some kind? >> >>As an aside, I would like to test the crowbar circuit in the Astron, >>but with that big capacitor in there, I'm kind of hesitant. That >>big capacitor would have to discharge before the primary fuse would >>blow (maybe blowing the SCR)--right? I'm thinking of putting a 25 >>amp fuse in series with the capacitor. Anyone address this before? >> >>Thanks, >>Dan - W4TQ >>__ >>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
Re: [Elecraft] Question about vertical and radial placement
I agree with the reply and results that Don got but we are straying off course. Please can everyone who is involved take this thread to Tower Talk? I am still try to learn this radio. 73 N7RT - Original Message - From: "Don - K2PMC" To: Sent: Monday, February 15, 2010 6:19 PM Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Question about vertical and radial placement > > As several others have mentioned, I think you would be better served by a > multiband vertical such as a Butterrnut, Hustler, HyGain, etc. As for the > radials, elevated radials are clearly superior to ground radials, as > demonstrated in the March QST. I also speak from personal experience as I > have modeled elevated radials against ground radials. In my models, 2 1/4 > elevated radials were more efficient than 16 1/4 wave radials on the > ground. I also use 2 elevated radials on my 160 meter T antenna with very > good results. > > You should use 2 resonant 1/4 wave radials per band of operation. The > radials should be laid out opposite each other. As for the appearance, > you > can use #20 wire which will be invisible from ground level. Your vertical > will perform very well with that counterpoise system. > > Good luck, > Don > K2PMC > > > -- > View this message in context: > http://n2.nabble.com/Question-about-vertical-and-radial-placement-tp4572326p4578117.html > Sent from the [HAM] mailing list archive at Nabble.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 __ 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
