Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair Turn around Time

2016-02-20 Thread Don Wilhelm

Bruce,

The actual repairs do not take that long - figure a day for the actual 
repair on most cases.  The real question is just how soon can a 
technician get to a particular repair.


I work on the legacy gear for Elecraft (K2, K1, KX1, XV series 
transverters) and the total turnaround time depends on how much backlog 
I have stacked up.  I do all work on a first in, first out basis 
depending on when the radio arrives here.

My personal backlog varies from 1 week to 3 weeks.

The work queue at Elecraft for the K3/K3S, KX3 is similar, and I believe 
is handled in the same way - first in, first out.


The RSA forms currently being issued by Elecraft state a 3 week 
turnaround time.  In some cases, it can be shorter, but normally not 
longer that that 3 weeks unless highly unusual situations exist.


73,
Don W3FPR

On 2/20/2016 8:56 PM, Bruce Osterberg wrote:
Hello: Curious about the turn around time for a K3 sent into Elecraft 
for Repair?


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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair Turn around Time

2016-02-20 Thread Gerald Manthey
Bruce
Depends on time to trouble shoot and others ahead. But I can tell you from 
experience, they fix them like they were brand new again. I sent mine in and 
wow. I had had it back in a reasonable amount to time and having been burned in 
again and it came back like new and not a issue. 
Great people working for this great company.  
Hope that helps. 
73 Gerald KC6CNN


> On Feb 20, 2016, at 7:56 PM, Bruce Osterberg  wrote:
> 
> Hello:  Curious about the turn around time for a K3 sent into Elecraft for 
> Repair?
> 
> Bruce N9BX 73
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[Elecraft] K3 Repair Turn around Time

2016-02-20 Thread Bruce Osterberg
Hello:  Curious about the turn around time for a K3 sent into Elecraft 
for Repair?


Bruce N9BX 73
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Re: [Elecraft] K3: Repair Broken Power Pole

2014-06-02 Thread Mark Bayern
>>" ... so that the red 12V hot lead plugged into the black jack, partially 
>>melting it.

Just because someone has to state the obvious ... how about using a fuse?

Mark  AD5SS



On Sun, Jun 1, 2014 at 7:58 PM, Jim Brown  wrote:
> On 5/31/2014 4:03 PM, Don Wilhelm wrote:
>>
>> what did you do the break the APP housing, they are pretty sturdy things.
>
>
> Once I looked more carefully at it, it turns out the wound was
> self-inflicted. My operating bench has no clearance space  behind it and a
> shelf only six inches or so above it, so it's difficult to get to the back
> of gear, let alone see what you're doing when you're back there. The failure
> occurred when I tried plugging in the DC power connector and missed by one
> position, so that the red 12V hot lead plugged into the black jack,
> partially melting it.
>
> Thanks for all the detailed suggestions. The solution was to remove the top
> panel, then the side panel. That gave me access to the jack, but when I
> removed it, the #14 wire soldered to the PCB came with it. To solder a new
> wire to the board, I needed access to the bottom side of the board -- my
> Hakko from the top side wasn't cutting it. So I removed most of the screws
> holding that bottom corner spacer, swiveled it out of the way of the iron,
> loosened several screws holding the bottom cover and propped it open with
> pliers so I could see that under-side solder pad. That let me make a good
> joint.
>
> Everything is all better now. Thanks for the advice.
>
> 73, Jim K9YC
>
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Re: [Elecraft] K3: Repair Broken Power Pole

2014-06-01 Thread Jim Brown

On 5/31/2014 4:03 PM, Don Wilhelm wrote:
what did you do the break the APP housing, they are pretty sturdy things. 


Once I looked more carefully at it, it turns out the wound was 
self-inflicted. My operating bench has no clearance space  behind it and 
a shelf only six inches or so above it, so it's difficult to get to the 
back of gear, let alone see what you're doing when you're back there. 
The failure occurred when I tried plugging in the DC power connector and 
missed by one position, so that the red 12V hot lead plugged into the 
black jack, partially melting it.


Thanks for all the detailed suggestions. The solution was to remove the 
top panel, then the side panel. That gave me access to the jack, but 
when I removed it, the #14 wire soldered to the PCB came with it. To 
solder a new wire to the board, I needed access to the bottom side of 
the board -- my Hakko from the top side wasn't cutting it. So I removed 
most of the screws holding that bottom corner spacer, swiveled it out of 
the way of the iron, loosened several screws holding the bottom cover 
and propped it open with pliers so I could see that under-side solder 
pad. That let me make a good joint.


Everything is all better now. Thanks for the advice.

73, Jim K9YC
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Re: [Elecraft] K3: Repair Broken Power Pole

2014-06-01 Thread Nr4c
I think you'll need to get the back off to get to the APPs. You'll prob have to 
remove both housings. Use a small screwdriver to lift the contact lip over the 
spring and pull the housings from the rear. Push new housings on and reassemble 
the radio. I've never tried to remove two housings together, always had them 
separated. May be easier to un-solder and re-solder when finished. 

Sent from my iPhone
...nr4c. bill


> On May 31, 2014, at 6:48 PM, Jim Brown  wrote:
> 
> The plastic housing of the black power pole that is captive to the radio is 
> broken, so I'm trying to take it apart to repair it. I started taking the 
> right side panel off, removing all the perimeter screws, but there are two in 
> the middle of the side panel, and six years after building these radios, I 
> don't remember what I can remove without having a problem.  This radio is my 
> spare, minimal stuff in it. K3/100, no tuner, no 2nd RX.
> 
> Suggestions?
> 
> 73, Jim K9YC
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Re: [Elecraft] K3: Repair Broken Power Pole

2014-05-31 Thread Jim Brown

On 5/31/2014 4:03 PM, Don Wilhelm wrote:

Jim,

Are you referring to the two screws that hold the voltage regulators 
to the side panel?  If so, the major problem with them is reinstalling 
the lockwasher and nut on the one toward the front (unless you have a 
proper 'crooked tool' to hold the nut from the side without it 
twisting - pliers will work if you have patience.


Thanks, Don.



I do have to ask -- what did you do the break the APP housing, they 
are pretty sturdy things.


I have no idea.   It's a spare, and it goes on Field Day and California 
QSO Party expeditions.  I was updating firmware today and noticed it.


73, Jim

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Re: [Elecraft] K3: Repair Broken Power Pole

2014-05-31 Thread Don Wilhelm

Jim,

Are you referring to the two screws that hold the voltage regulators to 
the side panel?  If so, the major problem with them is reinstalling the 
lockwasher and nut on the one toward the front (unless you have a proper 
'crooked tool' to hold the nut from the side without it twisting - 
pliers will work if you have patience.


I do have to ask -- what did you do the break the APP housing, they are 
pretty sturdy things.


73,
Don W3FPR

On 5/31/2014 6:48 PM, Jim Brown wrote:
The plastic housing of the black power pole that is captive to the 
radio is broken, so I'm trying to take it apart to repair it. I 
started taking the right side panel off, removing all the perimeter 
screws, but there are two in the middle of the side panel, and six 
years after building these radios, I don't remember what I can remove 
without having a problem.  This radio is my spare, minimal stuff in 
it. K3/100, no tuner, no 2nd RX.


Suggestions?



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[Elecraft] K3: Repair Broken Power Pole

2014-05-31 Thread Bruce Beford

The two screws in the "middle" of the right side panel hold the low voltage
regulators to the side, for heat sinking, IIRC. Take the top off and you
will see this. There are nuts inside to remove.
G,
Bruce/N1RX

-Original Message-
From: Elecraft [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Jim
Brown
Sent: Saturday, May 31, 2014 6:49 PM
To: Reflector Elecraft
Subject: [Elecraft] K3: Repair Broken Power Pole

The plastic housing of the black power pole that is captive to the radio 
is broken, so I'm trying to take it apart to repair it. I started taking 
the right side panel off, removing all the perimeter screws, but there 
are two in the middle of the side panel, and six years after building 
these radios, I don't remember what I can remove without having a 
problem.  This radio is my spare, minimal stuff in it. K3/100, no tuner, 
no 2nd RX.

Suggestions?

73, Jim K9YC
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Re: [Elecraft] K3: Repair Broken Power Pole

2014-05-31 Thread Mike Reublin
Jim,

Download the assembly manual. 
http://www.elecraft.com/K2_Manual_Download_Page.htm#K3

Gud Luck!

Mike NF4L

On May 31, 2014, at 6:48 PM, Jim Brown  wrote:

> The plastic housing of the black power pole that is captive to the radio is 
> broken, so I'm trying to take it apart to repair it. I started taking the 
> right side panel off, removing all the perimeter screws, but there are two in 
> the middle of the side panel, and six years after building these radios, I 
> don't remember what I can remove without having a problem.  This radio is my 
> spare, minimal stuff in it. K3/100, no tuner, no 2nd RX.
> 
> Suggestions?
> 
> 73, Jim K9YC
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[Elecraft] K3: Repair Broken Power Pole

2014-05-31 Thread Jim Brown
The plastic housing of the black power pole that is captive to the radio 
is broken, so I'm trying to take it apart to repair it. I started taking 
the right side panel off, removing all the perimeter screws, but there 
are two in the middle of the side panel, and six years after building 
these radios, I don't remember what I can remove without having a 
problem.  This radio is my spare, minimal stuff in it. K3/100, no tuner, 
no 2nd RX.


Suggestions?

73, Jim K9YC
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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair - ALC Setting

2010-07-17 Thread Don Wilhelm
Jim.

I might add that your PSK "problem" of working above 1000 Hz on the 
waterfall may be a result of setting the K3 power high an using the 
audio input level to control the power.

While that is the best for most of the transceivers in the marketplace, 
it is NOT the way to operate a K2 or K3.  The reason is that the K2 and 
K3 control power differently than most transceivers.  I have been 
stressing this point, and it seems to fall on deaf ears.

Set the audio input to the proper level - for the K2 that is to increase 
the audio until 1 ALC bar shows, and then back off until nonoe ar 
showing, and for the K3, adjust until you have 4 to 5 bars on the ALC 
display.

After doing that, set the power output desired and just operate.  There 
will be no 'fiddling' needed to adjust the audio level, and if there are 
slight variations in the transmit filter gain across the passband, they 
will be smoothed out by the K2/3 power control mechanism.`

Yes, this is different from the classical advice for data modes that is 
prevalent in cyberspace, but then most rigs do not control power outpt 
levels like the K2 and K3, so that advice may be valid for the YaKenIcom 
bunch, it is not good advice for the Elecraft transceivers.  Read the 
Elecraft K3 manual and believe it (except that the max ALC meter in data 
modes should be 5 instead of 7).
Your reward will be easier operation on DATA modes and better power 
control and IMD (unless you operate with "all controls (including power) 
to the right").

73,
Don W3FPR

Jim Miller KG0KP wrote:
> - Original Message - 
> From: "Don Wilhelm" 
>
> snip
>   
>> The "ALC" meter on the K3 is not completely an indication of ALC - the
>> first 4 bars act more like a VU meter to tell you the audio level.  The
>> 5th bar indicates the start of ALC action.
>>
>> 73,
>> Don W3FPR
>> 
>
> I may be reading something into part of what you say, straighten me out.
>
> Is the ALC setting at 4-5 bars the "norm" for any mode other than "PSK"? 
> Should it be 4-5 for SSB and other modes as well???
>
> Thanks es 73, de Jim KG0KP 
>
>
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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-17 Thread Don Wilhelm
Jack,

Yes, the K3 has to recalculate the power drive after a power cycle or a 
band change - so let's not call that part of the process "creep", it is 
just the K3 power control mechanism coming up to speed with the power 
setting that you requested using the Power Knob.  The power will start 
out a bit low and then come up to the level requested.  It will then 
stay there until a power cycle or a band change.

What power level do you have set?  That is an important piece of 
information.

Initially, ignore the power output and set the audio level correctly.  
You can (and should) use TX TEST for that adjustment.
For SSB, talk in a normal voice.
Set Compression to zero
Then adjust the mic gain until you have between 5 and 7 bars indicated 
on the K3 ALC meter display - the peaks should be at 7 bars.
Now add compression as desired.
Set your wattmeter to read the peak power (not peak-hold in the AVG 
setting).
Connect a dummy load and speak into the microphone.  After a few 
syllables (to allow the power control mechanism to stabilize), how 
closely do the wattmeter peaks come to the power you set on the power 
knob?  It should be close.

For data modes, the process is similar.
Use TX TEST to set the audio level.
Set Compression to zero (it should stay there for all data modes)
Adjust the audio into the K3 to provide 4 to 5 bars on the ALC meter - 
actual ALC does not start until after the 5th bar, so that will keep the 
level below the onset of ALC.
Set the K3 power control to the power output you want.
Transmit, and after the initial power leveling mechanism has had a bit 
of time to settle, the power should equal what you dialed in on the 
power control.

Yes, for DATA modes, the K3 is different than other transceivers out 
there - ignore the usual recommendation to set the power high and use 
the audio input level to control the power - due to the way the K3 
controls power (by sampling the actual output and adjusting drive to 
compensate), attempting to use the techniques that vary the audio level 
in order to control power will result in "strange happenings".  While it 
will work, I will not guarantee the power level will be right, and you 
will have to ride the audio input level to keep it constant (don't do it 
that way).

What I have related is nothing different than the information in the K3 
manual (except for the maximum number of ALC bars in DATA mode.
If you wnat to double check the veracity of what I am saying, look in 
the archives for Lyle Johnson's reflector post of February 8, 2009.  
Lyle designed the K3 DSP (and its control of the power out), so he 
should be considered an authoritative source.

73,
Don W3FPR

Jack Brabham wrote:
>  Don,
>
> What I'm watching to see the "creep" is the W2 meter's Windows app 
> with the meters set to AVG and the peak hold bar ON.   I'm 
> interpreting this as the "peak" of the fluctuating "average" power 
> level  This is the number that rolls up around 50% during the 
> first 20 seconds of an initial transmission after a power cycle.
>
> If I change the meters to "peak", the numbers change as you would 
> expect, the initial "peak" power starts off around 70 watts and drifts 
> up to around 95.
>
> BTW normal PSK31 etc operation in DATA A seems to proceed as expected 
> as long as I stay above 1000 hz or so for the audio.  Below that there 
> is an increasingly noticeable reduction in PO, but otherwise functions 
> normally.
>
> I'm using my PSK31 program as an audio generator for these tests, not 
> having anything better to use.  In this role  it is not adjusted the 
> same way one would for actual PSK operation.  Do not try this at 
> home.. ;)
>
> I have tried, in the last hour or so, increasing the audio drive 
> levels and decreasing the mic and line-in gain.   This somewhat 
> reduced the power creep issue, at least in terms of the number of 
> transmission cycles before it "settles",  but the radio still seems to 
> have to "relearn" this from scratch after a power cycle.
>
> Reducing the Mic gain from 18 to 6 and increasing the output from my 
> mic pre-amp to get  4-5 bars of ALC, did not seem to help the low 
> output on SSB problem.
>
> Thanks for the tip about the ALC meter, makes more sense now.
>
> 73 Jack KZ5A
>
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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-17 Thread Jack Brabham
  Don,

What I'm watching to see the "creep" is the W2 meter's Windows app with 
the meters set to AVG and the peak hold bar ON.   I'm interpreting this 
as the "peak" of the fluctuating "average" power level  This is the 
number that rolls up around 50% during the first 20 seconds of an 
initial transmission after a power cycle.

If I change the meters to "peak", the numbers change as you would 
expect, the initial "peak" power starts off around 70 watts and drifts 
up to around 95.

BTW normal PSK31 etc operation in DATA A seems to proceed as expected as 
long as I stay above 1000 hz or so for the audio.  Below that there is 
an increasingly noticeable reduction in PO, but otherwise functions 
normally.

I'm using my PSK31 program as an audio generator for these tests, not 
having anything better to use.  In this role  it is not adjusted the 
same way one would for actual PSK operation.  Do not try this at 
home.. ;)

I have tried, in the last hour or so, increasing the audio drive levels 
and decreasing the mic and line-in gain.   This somewhat reduced the 
power creep issue, at least in terms of the number of transmission 
cycles before it "settles",  but the radio still seems to have to 
"relearn" this from scratch after a power cycle.

Reducing the Mic gain from 18 to 6 and increasing the output from my mic 
pre-amp to get  4-5 bars of ALC, did not seem to help the low output on 
SSB problem.

Thanks for the tip about the ALC meter, makes more sense now.

73 Jack KZ5A

On 7/17/2010 1:18 PM, Don Wilhelm wrote:
> Jack,
>
> I see Wayne has responded and I am certain he will help get to the 
> bottom of the problem.
>
> I do have one question about your SSB behavior - do you see the same 
> drop-off in power if you set the wattmeter to read peak?
> The power rating of the K3 is expressed in Peak Envelope Power, so 
> your metering should match when trying to compare apples to apples.
>
> On your PSK31 situation, are you driving the audio to the K3 high 
> enough to produce 4 to 5 bars on the "ALC" meter, and setting your 
> desired power output with the K3 power knob?
> If you are trying to use the audio level to control the power output, 
> it will behave much as you have described.  The K3 measures the power 
> output, and decides there is not enough to match the setting of your 
> power knob, so it increases the drive attempting to produce more power.
> Drive the audio input so you have at least 4 ALC bars with maybe the 
> 5th flickering.
> The "ALC" meter on the K3 is not completely an indication of ALC - the 
> first 4 bars act more like a VU meter to tell you the audio level.  
> The 5th bar indicates the start of ALC action.
>
> 73,
> Don W3FPR
>
> Jack Brabham wrote:
>>   Well, here's a follow up.
>>
>> A week after the assumed return posting date, I emailed, asking for a 
>> status update and got a phone call from Elecraft the next day. 
>> Nothing had happened during that week, apparently the return shipping 
>> just fell thru a crack and didn't occur (and yes, they are swamped 
>> with work).
>>
>> So we got that moving and I received the radio on the 15th.
>>
>> Still exhibits the same problem it had when I sent it in.
>>
>> So I'm now 3 and a half months into my K3 ownership and still can't 
>> get on SSB.  Considering that I bought the radio specifically for SSB 
>> contesting and sold all my other radios to pay for the K3,  this is 
>> not making me a happy camper.
>>
>> I haven't the slightest doubt that what I was told by Elecraft was 
>> 100% accurate, that the low output problem was confirmed on the bench 
>> and that an EEINIT had "fixed" it, and it stayed "fixed" while at 
>> Elecraft.However, as someone who spent 30 years or so 
>> troubleshooting complex systems, the fact that several previous 
>> EEINITs had failed to fix the problem would have been a big red flag 
>> that I had not yet got to the root cause of the issue.
>>
>> So I emailed Rene and let him know the problem was back.  I expect 
>> I'll hear from him early next week and we will figure out the next step.
>>
>> BTW here's a quick summary of the "problem" in hopes someone on the 
>> list may have an idea to try.
>>
>> (1) Low average output on SSB, typically 10 to 15 watts (AVG) 
>> according to my W2 and confirmed in that it only drives my SB-200 to 
>> about 150 watts when driven by voice.   This occurs with what I take 
>> to be normal metering indications from the K3, 5 to 7 bars of ALC, a 
>> few bars of compression and the PO meter "hanging" around 50 watts 
>> with peaks up around 100W.
>>
>> (2) Weird power fluctations in PSK31.   With higher audio 
>> frequencies, when PSK1 idle tones are transmitted, the power out will 
>> start at about 50 to 60 watts and rise to a nominal 75 watts or so 
>> over 15 to 20 seconds.If I preform this test repeatedly with a 
>> few seconds "off" time between tests, the "starting" PO number gets 
>> progressively higher each time.  After 6 to 8 test cycles t

Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair - ALC Setting

2010-07-17 Thread Don Wilhelm
Jim,

That is the norm only for DATA modes where you would not want to 
activate the ALC.
For SSB and other speech modes, drive the ALC meter to 5 - 7 bars with 
the Compression set to zero and a normal voice.  See the manual page 
28.  Best results are when you are kicking up to 7 bars on voice peaks.

73,
Don W3FPR

Jim Miller KG0KP wrote:
> - Original Message - 
> From: "Don Wilhelm" 
>
> snip
>   
>> The "ALC" meter on the K3 is not completely an indication of ALC - the
>> first 4 bars act more like a VU meter to tell you the audio level.  The
>> 5th bar indicates the start of ALC action.
>>
>> 73,
>> Don W3FPR
>> 
>
> I may be reading something into part of what you say, straighten me out.
>
> Is the ALC setting at 4-5 bars the "norm" for any mode other than "PSK"? 
> Should it be 4-5 for SSB and other modes as well???
>
> Thanks es 73, de Jim KG0KP 
>
>   
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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair - ALC Setting

2010-07-17 Thread Jim Miller KG0KP
- Original Message - 
From: "Don Wilhelm" 

snip
> The "ALC" meter on the K3 is not completely an indication of ALC - the
> first 4 bars act more like a VU meter to tell you the audio level.  The
> 5th bar indicates the start of ALC action.
>
> 73,
> Don W3FPR

I may be reading something into part of what you say, straighten me out.

Is the ALC setting at 4-5 bars the "norm" for any mode other than "PSK"? 
Should it be 4-5 for SSB and other modes as well???

Thanks es 73, de Jim KG0KP 


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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-17 Thread Don Wilhelm
Jack,

I see Wayne has responded and I am certain he will help get to the 
bottom of the problem.

I do have one question about your SSB behavior - do you see the same 
drop-off in power if you set the wattmeter to read peak?
The power rating of the K3 is expressed in Peak Envelope Power, so your 
metering should match when trying to compare apples to apples.

On your PSK31 situation, are you driving the audio to the K3 high enough 
to produce 4 to 5 bars on the "ALC" meter, and setting your desired 
power output with the K3 power knob?
If you are trying to use the audio level to control the power output, it 
will behave much as you have described.  The K3 measures the power 
output, and decides there is not enough to match the setting of your 
power knob, so it increases the drive attempting to produce more power.
Drive the audio input so you have at least 4 ALC bars with maybe the 5th 
flickering.
The "ALC" meter on the K3 is not completely an indication of ALC - the 
first 4 bars act more like a VU meter to tell you the audio level.  The 
5th bar indicates the start of ALC action.

73,
Don W3FPR

Jack Brabham wrote:
>   Well, here's a follow up.
>
> A week after the assumed return posting date, I emailed, asking for a 
> status update and got a phone call from Elecraft the next day. 
> Nothing had happened during that week, apparently the return shipping 
> just fell thru a crack and didn't occur (and yes, they are swamped with 
> work).
>
> So we got that moving and I received the radio on the 15th.
>
> Still exhibits the same problem it had when I sent it in.
>
> So I'm now 3 and a half months into my K3 ownership and still can't get 
> on SSB.  Considering that I bought the radio specifically for SSB 
> contesting and sold all my other radios to pay for the K3,  this is not 
> making me a happy camper.
>
> I haven't the slightest doubt that what I was told by Elecraft was 100% 
> accurate, that the low output problem was confirmed on the bench and 
> that an EEINIT had "fixed" it, and it stayed "fixed" while at Elecraft. 
>However, as someone who spent 30 years or so troubleshooting complex 
> systems, the fact that several previous EEINITs had failed to fix the 
> problem would have been a big red flag that I had not yet got to the 
> root cause of the issue.
>
> So I emailed Rene and let him know the problem was back.  I expect I'll 
> hear from him early next week and we will figure out the next step.
>
> BTW here's a quick summary of the "problem" in hopes someone on the list 
> may have an idea to try.
>
> (1) Low average output on SSB, typically 10 to 15 watts (AVG) according 
> to my W2 and confirmed in that it only drives my SB-200 to about 150 
> watts when driven by voice.   This occurs with what I take to be normal 
> metering indications from the K3, 5 to 7 bars of ALC, a few bars of 
> compression and the PO meter "hanging" around 50 watts with peaks up 
> around 100W.
>
> (2) Weird power fluctations in PSK31.   With higher audio frequencies, 
> when PSK1 idle tones are transmitted, the power out will start at about 
> 50 to 60 watts and rise to a nominal 75 watts or so over 15 to 20 
> seconds.If I preform this test repeatedly with a few seconds "off" 
> time between tests, the "starting" PO number gets progressively higher 
> each time.  After 6 to 8 test cycles the power will only vary a few watts.
>
> However if I power cycle the K3, changing nothing else, the PO reverts 
> to starting at 50 watts or so drifting up to normal over several 
> seconds, repeating the whole sequence.
>
> At lower audio frequencies, below around 800 hz, the overall PO tapers 
> off, and is down 50% at 300 hz.  TX EQ is flat, and all config 
> parameters are still  as received from Elecraft repair except RS-232 
> baud rate and the mic selection.
>
> To me, at this point,  the two most likely possibilities are something 
> mechanically/physically intermittent in the K3 (although it has never 
> worked normally for me), or something in the local station environment.
>
> I have tried 3 mics, a Heil PR22 and both elements of a Heil Pro-set, 
> FP, RP, and Line-IN, thru a pro-audio chain or direct connected with no 
> change.   Recordings on the internal DVR sound fine on Monitor but 
> exhibit the same  problem.  The power supply is solid at 13.8V.  High 
> quality station ground system.  Everything else works fine, superb 
> reception, normal CW operation, PSK works if I keep the audio carrier 
> above 1000 hz.
>
> The DSP board was swapped out before sending the radio in.
>
> I would be just totally tickled to discover the problem is something 
> stupid I'm doing or not doing, or a function of some other problem in my 
> station setup, but I don't know what the heck it would be.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> 73 Jack KZ5A
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 7/2/2010 10:50 AM, Jack Brabham wrote:
>   
>>I agree that a posted repair queue length figure would probably
>> eliminate a lot of angst by setting reasonabl

Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-17 Thread Wayne Burdick
Jack,

I was unaware of your difficulties. I'll discuss your repair with Rene  
first thing Monday and get back to you by phone.

We carefully test repaired or modified rigs before sending them back,  
so your results are a bit baffling. I'm sure we'll figure it out.

73,
Wayne
N6KR


Jack Brabham wrote:

> Well, here's a follow up
> Still exhibits the same problem it had when I sent it in.

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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-17 Thread Jack Brabham
  Well, here's a follow up.

A week after the assumed return posting date, I emailed, asking for a 
status update and got a phone call from Elecraft the next day. 
Nothing had happened during that week, apparently the return shipping 
just fell thru a crack and didn't occur (and yes, they are swamped with 
work).

So we got that moving and I received the radio on the 15th.

Still exhibits the same problem it had when I sent it in.

So I'm now 3 and a half months into my K3 ownership and still can't get 
on SSB.  Considering that I bought the radio specifically for SSB 
contesting and sold all my other radios to pay for the K3,  this is not 
making me a happy camper.

I haven't the slightest doubt that what I was told by Elecraft was 100% 
accurate, that the low output problem was confirmed on the bench and 
that an EEINIT had "fixed" it, and it stayed "fixed" while at Elecraft. 
   However, as someone who spent 30 years or so troubleshooting complex 
systems, the fact that several previous EEINITs had failed to fix the 
problem would have been a big red flag that I had not yet got to the 
root cause of the issue.

So I emailed Rene and let him know the problem was back.  I expect I'll 
hear from him early next week and we will figure out the next step.

BTW here's a quick summary of the "problem" in hopes someone on the list 
may have an idea to try.

(1) Low average output on SSB, typically 10 to 15 watts (AVG) according 
to my W2 and confirmed in that it only drives my SB-200 to about 150 
watts when driven by voice.   This occurs with what I take to be normal 
metering indications from the K3, 5 to 7 bars of ALC, a few bars of 
compression and the PO meter "hanging" around 50 watts with peaks up 
around 100W.

(2) Weird power fluctations in PSK31.   With higher audio frequencies, 
when PSK1 idle tones are transmitted, the power out will start at about 
50 to 60 watts and rise to a nominal 75 watts or so over 15 to 20 
seconds.If I preform this test repeatedly with a few seconds "off" 
time between tests, the "starting" PO number gets progressively higher 
each time.  After 6 to 8 test cycles the power will only vary a few watts.

However if I power cycle the K3, changing nothing else, the PO reverts 
to starting at 50 watts or so drifting up to normal over several 
seconds, repeating the whole sequence.

At lower audio frequencies, below around 800 hz, the overall PO tapers 
off, and is down 50% at 300 hz.  TX EQ is flat, and all config 
parameters are still  as received from Elecraft repair except RS-232 
baud rate and the mic selection.

To me, at this point,  the two most likely possibilities are something 
mechanically/physically intermittent in the K3 (although it has never 
worked normally for me), or something in the local station environment.

I have tried 3 mics, a Heil PR22 and both elements of a Heil Pro-set, 
FP, RP, and Line-IN, thru a pro-audio chain or direct connected with no 
change.   Recordings on the internal DVR sound fine on Monitor but 
exhibit the same  problem.  The power supply is solid at 13.8V.  High 
quality station ground system.  Everything else works fine, superb 
reception, normal CW operation, PSK works if I keep the audio carrier 
above 1000 hz.

The DSP board was swapped out before sending the radio in.

I would be just totally tickled to discover the problem is something 
stupid I'm doing or not doing, or a function of some other problem in my 
station setup, but I don't know what the heck it would be.

Any ideas?

73 Jack KZ5A











On 7/2/2010 10:50 AM, Jack Brabham wrote:
>I agree that a posted repair queue length figure would probably
> eliminate a lot of angst by setting reasonable expectations.   Probably
> eliminate a lot of phone calls to Elecraft  as well.   A weekly
> prognostication would be more than adequate for my purposes.
>
> Another thing that could use a little work is the level of communication.
>
> Last Friday I got a call from Elecraft stating that the symptoms (low
> SSB PO) had been confirmed, and that an EEINIT had resolved the problem.
>My K3 was going to "soak" over the weekend and shipout Monday (last)
> if was still good.   I was glad to hear it was coming back but a bit
> curious as to why the first half a dozen or so times we did an EEINIT
> had not resolved the problem.
>
> Now its a week later, I don't know if my K3 is back in the shop (as I
> suspect) or if it is has been shipped and I need to hang around to
> receive it...  I'm sure I could call and get an update but, being lazy,
>I would rather just get a short simple email periodically while the
> RSA is open or anytime there is a status update.
>
> 73
>
> Jack KZ5A
>
> K3 #4165
>
>
>
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> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Plea

Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-05 Thread Bob Stevens
I once took a direct hit on a wire antenna that was disconnected
(thankfully) from the Collins S line. I t was the loudest bang-sounded like
a big gun was fired in the back room (shack). When I went back, there was a
black smudge on the wall by the coax and the smell of an electrical short.
No damage to anything. I now have a lighting protection device in line with
the rig, but I still disconnect when I know a thunderstorm is around.

-Original Message-
From: elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net
[mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Philippe Trottet
Sent: Sunday, July 04, 2010 11:52 PM
To: Don Wilhelm; Jim McDonald
Cc: 'Elecraft Reflector'
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

Fully agree with your comments Don, 
 
And I want to take the opportunity to encourage every Ham to pay more
attention to protect our lovely K's and all ellectronic devices in the
house.  I've seen so many locations who are facing huge lightings storms and
this does not happen only to others, I'm a survival !
I do not want to start a thread beacause it is not directly related but I
will be happy to share my experience with those who are interesed.
 
To have some ideas what it is done today on lightning protection, please
have a look at:
http://www.indelec.com/foudre/Comprendre_la_foudre/Comprendre_la_foudre.aspx

I have no interest at all in this company but I have always pay very much
attention to be well protected in the various locations I was playing Ham
specially after an lightning hit when in France (F5LTB)
When in 2003,  I arrived in Democratic Republic of Congo (9Q1TB), where
lightning protection is mandatory I was looking to the companies who can
provide such service and discover that one has a different and a technically
interesting approach. I have equipped my house and during the 5 years I
stayed in Kinshasa and never face any problem even the head of the lightning
device up to my antenna system on  my metallic roof has been hitted many
times by direct lightings, my younger son can testify, the noise amplified
by the metallic roof was really impressive, but none of the
electric/electronic devices has been destroyed.
The skyscraper where I'm living in UAE is already lightning protection
equipped and apart of the strong lightnings during the "colder" season it is
very useful  because we are facing time to time sand storms who induce an
important amount of static.
Have a good day
Bst 73's
Philippe A65BI
K3#3616
 

>>> Don Wilhelm  05-07-2010 5:15 >>>
Jim,

I too would place lightning damage into the "Acts of Nature" category 
and not a warranty consideration.  A warranty covers premature component 
failures and failure to perform to specification, which is different IMHO.
For a comparison example, a new automobile has a warranty period, but if 
a tree falls on it and it is damaged, would that be a warranty repair? - 
I think not - that is why we have insurance coverage for those kind of 
catastrophic events.

73,
Don W3FPR

Jim McDonald wrote:
> The radio was new last
> November or so, so it is in the warranty period, but I assumed the
warranty
> wouldn't cover lightning.
>   
>
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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-05 Thread Jim Brown
On Sun, 4 Jul 2010 19:34:18 -0500, Jim McDonald wrote:

>My K3 was one of the lightning casualties they (Ren‚) just fixed. 

Add me to that list. It took two trips and a lot of Rene's bench time, but 
the radio is working fine six months later.  

73, Jim K9YC


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[Elecraft] K3 repair - a view from Europe

2010-07-05 Thread Peter Connors
One of the advantages of the Elecraft/user communication model is that 
the advice on a repair is only an email away:

Recently, as a result of email exchanges with Gary Surrency, Dick 
Dievendorff and Lyle Johnson, we identified the progressive failure of a 
~$1 serial eeprom on the front panel in #900, although the only symptom 
was a failure to complete the final step of the SubRx gain calibration.

The two-way shipping between Europe and Aptos would have added >$100, 
plus repair cost, plus the turnaround time (no K3? ...the horror, the 
horror) - so I took a look at the schematics, the data sheet and the 
front panel. I located the 8-pin part as being accessible but not 
wanting to trust my soldering skills at the pin pitch in that particular 
location, I took the front panel and a new part to an electronics 
contractor (Subtec Ltd) near my UK qth and they replaced it for the ~$38 
minimum charge while I waited (including coffee!).

Upshot: my rig is now 100% again and I have learned much. This would not 
have been possible without the K3 modular construction and, most 
importantly, the incomparable Elecraft/user open communication model.

73, Pete G4PLZ/F5VNB


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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-04 Thread Philippe Trottet
Fully agree with your comments Don, 
 
And I want to take the opportunity to encourage every Ham to pay more attention 
to protect our lovely K's and all ellectronic devices in the house.  I've seen 
so many locations who are facing huge lightings storms and this does not happen 
only to others, I'm a survival !
I do not want to start a thread beacause it is not directly related but I will 
be happy to share my experience with those who are interesed.
 
To have some ideas what it is done today on lightning protection, please have a 
look at: 
http://www.indelec.com/foudre/Comprendre_la_foudre/Comprendre_la_foudre.aspx 
I have no interest at all in this company but I have always pay very much 
attention to be well protected in the various locations I was playing Ham 
specially after an lightning hit when in France (F5LTB)
When in 2003,  I arrived in Democratic Republic of Congo (9Q1TB), where 
lightning protection is mandatory I was looking to the companies who can 
provide such service and discover that one has a different and a technically 
interesting approach. I have equipped my house and during the 5 years I stayed 
in Kinshasa and never face any problem even the head of the lightning device up 
to my antenna system on  my metallic roof has been hitted many times by direct 
lightings, my younger son can testify, the noise amplified by the metallic roof 
was really impressive, but none of the electric/electronic devices has been 
destroyed.
The skyscraper where I'm living in UAE is already lightning protection equipped 
and apart of the strong lightnings during the "colder" season it is very useful 
 because we are facing time to time sand storms who induce an important amount 
of static.
Have a good day
Bst 73's
Philippe A65BI
K3#3616
 

>>> Don Wilhelm  05-07-2010 5:15 >>>
Jim,

I too would place lightning damage into the "Acts of Nature" category 
and not a warranty consideration.  A warranty covers premature component 
failures and failure to perform to specification, which is different IMHO.
For a comparison example, a new automobile has a warranty period, but if 
a tree falls on it and it is damaged, would that be a warranty repair? - 
I think not - that is why we have insurance coverage for those kind of 
catastrophic events.

73,
Don W3FPR

Jim McDonald wrote:
> The radio was new last
> November or so, so it is in the warranty period, but I assumed the warranty
> wouldn't cover lightning.
>   
>
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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-04 Thread Don Wilhelm
Jim,

I too would place lightning damage into the "Acts of Nature" category 
and not a warranty consideration.  A warranty covers premature component 
failures and failure to perform to specification, which is different IMHO.
For a comparison example, a new automobile has a warranty period, but if 
a tree falls on it and it is damaged, would that be a warranty repair? - 
I think not - that is why we have insurance coverage for those kind of 
catastrophic events.

73,
Don W3FPR

Jim McDonald wrote:
> The radio was new last
> November or so, so it is in the warranty period, but I assumed the warranty
> wouldn't cover lightning.
>   
>
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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-04 Thread Jim McDonald
My K3 was one of the lightning casualties they (René) just fixed.  If it
wasn't cost effective to replace components on a board, he replaced the
board.  Neither René nor Madelyn said it couldn't be completely repaired. I
think the modularity is what makes it possible to ensure that a lightning
repair produces a radio that is completely up to spec (and updated too).

René explained his findings and course of action to me, and I was and am
very satisfied.  Insurance would have paid for a replacement if Elecraft
would have said one was necessary, but I am comfortable that the repair was
complete and left the radio as good as new.  He charged me for four hours of
labor and the components and boards replaced.  The radio was new last
November or so, so it is in the warranty period, but I assumed the warranty
wouldn't cover lightning.

Jim N7US


-Original Message-


That's not as much a dig as it might sound.  A common occurrence after
lightning damage is for components to weaken and then fail later on,
on their own inconvenient schedule.

A question for the K3 repair guru's...is a lightning damaged board
replaced and tossed, or repair of the lightning damage attempted?  Is
the warranty for such repair the same, or is there a caveat for
lightning damage?

73, Guy.

On Sun, Jul 4, 2010 at 3:38 PM, Grant Youngman  wrote:
> What I find remarkable is that Elecraft is even willing to look at a radio
that has suffered lightening damage.
>
> Back in the mid-90's I took an indirect lightening hit that left a bit of
molten metal around the shack.   Two other radio top 3 manufacturers were
totally unwilling to even attempt repairs.  The policy was -- "Lightening
induced damage, we won't touch it".  Nonetheless, I had to send the radios
to the manufacturers, and pay for 2-way shipping plus a "service" fee,  just
to get a letter to give my insurance company stating the equipment was
"unrepairable".  It might have been, or not, but the service departments
wouldn't even check.
>
> Grant/NQ5T


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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair (Lightning damage)

2010-07-04 Thread Don Wilhelm
Guy,

I have repaired several lightning damaged K2/100s.
To protect against a re-repair within my 90 day warranty period, I 
arbitrarily replace all the active devices in the KPA100 and then do any 
required repairs to the base K2, usually replacing at least the firmware 
chip - usually little else is required (that depends on whether the 
surge came on the antenna or the power cord or both)
I have done 4 so far with no ill effects nor complaints from my 
customers afterwards.

One caveat that I must adhere to is that if there is visible damage to 
the board, that is an indication that possibly capacitors, inductors, 
resistors and relay points have been damaged too, and I would advise the 
customer that it is not repairable at a cost less than that of a new unit.

I don't know if Elecraft has a policy on this sort of thing or not, and 
I certainly don't know about the K3 question.

73,
Don W3FPR

Guy Olinger K2AV wrote:
> That's not as much a dig as it might sound.  A common occurrence after
> lightning damage is for components to weaken and then fail later on,
> on their own inconvenient schedule.
>
> A question for the K3 repair guru's...is a lightning damaged board
> replaced and tossed, or repair of the lightning damage attempted?  Is
> the warranty for such repair the same, or is there a caveat for
> lightning damage?
>
> 73, Guy.
>   
>
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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-04 Thread David leDuc

I started this thread last week. I was just venting. I really didn't expect
as much discussion.
It is nice to know that the principals at Elecraft actually read this
discussion group and pay attention if they think it is necessary. 
I know that the K3 is unequivocally the best performing radio available for
any price. I think that they want their service to be the same.
At least my K3 is on the shelf in Aptos and I don't have to worry about
lightning damage:)

Dave N1IX

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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-04 Thread Grant Youngman
Actually, wasn't a dig.  I understand why there would be reluctance to touch a 
lightening damaged radio, given the issue you (and the vendors at the time) 
raised.

Which is why I'm kind of surprised Elecraft would do it, unless there were a 
caveat in the fine print :-)

Grant/NQ5T


On Jul 4, 2010, at 2:59 PM, Guy Olinger K2AV wrote:

> That's not as much a dig as it might sound.  A common occurrence after
> lightning damage is for components to weaken and then fail later on,
> on their own inconvenient schedule.
> On Sun, Jul 4, 2010 at 3:38 PM, Grant Youngman  wrote:

>> What I find remarkable is that Elecraft is even willing to look at a radio 
>> that has suffered lightening damage.
>> 

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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-04 Thread Guy Olinger K2AV
That's not as much a dig as it might sound.  A common occurrence after
lightning damage is for components to weaken and then fail later on,
on their own inconvenient schedule.

A question for the K3 repair guru's...is a lightning damaged board
replaced and tossed, or repair of the lightning damage attempted?  Is
the warranty for such repair the same, or is there a caveat for
lightning damage?

73, Guy.

On Sun, Jul 4, 2010 at 3:38 PM, Grant Youngman  wrote:
> What I find remarkable is that Elecraft is even willing to look at a radio 
> that has suffered lightening damage.
>
> Back in the mid-90's I took an indirect lightening hit that left a bit of 
> molten metal around the shack.   Two other radio top 3 manufacturers were 
> totally unwilling to even attempt repairs.  The policy was -- "Lightening 
> induced damage, we won't touch it".  Nonetheless, I had to send the radios to 
> the manufacturers, and pay for 2-way shipping plus a "service" fee,  just to 
> get a letter to give my insurance company stating the equipment was 
> "unrepairable".  It might have been, or not, but the service departments 
> wouldn't even check.
>
> Grant/NQ5T
>
>
> On Jul 4, 2010, at 2:00 PM, Eric Swartz WA6HHQ - Elecraft wrote:
>
>>
>> with the larger number of K3s damaged from lightening strikes and other
>> physical damage.
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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-04 Thread Grant Youngman
What I find remarkable is that Elecraft is even willing to look at a radio that 
has suffered lightening damage.

Back in the mid-90's I took an indirect lightening hit that left a bit of 
molten metal around the shack.   Two other radio top 3 manufacturers were 
totally unwilling to even attempt repairs.  The policy was -- "Lightening 
induced damage, we won't touch it".  Nonetheless, I had to send the radios to 
the manufacturers, and pay for 2-way shipping plus a "service" fee,  just to 
get a letter to give my insurance company stating the equipment was 
"unrepairable".  It might have been, or not, but the service departments 
wouldn't even check.

Grant/NQ5T


On Jul 4, 2010, at 2:00 PM, Eric Swartz WA6HHQ - Elecraft wrote:

> 
> with the larger number of K3s damaged from lightening strikes and other 
> physical damage. 
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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-04 Thread Sam Morgan
snip
sorry I hit the send button to soon
that 'edit as new' feature bit me again


again my apologizes to the list
-- 
GB & 73
K5OAI
Sam Morgan
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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-04 Thread Sam Morgan
read the following 2 emails,
the first is from a elecraft owner
the 2nd a reply form on of the 2 elecraft owners

once again I will ask,
when is the last time you heard of any such interaction
with one of the big three?
I'm certain you will get no such about anything the sell

===
Hi Guys,

Please don't misunderstand my original question. (And thanks to all who have
contributed to an interesting discussion.)

I had been inactive for quite some time when I purchased a K2. That purchase
not only returned me to the hobby, but it also made me, probably, a lifetime
Elecraft devotee. I will be purchasing either a "tricked out" K2 or a K3.
The Asian manufacturers are not in consideration.

Please note that it is not my intention to be critical of Elecraft or the
K3. I understand the technology changes that have mandated a slight change
to the Elecraft business model where we are dealing, more or less, with a
line replaceable unit (LRU) concept radio as contrasted with a component
level repair model like the K1, K2, and KX1.

I am only trying to get an idea of the scope of the "problem", if there is
one. The repair times for the K3 seem to indicate a long queue and I
naturally wonder what is in that queue. If it is filled with K3's, I wonder
why.
My life has changed from employment to retirement; every dollar is very
important to me in this new fixed income world in which I now live. If there
is some kind of quality control issue developing with the K3, I would like
to get a handle on it so that I can make an informed decision about a (2nd)
K2 purchase versus a more expensive K3 purchase.

I would not expect a zero defect business model to be in place at Elecraft.
Having said that, however, I would like to obtain and understand the
"out-of-the-box" and the "infant mortality" failure rate data for the K3, if
such information exists.

Thanks,
Ed, KD3Y, PE (electrical)


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Reply from Eric 1/2 owner below:

Hi Ed,

Sorry for the delay replying to this thread. I've been out of town for
ten days and am just now catching up with older emails.

I just checked and we're running at 3-4 weeks right now for repairs and
upgrades. My target is 2 weeks or better. I was in the factory yesterday
and personally looked at the queue. The majority of the K3s awaiting
work are for customer requested factory upgrades on older units, factory
additions of new options, followed by a fair number with significant
lightning damage (we see that this time each year) and a remaining mix
of normal repair issues. We had the queue down to a shorter time
recently, but the recent rush of radios coming in before field day (for
upgrades, factory alignments and deferred repairs)  pushed us back a
bit. We are also down one repair technician (part time) after they
returned to the job they had been laid off from in Silicon Valley. What
caught us off guard has been the number of people asking us to upgrade
older used K3s to the current revision levels and adding options along
with the larger number of K3s damaged from lightening strikes and other
physical damage. We also had a number of K3s recently returned for
repair after customers mistakenly transmitted into them while preparing
and testing their SO2R set ups for the WRTC competition in Moscow next
week and weekend. (The largest numbers by far of any rig used by U.S.
and other country WRTC teams are K3s.)

Our tech crew has been working overtime to get things back below two
weeks. Rene was in yesterday working hard when I checked in to pick up
some items at the office, and Dale has been working extra hours in the
evening and weekends. I'm also assigning some of our regular production
crew to perform returned K3 dis-assembly, re-assembly etc so the repair
techs can focus on what they do best. If all goes well, we should be at
the two week or better target in the next 1-2 weeks.

73, Eric  WA6HHQ



-- 
GB & 73
K5OAI
Sam Morgan
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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-04 Thread Eric Swartz WA6HHQ - Elecraft
Hi Ed,

Sorry for the delay replying to this thread. I've been out of town for 
ten days and am just now catching up with older emails.

I just checked and we're running at 3-4 weeks right now for repairs and 
upgrades. My target is 2 weeks or better. I was in the factory yesterday 
and personally looked at the queue. The majority of the K3s awaiting 
work are for customer requested factory upgrades on older units, factory 
additions of new options, followed by a fair number with significant 
lightning damage (we see that this time each year) and a remaining mix 
of normal repair issues. We had the queue down to a shorter time 
recently, but the recent rush of radios coming in before field day (for 
upgrades, factory alignments and deferred repairs)  pushed us back a 
bit. We are also down one repair technician (part time) after they 
returned to the job they had been laid off from in Silicon Valley. What 
caught us off guard has been the number of people asking us to upgrade 
older used K3s to the current revision levels and adding options along 
with the larger number of K3s damaged from lightening strikes and other 
physical damage. We also had a number of K3s recently returned for 
repair after customers mistakenly transmitted into them while preparing 
and testing their SO2R set ups for the WRTC competition in Moscow next 
week and weekend. (The largest numbers by far of any rig used by U.S. 
and other country WRTC teams are K3s.)

Our tech crew has been working overtime to get things back below two 
weeks. Rene was in yesterday working hard when I checked in to pick up 
some items at the office, and Dale has been working extra hours in the 
evening and weekends. I'm also assigning some of our regular production 
crew to perform returned K3 dis-assembly, re-assembly etc so the repair 
techs can focus on what they do best. If all goes well, we should be at 
the two week or better target in the next 1-2 weeks.

73, Eric  WA6HHQ

_..._


On 7/2/2010 1:06 PM, Ed Lambert wrote:
> Hi Guys,
>
> Please don't misunderstand my original question. (And thanks to all who have
> contributed to an interesting discussion.)
>
> I had been inactive for quite some time when I purchased a K2. That purchase
> not only returned me to the hobby, but it also made me, probably, a lifetime
> Elecraft devotee. I will be purchasing either a "tricked out" K2 or a K3.
> The Asian manufacturers are not in consideration.
>
> Please note that it is not my intention to be critical of Elecraft or the
> K3. I understand the technology changes that have mandated a slight change
> to the Elecraft business model where we are dealing, more or less, with a
> line replaceable unit (LRU) concept radio as contrasted with a component
> level repair model like the K1, K2, and KX1.
>
> I am only trying to get an idea of the scope of the "problem", if there is
> one. The repair times for the K3 seem to indicate a long queue and I
> naturally wonder what is in that queue. If it is filled with K3's, I wonder
> why.
>
> My life has changed from employment to retirement; every dollar is very
> important to me in this new fixed income world in which I now live. If there
> is some kind of quality control issue developing with the K3, I would like
> to get a handle on it so that I can make an informed decision about a (2nd)
> K2 purchase versus a more expensive K3 purchase.
>
> I would not expect a zero defect business model to be in place at Elecraft.
> Having said that, however, I would like to obtain and understand the
> "out-of-the-box" and the "infant mortality" failure rate data for the K3, if
> such information exists.
>
> Thanks,
> Ed, KD3Y, PE (electrical)
>
>
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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-03 Thread Rick Prather
Which is "nifty" for sure!

I have it on my dock on the Mac and run it once in a while before I open my 
loggers and now the clock is a non-issue!

Rick
K6LE

On 7/2/2010, at 2:49 , Dick Dievendorff wrote:

> I should point out that Dick's nifty date and time setting code is a 
> derivative of David Fleming's nifty clock setting utility.
> 
> Dick, K6KR
> 
> Sent from my iPhone

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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair alternative

2010-07-03 Thread Mike
  Over.

On 7/2/2010 11:27 AM, Mike wrote:
> I paid the full price for my DSP board swap. Was this somehow a warranty
> price? Am I due a refund?
>
> 73, Mike NF4L
>
> Hector Padron wrote:
>> "The biggest difference I hear with Elecraft is that a lot of the problems
>> can be resolved quicker if the problem can be isolated to a board so that a
>> simple swap can be done and thus eliminates return to the factory for
>> repairs."
>>
>>
>> And that was the case with my K3,.my own mistake made the RX audio PA to be 
>> damaged.A simple call to Elecraft and a short talk to Dale with my promise 
>> to send back my damaged DSP board,he sent me next day a new DSP board that I 
>> got in just two days in spite off the distance between CA and FL,.two more 
>> days to make time to install the new board and that was it,my K3 working 
>> even better than new because the new board came with all the mods 
>> done,price? Just $14 from that new board  plus $10 more to ship the bad 
>> board back to them.Total bill for me,only $24. Time frame? 4 days, my radio 
>> was fixed.
>> This is an option guys you should consider,talk to the tech on the 
>> phone,most of the times by their experience,they can tell where the problem 
>> is and which board has to be replaced,so deal with them as I did,if you 
>> don't feel confident to replace it by yourself,get a tech that you know in 
>> your location and pay him to do the swap or maybe a friend of yours will do 
>> it by free. I am sure it will be faster this way to have your K3 repaired 
>> than send it to them,don't forget these guys has too many projects on 
>> hands,its not easy to keep up a production of new radios,new 
>> P3,repair,mods,etc I think they are doing a great job no matter what.
>>
>> AD4C
>> K3 # 2192


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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-02 Thread Dick Dievendorff
I should point out that Dick's nifty date and time setting code is a derivative 
of David Fleming's nifty clock setting utility.

Dick, K6KR

Sent from my iPhone

On Jul 2, 2010, at 1:14 PM, Fred Jensen  wrote:

>> Pete N4RZ wrote : "One thought that comes to mind - put a "repair queue
>> length" figure on the web-site and update it every day or two"
>> 
>> The only problem with that Pete is that it would eat up resources that could
>> otherwise be used productively, thus slowing down actual work. 
> 
> Actually, there's a bigger problem with doing that -- at every web 
> update, it will foster yet another email storm to the reflector. 
> Between updates, it will cause a secondary storm about why hasn't it 
> been updated yet, timed of course from a thousand or so K3 clocks, and 
> leading to a tertiary storm reprising the clock accuracy thread. :-)
> 
> That [in]famous thread actually had a tiny upside for me ... I didn't 
> know until then that my K3 had a clock.  I set it about 2 weeks ago with 
> Dick's nifty K3 Utility, just checked it and it's about 2 sec away from 
> WWV.  I set the dive watch I wear at the same time, it's about 1 sec 
> from WWV.  I can remember how to use my watch, I'll forget how to get 
> the clock display back, probably about 1730 tomorrow. :-)
> 
> 73,
> 
> Fred K6DGW
> - Northern California Contest Club
> - CU in the 2010 Cal QSO Party 2-3 Oct 2010
> - www.cqp.org
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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-02 Thread Fred Jensen
> Pete N4RZ wrote : "One thought that comes to mind - put a "repair queue
> length" figure on the web-site and update it every day or two"
> 
> The only problem with that Pete is that it would eat up resources that could
> otherwise be used productively, thus slowing down actual work. 

Actually, there's a bigger problem with doing that -- at every web 
update, it will foster yet another email storm to the reflector. 
Between updates, it will cause a secondary storm about why hasn't it 
been updated yet, timed of course from a thousand or so K3 clocks, and 
leading to a tertiary storm reprising the clock accuracy thread. :-)

That [in]famous thread actually had a tiny upside for me ... I didn't 
know until then that my K3 had a clock.  I set it about 2 weeks ago with 
Dick's nifty K3 Utility, just checked it and it's about 2 sec away from 
WWV.  I set the dive watch I wear at the same time, it's about 1 sec 
from WWV.  I can remember how to use my watch, I'll forget how to get 
the clock display back, probably about 1730 tomorrow. :-)

73,

Fred K6DGW
- Northern California Contest Club
- CU in the 2010 Cal QSO Party 2-3 Oct 2010
- www.cqp.org
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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-02 Thread Ed Lambert

Hi Guys,

Please don't misunderstand my original question. (And thanks to all who have
contributed to an interesting discussion.)

I had been inactive for quite some time when I purchased a K2. That purchase
not only returned me to the hobby, but it also made me, probably, a lifetime
Elecraft devotee. I will be purchasing either a "tricked out" K2 or a K3.
The Asian manufacturers are not in consideration.

Please note that it is not my intention to be critical of Elecraft or the
K3. I understand the technology changes that have mandated a slight change
to the Elecraft business model where we are dealing, more or less, with a
line replaceable unit (LRU) concept radio as contrasted with a component
level repair model like the K1, K2, and KX1.

I am only trying to get an idea of the scope of the "problem", if there is
one. The repair times for the K3 seem to indicate a long queue and I
naturally wonder what is in that queue. If it is filled with K3's, I wonder
why. 

My life has changed from employment to retirement; every dollar is very
important to me in this new fixed income world in which I now live. If there
is some kind of quality control issue developing with the K3, I would like
to get a handle on it so that I can make an informed decision about a (2nd)
K2 purchase versus a more expensive K3 purchase.

I would not expect a zero defect business model to be in place at Elecraft.
Having said that, however, I would like to obtain and understand the
"out-of-the-box" and the "infant mortality" failure rate data for the K3, if
such information exists.

Thanks,
Ed, KD3Y, PE (electrical)


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[Elecraft] K3 Repair alternative

2010-07-02 Thread Edward R Cole
Absolutely!

Try to narrow down where the problem is (call Elecraft for help with 
this if you are not able to do it on your own).  Saves you and 
Elecraft time in T/S.  One of the most difficult things I had, as a 
repair technician in my 45-years, was getting the customer to give me 
good input on what was wrong so I could start.  Since the K3 is 
modularized narrowing down to a board makes it faster-cheaper to fix.

On one job many years ago I worked in engineering as a tech so did 
the early prototype testing, preproduction testing, so that when the 
unit went into production we were called to provide instruction to 
the line QC techs on what to look for with certain symptoms.  Having 
worked on over 300 units we were thoroughly familiar with every 
component and bug.  I'm sure the Elecraft techs are similarly expert in T/S.

I'm also sure the tech's appreciate helping you on-line as it is more 
efficient.
Its nice to be retired and only fixing my own stuff!

73, Ed - KL7UW

--
Date: Fri, 2 Jul 2010 04:41:37 -0700 (PDT)
From: Hector Padron 
Subject: [Elecraft] K3 Repair alternative
To: Gary Gregory 
Cc: elecraft@mailman.qth.net
Message-ID: <137727.13865...@web45815.mail.sp1.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
"The biggest difference I hear with Elecraft is that a lot of the problems
can be resolved quicker if the problem can be isolated to a board so that a
simple swap can be done and thus eliminates return to the factory for
repairs."
?
?
And that was the case with my K3,.my own mistake made the RX audio PA 
to be damaged.A simple call to Elecraft and a short talk to Dale 
with?my promise to send back my damaged DSP board,he sent me next day 
a new DSP board that I got in just two days in spite off the distance 
between CA and FL,.two more days to make time to install the new 
board and that was it,my K3 working even better than new because the 
new board came with all the mods done,price? Just $14 from that new 
board ?plus $10 more to ship the bad board back to them.Total bill 
for me,only $24. Time frame? 4 days, my radio was fixed.
This is an option guys you should consider,talk to the tech on the 
phone,most of the times by their experience,they can tell where the 
problem is and which board has to be replaced,so deal with them as I 
did,if you don't feel confident to replace it by yourself,get a tech 
that you know in your location and pay him to do the swap or maybe a 
friend of yours will do it by free. I am sure it will be faster this 
way to have your K3 repaired than send it to them,don't forget these 
guys has too many projects on hands,its not easy to keep up a 
production of new radios,new P3,repair,mods,etc I think they are 
doing a great job no matter what.
?
AD4C
K3 # 2192



73, Ed - KL7UW, WD2XSH/45
==
BP40IQ   500 KHz - 10-GHz   www.kl7uw.com
EME: 144-600w, 432-100w, 1296-60w, 3400-fall 2010
DUBUS Magazine USA Rep dubus...@hotmail.com
==

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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-02 Thread David leDuc
Pete,
That is a great idea but it may serve as a negative advertisement for
Eleccraft.

Dave N1IX

-Original Message-
From: elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net
[mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Fred Atchley
Sent: Friday, July 02, 2010 2:30 PM
To: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

Pete N4RZ wrote : "One thought that comes to mind - put a "repair queue
length" figure on the web-site and update it every day or two"

The only problem with that Pete is that it would eat up resources that could
otherwise be used productively, thus slowing down actual work. 

73, Fred, AE6iC, K3#2241

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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-02 Thread George A. Thornton
I can only give my anecdotal response.  I have built both the K2 and K3
and have supplemented and upgraded both.  

For the most part the Elecraft equipment, particularly the K3, is well
designed and pretested before leaving the factory.  

If you are comfortable with kit building you are probably going to have
no problems, particularly with the K3.  

If a problem develops often the company can help you solve the problem
through over the phone advice.  If there is a defective module they will
send you a replacement so you can do it yourself.

I would suspect it is far more likely that equipment will be damaged by
mistakes made by the kit builder than defects in manufacture.

You can avoid all the risk by simply buying the prebuilt radio.  That
will be fully tested before leaving the factory.

My build of the K2 was complicated because that is a more difficult
process since you have to do extensive soldering and are building the
individual circuit boards.  I had a few minor errors that were corrected
without having to return the unit to the factory and I got it running
well.  

The K3 was a much easier project and it took me less than 11 hours to
build and I had only one obvious mistake (forgot to plug in the PA power
supply) that I quickly found and corrected.  However, it was also my
experience that the sub rx ( which I installed later) is the most
difficult part of the K3 build.  The Sub Rx board's tnc connectors are
very delicate.  The sub rx fit is also very tight and it is very hard to
see the connectors to make sure they are properly seated.  I did damage
the SubRx board during installation and I did send it back to the
factory to repair.

Also, while the radio has a lot more protective circuitry than most,
there are things that an operator can do to it that would result in
damage.

Elecraft is good at helping and the repair charges are very reasonable.



-Original Message-
From: elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net
[mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Ed Lambert
Sent: Friday, July 02, 2010 8:09 AM
To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

As a prospective K3 customer, I have been following this link with very
great interest. I would be interested in knowing what percent of K3
deliveries require return to Elecraft for repair and of that cohort,
what is
the percentage of K3's that were fundamentally defective upon delivery
as
opposed to damaged by customer (mis)use.

For me the weakness of the K3 is the (probably necessary) departure from
the
"kit model" of the rest of the Elecraft line where self repair is the
order
of the day. The repair of a K3, it seems to me, almost certainly
requires a
factory return, which, from this thread, is somewhat unappealing. 

I am interested further discussion on this thread in order to help me
determine whether my very limited funds go toward a K3 purchase or the
purchase of a second, but "fully tricked out", K2/100.

Ed Lambert, KD3Y (K2 1999, KX1 1492)


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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-02 Thread Fred Atchley
Pete N4RZ wrote : "One thought that comes to mind - put a "repair queue
length" figure on the web-site and update it every day or two"

The only problem with that Pete is that it would eat up resources that could
otherwise be used productively, thus slowing down actual work. 

73, Fred, AE6iC, K3#2241

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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-02 Thread Guy Olinger K2AV
> Ed Lambert wrote:
> Thanks, Dunc.
>
> I am mildly disconcerted by the reports of radios delivered with defects.
>
> Thanks again,

Except in the case of very large monolithic devices (MRI machine,
Jetliner),  military applications, life-critical devices,  it is
understood that competition does not allow for completely examining
every circuit board in every product.  Return, warranty service and
identifying overly defective trends that are not manufacturing noise,
is a science in itself with some number of canned major megabuck
computer apps to manage returns and identify patternable troubles that
need attention, where servicing returns are so high as to

Once the decision has been made to deal with warrantee and service
issues honestly, there is a level of defect where the service costs
exceed the profit margin.  There are two choice then, raise prices or
identify and fix the manufacturing problem.

Most of us simply cannot afford zero defect manufacturing products and
so we are subject to a company's decision above. K3's built by
Elecraft ARE extensively tested after assembly, you will get a
functioning radio.  But for some there will still be a transistor that
goes, or a missed wave solder that lasts for six months before causing
problems.

The question for us is whether or not we get stiffed for the
inevitable defect.  For those of us not able to afford military
prices, we have one of the best support groups on the planet in
Elecraft.  THAT is what you should base a purchase decision upon, if
defects is a serious issue.

73, Guy.
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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair alternative

2010-07-02 Thread Pete Smith
Because it was probably caused by a passing electrical storm.  The 
RS-232 port was working before the storm and not after.  Several people 
reported similar experiences, so I accepted the likelihood, even though 
I have run a pair of other radios for over 15 years without ever 
disconnecting the RS-232 cable (everything between house and tower *was* 
disconnected).

73, Pete N4ZR

The World Contest Station Database, updated daily at www.conteststations.com
The Reverse Beacon Network at http://reversebeacon.net, blog at 
reversebeacon.blogspot.com,
spots at telnet.reversebeacon.net, port 7000


On 7/2/2010 12:21 PM, Bob Dorchuck wrote:
> " A couple of weeks ago I blew something on the KIO3A board in my
> brand new K3"
>
> Could I ask why this was not covered under warranty if it was a brand new K3?
>
> Bob  W6VY
>
>
> Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair alternative
> Pete Smith
> Fri, 02 Jul 2010 05:41:10 -0700
>
> Whoah!  This is really news to me.  A couple of weeks ago I blew
> something on the KIO3A board in my brand new K3.  The consensus at the
> time was that it would not be cost-effective to send the board to
> Elecraft for repair.  In my conversations with Elecraft tech support,
> nobody ever mentioned the possibility of a swap.  As a result, I paid
> $115 for a new replacement board, and have the old one on my desk here,
> probably just needing a new U1, which I may just try to do myself.
>
> Would Elecraft really have accepted my damaged board and charged me such
> a nominal figure for repair, and sent me a new board to use in the
> meantime?  Sounds too good to be true - maybe I'm misunderstanding.
>
>
> 73, Pete N4ZR
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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-02 Thread Lew Phelps K6LMP
Having dealt in the past with tech support from Yaesu and Icom, and now 
enjoying the incredibly better support that Elecraft offers, I have three 
observations:

1. With any of the Japanese manufacturers, your ONLY option is to ship to the 
factory. If it's under warranty, you void the warranty if you do anything to 
the rig, even just removing the cover in some cases. Out of warranty, shipping 
to the factory is still your only reasonable recourse. With Elecraft, through a 
combination of outstanding Elecraft communication and support mindset, and this 
user group, there's at least an opportunity to fix a problem on your own.  If 
the issue is damaged SMD components or a damaged board trace, then it's back to 
the factory, obviously, but for many problems, users have obtained the guidance 
to fix it themselves. The modularity of the K3 is also helpful; you can remove 
one board and keep the rest of the rig in your shack. Yaesu turnaround, in my 
experience, was 4 to 6 weeks, and I live only 30 miles from their US repair 
facility in Orange County, CA. Score:  Elecraft 1, Big Boys 0.

2. Elecraft monitors this group closely, and responds at lightning speed when 
issues arise. For example, if somebody flags a bug in the K3 Utility program or 
in firmware, it's typically fixed and a revised version made available in days, 
or even hours. Yaesu and Icom (and I presume Kenwood) presumably monitor their 
equivalent discussion groups, but they NEVER, EVER participate in the 
discussion, and never respond to anything posted on the groups. Score: Elecraft 
2, Big Boys 0.

3. Elecraft documentation makes it far easier to identify and fix problems than 
any documentation I've seen on any ham radio equipment since Heathkit was in 
business. With modern micro-scale technologies, repairs aren't as easy as they 
might have been on Heathkits, but we're not in Kansas any more,  (or Benton 
Harbor, to be more accurate). Score:  Elecraft 3, Big Boys 0. 

In the World Cup competition, a 1-0 lead usually wins, 2-0 is insurmountable 
and 3-0 is a slaughter. Same is true here. Nobody's perfect, but Elecraft comes 
as close to perfection as we're all likely to see before we become SK and go to 
Ham Radio Heaven.

Lew K6LMP


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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-02 Thread Phil LaMarche

Absolutely correct!  Thank you! 


Philip LaMarche
 
LaMarche Enterprises, Inc
p...@lamarcheenterprises.com
www.LaMarcheEnterprises.com 
 
727-944-3226
727-937-8834 Fax
727-510-5038 Cell 
 
www.w9dvm.com
 
K3 #1605
 
CCA 98-00827
CRA 1701
W9DVM
 

-Original Message-
From: elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net
[mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of The Smiths
Sent: Friday, July 02, 2010 1:41 PM
To: gelamb...@charter.net; Elecraft Reflector
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair




Ed,

STOP your worrying right now.  The K3 has PROVEN itself to be a VERY
reliable rig, and what you are seeing is the squeaky wheel going around.
This is how it works on this and other user groups... one person says
something and then all the vocal people start building a mountain out of a
mole hill.  This will happen with EVERYTHING, the use of a static mat, how
big it should be, what the resistor should be on the little cord that
connects to the matt, what type of headphones to use, even why the clock in
the K3 is 2 seconds off a month/day/etc... They blow everything up to look
like the rig is a complete fail.
You have to keep in mind that people that have a reason to complain about
something want their opinions heard, and heard loudly.. where as the people
that have had good experiences generally don't speak out on these sites.

This is no different than when you go to a review sight about a Vacuum or
any other consumer good and all you read are bad reviews, yet you've had the
same very device sitting in your house working perfectly well for the last 3
years.  Yes, there are going to be some issues with the rigs from time to
time, but keep in mind over 4000 of these units have been sold... Most units
go back for Mods or updates that appliance users are too afraid to do
themselves.  The President of the company has already come on this user
group and explained what the majority of work he's been seeing coming back
and why... Yet the wheels keep going around and around on here...

The backlog on repairs will always change from day to day.  Today it could
be 20 people wanting the P3 I/O buffer resistor replaced in prep  for the
P3, tomorrow it could be 10 people wanting a new DSP replacement for the
audio mods released, and then again, 2 weeks from now there may only be one
unit on the bench waiting for a simple RF repair... It's all random.. The
squeaky wheels are just catching this at a time when the delay is longer
than not due to a lot of new mods that were implemented recently(last 2 or 3
months).

Find someone that lives near you, spend a day with the K3, play with it.  If
you find that it looks and feels like you want in a rig, BUY it.. You wont
regret it.  I just urge you not to use the Squeaky wheels to make your
decision for you.  73



 
> From: gelamb...@charter.net
> To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net
> Date: Fri, 2 Jul 2010 11:09:09 -0400
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair
> 
> As a prospective K3 customer, I have been following this link with 
> very great interest. I would be interested in knowing what percent of 
> K3 deliveries require return to Elecraft for repair and of that 
> cohort, what is the percentage of K3's that were fundamentally 
> defective upon delivery as opposed to damaged by customer (mis)use.
> 
> For me the weakness of the K3 is the (probably necessary) departure 
> from the "kit model" of the rest of the Elecraft line where self 
> repair is the order of the day. The repair of a K3, it seems to me, 
> almost certainly requires a factory return, which, from this thread, is
somewhat unappealing.
> 
> I am interested further discussion on this thread in order to help me 
> determine whether my very limited funds go toward a K3 purchase or the 
> purchase of a second, but "fully tricked out", K2/100.
> 
> Ed Lambert, KD3Y (K2 1999, KX1 1492)
> 
> 
> __
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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-02 Thread Duncan Carter
The K3 worked on 30 meters when I received it but the output was a bit 
low and drifted lower with component aging.  Such things do happen and 
Elecraft gave me the support to find the problem and plus I've had 
experience with trimmers in older gear like my FT-101E that I've had for 
35 years and other gear before that.  Back in the dark ages ( I was 
first licensed in 1954 ), troubleshooting ham gear, doing periodic 
alignments, etc. were all a normal part of the game.  All manufacturers 
have occasional component problems; the good manufacturers support their 
gear which Elecraft does quite well.

Dunc, W5DC

Ed Lambert wrote:
Thanks, Dunc.

It is interesting to me that it looks like you had to do 1 repair due to a
radio delivered with a fundamental defect and that the rest of your work 
was
voluntary.

I am mildly disconcerted by the reports of radios delivered with defects.

Thanks again,

Ed
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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-02 Thread The Smiths



Ed,

STOP your worrying right now.  The K3 has PROVEN itself to be a VERY reliable 
rig, and what you are seeing is the squeaky wheel going around.  This is how it 
works on this and other user groups... one person says something and then all 
the vocal people start building a mountain out of a mole hill.  This will 
happen with EVERYTHING, the use of a static mat, how big it should be, what the 
resistor should be on the little cord that connects to the matt, what type of 
headphones to use, even why the clock in the K3 is 2 seconds off a 
month/day/etc... They blow everything up to look like the rig is a complete 
fail.
You have to keep in mind that people that have a reason to complain about 
something want their opinions heard, and heard loudly.. where as the people 
that have had good experiences generally don't speak out on these sites.

This is no different than when you go to a review sight about a Vacuum or any 
other consumer good and all you read are bad reviews, yet you've had the same 
very device sitting in your house working perfectly well for the last 3 years.  
Yes, there are going to be some issues with the rigs from time to time, but 
keep in mind over 4000 of these units have been sold... Most units go back for 
Mods or updates that appliance users are too afraid to do themselves.  The 
President of the company has already come on this user group and explained what 
the majority of work he's been seeing coming back and why... Yet the wheels 
keep going around and around on here...

The backlog on repairs will always change from day to day.  Today it could be 
20 people wanting the P3 I/O buffer resistor replaced in prep  for the P3, 
tomorrow it could be 10 people wanting a new DSP replacement for the audio mods 
released, and then again, 2 weeks from now there may only be one unit on the 
bench waiting for a simple RF repair... It's all random.. The squeaky wheels 
are just catching this at a time when the delay is longer than not due to a lot 
of new mods that were implemented recently(last 2 or 3 months).

Find someone that lives near you, spend a day with the K3, play with it.  If 
you find that it looks and feels like you want in a rig, BUY it.. You wont 
regret it.  I just urge you not to use the Squeaky wheels to make your decision 
for you.  73



 
> From: gelamb...@charter.net
> To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net
> Date: Fri, 2 Jul 2010 11:09:09 -0400
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair
> 
> As a prospective K3 customer, I have been following this link with very
> great interest. I would be interested in knowing what percent of K3
> deliveries require return to Elecraft for repair and of that cohort, what is
> the percentage of K3's that were fundamentally defective upon delivery as
> opposed to damaged by customer (mis)use.
> 
> For me the weakness of the K3 is the (probably necessary) departure from the
> "kit model" of the rest of the Elecraft line where self repair is the order
> of the day. The repair of a K3, it seems to me, almost certainly requires a
> factory return, which, from this thread, is somewhat unappealing. 
> 
> I am interested further discussion on this thread in order to help me
> determine whether my very limited funds go toward a K3 purchase or the
> purchase of a second, but "fully tricked out", K2/100.
> 
> Ed Lambert, KD3Y (K2 1999, KX1 1492)
> 
> 
> __
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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair alternative

2010-07-02 Thread Bob Dorchuck
" A couple of weeks ago I blew something on the KIO3A board in my
brand new K3"

Could I ask why this was not covered under warranty if it was a brand new K3?

Bob  W6VY


Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair alternative
Pete Smith
Fri, 02 Jul 2010 05:41:10 -0700

Whoah!  This is really news to me.  A couple of weeks ago I blew
something on the KIO3A board in my brand new K3.  The consensus at the
time was that it would not be cost-effective to send the board to
Elecraft for repair.  In my conversations with Elecraft tech support,
nobody ever mentioned the possibility of a swap.  As a result, I paid
$115 for a new replacement board, and have the old one on my desk here,
probably just needing a new U1, which I may just try to do myself.

Would Elecraft really have accepted my damaged board and charged me such
a nominal figure for repair, and sent me a new board to use in the
meantime?  Sounds too good to be true - maybe I'm misunderstanding.


73, Pete N4ZR
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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-02 Thread Steve Ellington
Ed:
You would have absolutely no chance of repairing one of the import rigs 
yourself. At least with Elecraft you have phone and email support, spare 
parts and modular construction going for you. Now if all that doesn't help 
then ship it in for service but to say "it almost certainly requires a 
factory return" is only true if you're totally electronically and 
mechanically inapt. If you can use a vom and screwdriver you at least have a 
fighting chance of repair.
  From I've seen, the K3 is about as reliable as anything else out there 
unless you really beat up on it, expose it to lightning or fat finger the 
assembly.

Steve
N4LQ
- Original Message - 
From: "Ed Lambert" 
To: 
Sent: Friday, July 02, 2010 11:09 AM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair


> As a prospective K3 customer, I have been following this link with very
> great interest. I would be interested in knowing what percent of K3
> deliveries require return to Elecraft for repair and of that cohort, what 
> is
> the percentage of K3's that were fundamentally defective upon delivery as
> opposed to damaged by customer (mis)use.
>
> For me the weakness of the K3 is the (probably necessary) departure from 
> the
> "kit model" of the rest of the Elecraft line where self repair is the 
> order
> of the day. The repair of a K3, it seems to me, almost certainly requires 
> a
> factory return, which, from this thread, is somewhat unappealing.
>
> I am interested further discussion on this thread in order to help me
> determine whether my very limited funds go toward a K3 purchase or the
> purchase of a second, but "fully tricked out", K2/100.
>
> Ed Lambert, KD3Y (K2 1999, KX1 1492)
>
>
> __
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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-02 Thread Julius Fazekas n2wn

Tough call Ed...

I had two K2s, and still really like the rig. Think the K3 is a bit more 
flexible and added 6M...

Understand about the funds

Happy 4th o' July!

Julius

Julius Fazekas

N2WN



Tennessee Contest Group

http://www.k4ro.net/tcg/index.html

http://groups.google.com/group/tcg1?hl=en



Tennessee QSO Party

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Elecraft K2 #4455

Elecraft K3/100 #366

Elecraft K3/100 #1875

--- On Fri, 7/2/10, Ed Lambert-2 [via Elecraft] 
 wrote:

From: Ed Lambert-2 [via Elecraft] 

Subject: Re: K3 Repair
To: "Julius Fazekas n2wn" 
Date: Friday, July 2, 2010, 11:10 AM



As a prospective K3 customer, I have been following this link with very

great interest. I would be interested in knowing what percent of K3

deliveries require return to Elecraft for repair and of that cohort, what is

the percentage of K3's that were fundamentally defective upon delivery as

opposed to damaged by customer (mis)use.


For me the weakness of the K3 is the (probably necessary) departure from the

"kit model" of the rest of the Elecraft line where self repair is the order

of the day. The repair of a K3, it seems to me, almost certainly requires a

factory return, which, from this thread, is somewhat unappealing. 


I am interested further discussion on this thread in order to help me

determine whether my very limited funds go toward a K3 purchase or the

purchase of a second, but "fully tricked out", K2/100.


Ed Lambert, KD3Y (K2 1999, KX1 1492)



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-
Julius Fazekas
N2WN

Tennessee Contest Group
http://www.k4ro.net/tcg/index.html

Tennessee QSO Party
http://www.tnqp.org/

Elecraft K2/100 #4455
Elecraft K3/100 #366
Elecraft K3#1875
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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-02 Thread Jack Brabham
  I agree that a posted repair queue length figure would probably 
eliminate a lot of angst by setting reasonable expectations.   Probably 
eliminate a lot of phone calls to Elecraft  as well.   A weekly 
prognostication would be more than adequate for my purposes.

Another thing that could use a little work is the level of communication.

Last Friday I got a call from Elecraft stating that the symptoms (low 
SSB PO) had been confirmed, and that an EEINIT had resolved the problem. 
  My K3 was going to "soak" over the weekend and shipout Monday (last) 
if was still good.   I was glad to hear it was coming back but a bit 
curious as to why the first half a dozen or so times we did an EEINIT 
had not resolved the problem.

Now its a week later, I don't know if my K3 is back in the shop (as I 
suspect) or if it is has been shipped and I need to hang around to 
receive it...  I'm sure I could call and get an update but, being lazy, 
  I would rather just get a short simple email periodically while the 
RSA is open or anytime there is a status update.

73

Jack KZ5A

K3 #4165



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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-02 Thread Duncan Carter
I purchased an assembled K3 because I didn't want to do the whole 
assembly project because of problems that I have with doing a lot of 
close work.  I'm experienced with electronics repair in general, having 
operated service facilities for industrial instrumentation and having 
always repaired my ham radio equipment.  Since the purchase, I've done 
the following:

1.  Fixed a band pass filter problem caused by a semi-defective trimmer 
capacitor which caused low drive on 30 meters.  The capacitor had a 
sticky point and was repaired by turning it several times after 
unsticking it with a screwdriver, sturdier than an alignment tool and 
setting it to the other side of the capacitor.  I had consulted Elecraft 
and got trouble shooting advice from them.  Elecraft service suggested 
returning it to them but I preferred to do it myself.  The 
troubleshooting process also involved removing the antenna tuner and 
installing some jumpers which I subsequently removed as the tuner 8 MHz 
trap turned out to not be the problem.  Troubleshooting also involved 
performing some calibration tests and measuring signal levels on the 
KXV3 although those turned out to be unnecessary steps.

2. Installed two filters which was a trivial excercise.

3. Installed the K44XV and exchanged the KXV3A which was necessary for 
the transverter installation.  I also installed two more filters at the 
same time.

4.  Installed an exchange dsp board, the K3DSPUPGD upgrade, which was 
quite straight forward.*

*The most difficult part of these upgrades and repair was getting the 
two meter IF and antenna cables plugged back into the transverter.

So, even if you purchase an assembled K3, you can do repairs and 
upgrades yourself and have email and telephone support as needed.  The 
K3 instructions are explicit and quite adequate, even if you didn't 
build it from a kit first.  If you take reasonable care and follow the 
instructions, you can avoid shipping and waiting.
*
*Dunc, W5DC

Ed Lambert wrote:
> As a prospective K3 customer, I have been following this link with very
> great interest. I would be interested in knowing what percent of K3
> deliveries require return to Elecraft for repair and of that cohort, what is
> the percentage of K3's that were fundamentally defective upon delivery as
> opposed to damaged by customer (mis)use.
>
> For me the weakness of the K3 is the (probably necessary) departure from the
> "kit model" of the rest of the Elecraft line where self repair is the order
> of the day. The repair of a K3, it seems to me, almost certainly requires a
> factory return, which, from this thread, is somewhat unappealing. 
>
> I am interested further discussion on this thread in order to help me
> determine whether my very limited funds go toward a K3 purchase or the
> purchase of a second, but "fully tricked out", K2/100.
>
> Ed Lambert, KD3Y (K2 1999, KX1 1492)
>
>
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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-02 Thread Jan Erik Holm
On 2010-07-02 17:09, Ed Lambert wrote:
> of the day. The repair of a K3, it seems to me, almost certainly requires a
> factory return, which, from this thread, is somewhat unappealing.
>
>
> Ed Lambert, KD3Y (K2 1999, KX1 1492)
>
I would say on the contrary. The way the K3 is constructed, I would
call it modular construction, I would think it would be easy to
isolate the "problem" to a certain module and then get a new one
from Elecraft, a swap maybe or just buy one.

/ Jim SM2EKM
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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair alternative

2010-07-02 Thread Mike
I paid the full price for my DSP board swap. Was this somehow a warranty 
price? Am I due a refund?

73, Mike NF4L

Hector Padron wrote:
> "The biggest difference I hear with Elecraft is that a lot of the problems
> can be resolved quicker if the problem can be isolated to a board so that a
> simple swap can be done and thus eliminates return to the factory for
> repairs."
>  
>  
> And that was the case with my K3,.my own mistake made the RX audio PA to be 
> damaged.A simple call to Elecraft and a short talk to Dale with my promise to 
> send back my damaged DSP board,he sent me next day a new DSP board that I got 
> in just two days in spite off the distance between CA and FL,.two more days 
> to make time to install the new board and that was it,my K3 working even 
> better than new because the new board came with all the mods done,price? Just 
> $14 from that new board  plus $10 more to ship the bad board back to 
> them.Total bill for me,only $24. Time frame? 4 days, my radio was fixed.
> This is an option guys you should consider,talk to the tech on the phone,most 
> of the times by their experience,they can tell where the problem is and which 
> board has to be replaced,so deal with them as I did,if you don't feel 
> confident to replace it by yourself,get a tech that you know in your location 
> and pay him to do the swap or maybe a friend of yours will do it by free. I 
> am sure it will be faster this way to have your K3 repaired than send it to 
> them,don't forget these guys has too many projects on hands,its not easy to 
> keep up a production of new radios,new P3,repair,mods,etc I think they are 
> doing a great job no matter what.
>  
> AD4C
> K3 # 2192
>  
>
>
> "If you see a woman handling a cell phone on her hands while she is 
> driving,do please stay away from her.!!
>
> --- On Thu, 7/1/10, Gary Gregory  wrote:
>
>
> From: Gary Gregory 
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair
> To: "NZ8J" 
> Cc: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net
> Date: Thursday, July 1, 2010, 10:00 PM
>
>
> Hmmm,
>
> Still like to know just what the ratio of units sold vs units requiring
> return for repair.
>
> Not likely to see those figures I suppose but it would perhaps throw some
> light on the reliability of the radios.
>
> These figures would need to have the "operator caused" repairs shown as
> separate figures.
>
> I suspect the figures would be quite good (read low) when it comes to actual
> component failure.
>
> When you add upgrades, building of new K3's, preparing for the P3 I would
> imagine the picture would be a little clearer.
>
> Turn around time for my K3 was about 7 weeks, however, between 2 and 3 weeks
> was postage between the US and Australia and the Kangaroo's seem slow to
> deliver here when they have K3's strapped to their back...(Grin)
>
> Turnaround time by Icom in Australia was about a month the two times the
> 706MKIIG suffered terminal issues and Yaesu here are not too bad either.
> Kenwood is somewhere between slow and unresponsive from the stories we hear
> down under.
>
> The biggest difference I hear with Elecraft is that a lot of the problems
> can be resolved quicker if the problem can be isolated to a board so that a
> simple swap can be done and thus eliminates return to the factory for
> repairs. For those that are unable or not confidenrt in their ability to
> take the radio apart they at least have to opportunity to use the factory
> repair facility.
>
> Just my 2 cents worthkeep the change
>
> 73's
> Gary
>
> On Fri, Jul 2, 2010 at 7:26 AM, NZ8J  wrote:
>
>   
>> Hearing "at least a month before it hits the bench", was discouraging,
>> stories of 7 weeks in the recent past is even more disappointing. At
>> least I hope the theories are correct in that it is due to an unusual
>> amount of upgrades and not an increase in failures.
>> Tim
>> NZ8J
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>> 
>
>
>
>   


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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-02 Thread Ed Lambert
As a prospective K3 customer, I have been following this link with very
great interest. I would be interested in knowing what percent of K3
deliveries require return to Elecraft for repair and of that cohort, what is
the percentage of K3's that were fundamentally defective upon delivery as
opposed to damaged by customer (mis)use.

For me the weakness of the K3 is the (probably necessary) departure from the
"kit model" of the rest of the Elecraft line where self repair is the order
of the day. The repair of a K3, it seems to me, almost certainly requires a
factory return, which, from this thread, is somewhat unappealing. 

I am interested further discussion on this thread in order to help me
determine whether my very limited funds go toward a K3 purchase or the
purchase of a second, but "fully tricked out", K2/100.

Ed Lambert, KD3Y (K2 1999, KX1 1492)


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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-02 Thread Pete Smith
I wasn't thinking of a "where is my radio in the queue?" feature, just a 
statement of the current length of the queue for complete radios and/or 
boards.

73, Pete N4ZR

The World Contest Station Database, updated daily at www.conteststations.com
The Reverse Beacon Network at http://reversebeacon.net, blog at 
reversebeacon.blogspot.com,
spots at telnet.reversebeacon.net, port 7000


On 7/2/2010 7:34 AM, Pete Smith wrote:
> One thought that comes to mind - put a "repair queue length" figure on 
> the web-site and update it every day or two
>
> 73, Pete N4ZR
>
> The World Contest Station Database, updated daily at 
> www.conteststations.com
> The Reverse Beacon Network at http://reversebeacon.net, blog at 
> reversebeacon.blogspot.com,
> spots at telnet.reversebeacon.net, port 7000
>
>
> On 7/2/2010 12:01 AM, Wayne Burdick wrote:
>> The vast majority of repairs are turned around in less than 2 weeks.
>> When Eric and I get back (we're both out of town), we'll review the
>> reasons for the long turnarounds mentioned and make any necessary
>> changes.
>>
>> We did have a big increase in upgrade requests in the past 6 months,
>> associated with the K144XV, modified DSP, rigs for DXpeditions, etc.
>> Thanks for your patience.
>>
>> 73,
>> Wayne
>> N6KR
>>
>> __
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>>
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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair alternative

2010-07-02 Thread Pete Smith
Whoah!  This is really news to me.  A couple of weeks ago I blew 
something on the KIO3A board in my brand new K3.  The consensus at the 
time was that it would not be cost-effective to send the board to 
Elecraft for repair.  In my conversations with Elecraft tech support, 
nobody ever mentioned the possibility of a swap.  As a result, I paid 
$115 for a new replacement board, and have the old one on my desk here, 
probably just needing a new U1, which I may just try to do myself.

Would Elecraft really have accepted my damaged board and charged me such 
a nominal figure for repair, and sent me a new board to use in the 
meantime?  Sounds too good to be true - maybe I'm misunderstanding.


73, Pete N4ZR

The World Contest Station Database, updated daily at www.conteststations.com
The Reverse Beacon Network at http://reversebeacon.net, blog at 
reversebeacon.blogspot.com,
spots at telnet.reversebeacon.net, port 7000


On 7/2/2010 7:41 AM, Hector Padron wrote:
> "The biggest difference I hear with Elecraft is that a lot of the problems
> can be resolved quicker if the problem can be isolated to a board so that a
> simple swap can be done and thus eliminates return to the factory for
> repairs."
>   
>   
> And that was the case with my K3,.my own mistake made the RX audio PA to be 
> damaged.A simple call to Elecraft and a short talk to Dale with my promise to 
> send back my damaged DSP board,he sent me next day a new DSP board that I got 
> in just two days in spite off the distance between CA and FL,.two more days 
> to make time to install the new board and that was it,my K3 working even 
> better than new because the new board came with all the mods done,price? Just 
> $14 from that new board  plus $10 more to ship the bad board back to 
> them.Total bill for me,only $24. Time frame? 4 days, my radio was fixed.
> This is an option guys you should consider,talk to the tech on the phone,most 
> of the times by their experience,they can tell where the problem is and which 
> board has to be replaced,so deal with them as I did,if you don't feel 
> confident to replace it by yourself,get a tech that you know in your location 
> and pay him to do the swap or maybe a friend of yours will do it by free. I 
> am sure it will be faster this way to have your K3 repaired than send it to 
> them,don't forget these guys has too many projects on hands,its not easy to 
> keep up a production of new radios,new P3,repair,mods,etc I think they are 
> doing a great job no matter what.
>   
> AD4C
> K3 # 2192
>   
>
>
> "If you see a woman handling a cell phone on her hands while she is 
> driving,do please stay away from her.!!
>
> --- On Thu, 7/1/10, Gary Gregory  wrote:
>
>
> From: Gary Gregory
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair
> To: "NZ8J"
> Cc: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net
> Date: Thursday, July 1, 2010, 10:00 PM
>
>
> Hmmm,
>
> Still like to know just what the ratio of units sold vs units requiring
> return for repair.
>
> Not likely to see those figures I suppose but it would perhaps throw some
> light on the reliability of the radios.
>
> These figures would need to have the "operator caused" repairs shown as
> separate figures.
>
> I suspect the figures would be quite good (read low) when it comes to actual
> component failure.
>
> When you add upgrades, building of new K3's, preparing for the P3 I would
> imagine the picture would be a little clearer.
>
> Turn around time for my K3 was about 7 weeks, however, between 2 and 3 weeks
> was postage between the US and Australia and the Kangaroo's seem slow to
> deliver here when they have K3's strapped to their back...(Grin)
>
> Turnaround time by Icom in Australia was about a month the two times the
> 706MKIIG suffered terminal issues and Yaesu here are not too bad either.
> Kenwood is somewhere between slow and unresponsive from the stories we hear
> down under.
>
> The biggest difference I hear with Elecraft is that a lot of the problems
> can be resolved quicker if the problem can be isolated to a board so that a
> simple swap can be done and thus eliminates return to the factory for
> repairs. For those that are unable or not confidenrt in their ability to
> take the radio apart they at least have to opportunity to use the factory
> repair facility.
>
> Just my 2 cents worthkeep the change
>
> 73's
> Gary
>
> On Fri, Jul 2, 2010 at 7:26 AM, NZ8J  wrote:
>
>
>> Hearing "at least a month before it hits the bench", was discouraging,
>> stories of 7 weeks in the recent past is even more disappointing. At
>> least I hope the theories are correct in that it is due to an unusual
>> amount of upgrades and not an 

[Elecraft] K3 Repair - suggestions

2010-07-02 Thread Bill Cotter
Wayne & Eric,

Study TenTec. A model of outstanding customer service. Excellent 
communications, generous documentation on repairs, fast turn 
around, board exchange, fair prices. And, good radios. Basically, 
their reputation.

Another thought: Elecraft Repair Certification for those who are 
enterprising enough to offer service to others. Elecraft could 
manage the process and provide the pipeline needed to supply parts, 
data, etc.

73 es tnx Bill N4LG


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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-02 Thread Mike K2MK

Upgrades are like elective surgery. You want to do it at a convenient time. I
find myself much less interested in ham radio during the summer when there
are so many other distractions. 

An interesting statistic might be what percentage of K3s are factory built.
If the owner had his radio factory built it is likely that he would be
inclined to have it factory upgraded. 

73,
Mike K2MK




wayne burdick wrote:
> 
> The vast majority of repairs are turned around in less than 2 weeks.  
> When Eric and I get back (we're both out of town), we'll review the  
> reasons for the long turnarounds mentioned and make any necessary  
> changes.
> 
> We did have a big increase in upgrade requests in the past 6 months,  
> associated with the K144XV, modified DSP, rigs for DXpeditions, etc.  
> Thanks for your patience.
> 
> 73,
> Wayne
> N6KR
> 
>>
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> 
> 

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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-02 Thread Hector Padron
WOW that is the best idea I have ever heard,so that way anyone will be able to 
see at the website  his radio on the list and know exactly when it will be at 
the bench for repair.
Good sugestion Pete.
 
AD4C
 


"If you see a woman handling a cell phone on her hands while she is driving,do 
please stay away from her.!!

--- On Fri, 7/2/10, Pete Smith  wrote:


From: Pete Smith 
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair
To: "Wayne Burdick" 
Cc: "elecraft@mailman.qth.net reflector" 
Date: Friday, July 2, 2010, 11:34 AM


One thought that comes to mind - put a "repair queue length" figure on 
the web-site and update it every day or two

73, Pete N4ZR

The World Contest Station Database, updated daily at www.conteststations.com
The Reverse Beacon Network at http://reversebeacon.net, blog at 
reversebeacon.blogspot.com,
spots at telnet.reversebeacon.net, port 7000


On 7/2/2010 12:01 AM, Wayne Burdick wrote:
> The vast majority of repairs are turned around in less than 2 weeks.
> When Eric and I get back (we're both out of town), we'll review the
> reasons for the long turnarounds mentioned and make any necessary
> changes.
>
> We did have a big increase in upgrade requests in the past 6 months,
> associated with the K144XV, modified DSP, rigs for DXpeditions, etc.
> Thanks for your patience.
>
> 73,
> Wayne
> N6KR
>
>    
>>      
> __
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>
>
>    
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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-02 Thread Pete Smith
One thought that comes to mind - put a "repair queue length" figure on 
the web-site and update it every day or two

73, Pete N4ZR

The World Contest Station Database, updated daily at www.conteststations.com
The Reverse Beacon Network at http://reversebeacon.net, blog at 
reversebeacon.blogspot.com,
spots at telnet.reversebeacon.net, port 7000


On 7/2/2010 12:01 AM, Wayne Burdick wrote:
> The vast majority of repairs are turned around in less than 2 weeks.
> When Eric and I get back (we're both out of town), we'll review the
> reasons for the long turnarounds mentioned and make any necessary
> changes.
>
> We did have a big increase in upgrade requests in the past 6 months,
> associated with the K144XV, modified DSP, rigs for DXpeditions, etc.
> Thanks for your patience.
>
> 73,
> Wayne
> N6KR
>
>
>>  
> __
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
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>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>
>
>
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[Elecraft] K3 Repair alternative

2010-07-02 Thread Hector Padron
"The biggest difference I hear with Elecraft is that a lot of the problems
can be resolved quicker if the problem can be isolated to a board so that a
simple swap can be done and thus eliminates return to the factory for
repairs."
 
 
And that was the case with my K3,.my own mistake made the RX audio PA to be 
damaged.A simple call to Elecraft and a short talk to Dale with my promise to 
send back my damaged DSP board,he sent me next day a new DSP board that I got 
in just two days in spite off the distance between CA and FL,.two more days to 
make time to install the new board and that was it,my K3 working even better 
than new because the new board came with all the mods done,price? Just $14 from 
that new board  plus $10 more to ship the bad board back to them.Total bill for 
me,only $24. Time frame? 4 days, my radio was fixed.
This is an option guys you should consider,talk to the tech on the phone,most 
of the times by their experience,they can tell where the problem is and which 
board has to be replaced,so deal with them as I did,if you don't feel confident 
to replace it by yourself,get a tech that you know in your location and pay him 
to do the swap or maybe a friend of yours will do it by free. I am sure it will 
be faster this way to have your K3 repaired than send it to them,don't forget 
these guys has too many projects on hands,its not easy to keep up a production 
of new radios,new P3,repair,mods,etc I think they are doing a great job no 
matter what.
 
AD4C
K3 # 2192
 


"If you see a woman handling a cell phone on her hands while she is driving,do 
please stay away from her.!!

--- On Thu, 7/1/10, Gary Gregory  wrote:


From: Gary Gregory 
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair
To: "NZ8J" 
Cc: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net
Date: Thursday, July 1, 2010, 10:00 PM


Hmmm,

Still like to know just what the ratio of units sold vs units requiring
return for repair.

Not likely to see those figures I suppose but it would perhaps throw some
light on the reliability of the radios.

These figures would need to have the "operator caused" repairs shown as
separate figures.

I suspect the figures would be quite good (read low) when it comes to actual
component failure.

When you add upgrades, building of new K3's, preparing for the P3 I would
imagine the picture would be a little clearer.

Turn around time for my K3 was about 7 weeks, however, between 2 and 3 weeks
was postage between the US and Australia and the Kangaroo's seem slow to
deliver here when they have K3's strapped to their back...(Grin)

Turnaround time by Icom in Australia was about a month the two times the
706MKIIG suffered terminal issues and Yaesu here are not too bad either.
Kenwood is somewhere between slow and unresponsive from the stories we hear
down under.

The biggest difference I hear with Elecraft is that a lot of the problems
can be resolved quicker if the problem can be isolated to a board so that a
simple swap can be done and thus eliminates return to the factory for
repairs. For those that are unable or not confidenrt in their ability to
take the radio apart they at least have to opportunity to use the factory
repair facility.

Just my 2 cents worthkeep the change

73's
Gary

On Fri, Jul 2, 2010 at 7:26 AM, NZ8J  wrote:

>
> Hearing "at least a month before it hits the bench", was discouraging,
> stories of 7 weeks in the recent past is even more disappointing. At
> least I hope the theories are correct in that it is due to an unusual
> amount of upgrades and not an increase in failures.
> Tim
> NZ8J
> __
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
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> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
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-- 
Gary
VK4FD - Motorhome Mobile
http://www.qsl.net/vk4fd/
K3 #679
For everything else there's Mastercard!!!
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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-01 Thread Wayne Burdick
The vast majority of repairs are turned around in less than 2 weeks.  
When Eric and I get back (we're both out of town), we'll review the  
reasons for the long turnarounds mentioned and make any necessary  
changes.

We did have a big increase in upgrade requests in the past 6 months,  
associated with the K144XV, modified DSP, rigs for DXpeditions, etc.  
Thanks for your patience.

73,
Wayne
N6KR

>
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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-01 Thread Brett Howard
I really wanted to try and trace out what was going wrong with my KPA3
but I was kinda low for time to put into it and the first thing I was
going to need was some ribbon cables made up that would allow me to
remote the KPA3 so that I could trace it while its outside the K3...  I
figured I'd move on and go ahead and send it in once I realized I wasn't
going to be able to trace things out that way.  Not to mention that I
really need to make an RF voltage probe but I usually go and use the
spec an at work...

Anyway sometimes a month before it hits the bench is faster than I'd be
able to get to it.  Esp when I can use it at 10W and get on the air
instead! ;)  

However I do wish I could keep it and try to fix it for that month while
I waited rather than it just sitting on a shelf.

~Brett (N7MG)

On Thu, 2010-07-01 at 21:16 -0400, Guy Olinger K2AV wrote:
> The biggest ramp up for working on a K3 is getting to the point where
> you can read its schematic with understanding.  The only piece of test
> equipment I've had to use on it is an XG-1.  I DID have some problems
> that I could see most sending it back to the shop.  DO need magnifying
> glasses tho and willingness to get in the program for SMD components.
> Much easier to work on a K2.
> 
> 73, Guy
> 
> On Thu, Jul 1, 2010 at 4:54 PM, David leDuc  wrote:
> > If you have all the test equipment necessary to troubleshoot these modern
> > radios more power to you. In the old days I used to be able to work on my
> > car too.
> __
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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-01 Thread Guy Olinger K2AV
The biggest ramp up for working on a K3 is getting to the point where
you can read its schematic with understanding.  The only piece of test
equipment I've had to use on it is an XG-1.  I DID have some problems
that I could see most sending it back to the shop.  DO need magnifying
glasses tho and willingness to get in the program for SMD components.
Much easier to work on a K2.

73, Guy

On Thu, Jul 1, 2010 at 4:54 PM, David leDuc  wrote:
> If you have all the test equipment necessary to troubleshoot these modern
> radios more power to you. In the old days I used to be able to work on my
> car too.
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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-01 Thread Gary Gregory
Hmmm,

Still like to know just what the ratio of units sold vs units requiring
return for repair.

Not likely to see those figures I suppose but it would perhaps throw some
light on the reliability of the radios.

These figures would need to have the "operator caused" repairs shown as
separate figures.

I suspect the figures would be quite good (read low) when it comes to actual
component failure.

When you add upgrades, building of new K3's, preparing for the P3 I would
imagine the picture would be a little clearer.

Turn around time for my K3 was about 7 weeks, however, between 2 and 3 weeks
was postage between the US and Australia and the Kangaroo's seem slow to
deliver here when they have K3's strapped to their back...(Grin)

Turnaround time by Icom in Australia was about a month the two times the
706MKIIG suffered terminal issues and Yaesu here are not too bad either.
Kenwood is somewhere between slow and unresponsive from the stories we hear
down under.

The biggest difference I hear with Elecraft is that a lot of the problems
can be resolved quicker if the problem can be isolated to a board so that a
simple swap can be done and thus eliminates return to the factory for
repairs. For those that are unable or not confidenrt in their ability to
take the radio apart they at least have to opportunity to use the factory
repair facility.

Just my 2 cents worthkeep the change

73's
Gary

On Fri, Jul 2, 2010 at 7:26 AM, NZ8J  wrote:

>
> Hearing "at least a month before it hits the bench", was discouraging,
> stories of 7 weeks in the recent past is even more disappointing. At
> least I hope the theories are correct in that it is due to an unusual
> amount of upgrades and not an increase in failures.
> Tim
> NZ8J
> __
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
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>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>



-- 
Gary
VK4FD - Motorhome Mobile
http://www.qsl.net/vk4fd/
K3 #679
For everything else there's Mastercard!!!
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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-01 Thread The Smiths

I would be happy to trouble shoot and repair the K3 rigs if I thought that 
people would actually send them to an outside source for repair.  

However, I think that people would much rather wait the 7 weeks than have their 
rigs repaired by someone other than Elecraft.  That's one thing Elecraft has 
going for themselves.


 
> From: n...@woh.rr.com
> To: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net
> Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2010 17:26:41 -0400
> Subject: [Elecraft] K3 Repair
> 
> 
> Hearing "at least a month before it hits the bench", was discouraging,
> stories of 7 weeks in the recent past is even more disappointing. At
> least I hope the theories are correct in that it is due to an unusual
> amount of upgrades and not an increase in failures.
> Tim
> NZ8J
> __
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
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> 
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
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[Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-01 Thread NZ8J

Hearing "at least a month before it hits the bench", was discouraging,
stories of 7 weeks in the recent past is even more disappointing. At
least I hope the theories are correct in that it is due to an unusual
amount of upgrades and not an increase in failures.
Tim
NZ8J
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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-01 Thread David leDuc
If you have all the test equipment necessary to troubleshoot these modern
radios more power to you. In the old days I used to be able to work on my
car too.


-Original Message-
From: elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net
[mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of The Smiths
Sent: Thursday, July 01, 2010 3:08 PM
To: phys...@mac.com; n...@comcast.net
Cc: Elecraft Reflector
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair


No Conspirac therosts  would see it more as a scheme to let ops know that
the good old days of Hams actually working on their own radios are
paractially dead, and even Elecraft is subjected to appliance operators too.
Sad day, isn't it.
 
> From: phys...@mac.com
> Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2010 09:30:54 -0700
> To: n...@comcast.net
> CC: elecraft@mailman.qth.net
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair
> 
> Just goes to show you that the smart operator is like a boy scout -- be
prepared. So, have two K3s or at least another good rig for backup.
> 
> Of course, a conspiracy theorist would see this as a Elecraft marketing
scheme: that is, slow down repair cycle to encourage customers to buy a
second K3 for backup.
> 
> 
> On Jul 1, 2010, at 9:24 AM, Donald Butler wrote:
> 
> > I've had to send a K3 back to Aptos two different times. Each time I did
so 
> > it ended up taking twice as long as I was initially told it would
(estimates 
> > were provided by the tech support person rather than someone who
probably 
> > knew more). I didn't like it. I've always had more respect for
businesses 
> > who tell you the truth up front rather than those who embellish and tell
you 
> > what they think you might want to hear.
> > 
> > IMHO, as more and more Elecraft products are being sold, the need for
repair 
> > and service is obviously going to increase proportionally, and if the 
> > service and repair sections are not continually expanded to keep up with

> > demand, we'll start seeing more posts of this type.
> > 
> > Don, N5LZ
> > 
> > - Original Message - 
> > From: "Lee Buller" 
> > To: "Elecraft Reflector" 
> > Sent: Thursday, July 01, 2010 9:38 AM
> > Subject: [Elecraft] K3 Repair
> > 
> > 
> >> 
> >> 
> >> I must say it did take some time for them to get to my K3. I sent it to

> >> Aptos around May 12th and got it back on June 30th. Yes, that was quite
a 
> >> bit of time, but I expected that because who knows what kind of back
log 
> >> they have. They do not publish those stats. I guess as I turned 60 this

> >> last month, I've learn patiences (finally).
> >> 
> >> As I said in my previous post, Dale Farmer was excellent. There was not
a 
> >> lot of communication between Elecraft and myself...and I had to email 
> >> Madelyn several times to see where I was in the process. That can be 
> >> frustrating, but again I exercised patience. She was quite helpful.
> >> 
> >> I would suggest to the folks at Elecraft to communicate better with
repair 
> >> customers. They have my baby and I want it back! Just good customer 
> >> service...something they already do quite well.
> >> 
> >> Part of my patience was my K2/100. Still works fine.
> >> 
> >> Lee - K0WA
> >> 
> >>

===
> >> Ham Radio Operators: Kansas QSO Party is August 28-29, 2010. See 
> >> www.ksqsoparty.org for details
> >> 
> >> In our day and age it seems that Common Sense is in short supply. If
you 
> >> don't have any Common Sense - get some Common Sense and use it. If you 
> >> can't find any Common Sense, ask for help from somebody who has some 
> >> Common Sense. Is Common Sense divine?
> >> 
> >> Common Sense is the image of the Creator expressing revealed truth in
my 
> >> mind. - J. Wolf
> >> __
> >> 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 ho

Re: [Elecraft] K3 repair

2010-07-01 Thread Don Wilhelm
John,

While such proactive communication would be a good thing, please 
understand that it takes a person -who is knowledgeable of the process 
and estimated time - to create the emails for that communication.  The 
person with that kind of knowledge is most likely the tech himself, and 
if everyone wants their radios back as quickly as possible, it is best 
to keep him working on the radio currently on his repair bench.

Even the tech cannot give a good answer if he has several radios in the 
queue.  He never knows how long each radio will take until he gets it 
open and makes some progress on it.

Bottom line is that all you really can get is an educated guess, and 
even though an educated guess, it is usually wrong - Murphy says so.

The only real answer you can get is how far back in the queue is your 
radio.  When I have more than 5 radios in line here, things get a bit 
hectic, and I don't do the K3 repairs, just KX1, K1, K2, XVseries and 
the rest of that line.  With the advent of the K3 DSP Board upgrade, I 
believe the queue at Elecraft has grown substantially.  Unfortunately, 
they cannot grow their repair staff quickly, it takes some learning and 
experience before a new tech can become proficient.

But yes, 7 weeks is a long time.  I get uncomfortable if I cannot hold 
my turnaround time to less than 2 weeks, but sometimes "stuff" happens.

73,
Don W3FPR

WA6L wrote:
> The only real complaint I had with the entire process is that there was no
> proactive communication.  I had to inquire each time a deadline passed in
> order to get an update.
>
> 73,
>
> John, WA6L
>
>   
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Re: [Elecraft] K3 repair

2010-07-01 Thread WA6L

I sent my K3 in about 2 months ago for some mods and updates.  I was
originally told it would be a 2-3 week turn around.  After 3 weeks I
contacted them and was told it would be 5 weeks.  After 5 weeks, I contacted
them again and was told that it would go on the bench the following week. 
It did go on the bench the following week and was returned quickly after
that.

All told I was without my K3 for 7 weeks.  

The only real complaint I had with the entire process is that there was no
proactive communication.  I had to inquire each time a deadline passed in
order to get an update.

73,

John, WA6L

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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-01 Thread The Smiths

No Conspirac therosts  would see it more as a scheme to let ops know that the 
good old days of Hams actually working on their own radios are paractially 
dead, and even Elecraft is subjected to appliance operators too.  Sad day, 
isn't it.
 
> From: phys...@mac.com
> Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2010 09:30:54 -0700
> To: n...@comcast.net
> CC: elecraft@mailman.qth.net
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair
> 
> Just goes to show you that the smart operator is like a boy scout -- be 
> prepared. So, have two K3s or at least another good rig for backup.
> 
> Of course, a conspiracy theorist would see this as a Elecraft marketing 
> scheme: that is, slow down repair cycle to encourage customers to buy a 
> second K3 for backup.
> 
> 
> On Jul 1, 2010, at 9:24 AM, Donald Butler wrote:
> 
> > I've had to send a K3 back to Aptos two different times. Each time I did so 
> > it ended up taking twice as long as I was initially told it would 
> > (estimates 
> > were provided by the tech support person rather than someone who probably 
> > knew more). I didn't like it. I've always had more respect for businesses 
> > who tell you the truth up front rather than those who embellish and tell 
> > you 
> > what they think you might want to hear.
> > 
> > IMHO, as more and more Elecraft products are being sold, the need for 
> > repair 
> > and service is obviously going to increase proportionally, and if the 
> > service and repair sections are not continually expanded to keep up with 
> > demand, we'll start seeing more posts of this type.
> > 
> > Don, N5LZ
> > 
> > - Original Message - 
> > From: "Lee Buller" 
> > To: "Elecraft Reflector" 
> > Sent: Thursday, July 01, 2010 9:38 AM
> > Subject: [Elecraft] K3 Repair
> > 
> > 
> >> 
> >> 
> >> I must say it did take some time for them to get to my K3. I sent it to 
> >> Aptos around May 12th and got it back on June 30th. Yes, that was quite a 
> >> bit of time, but I expected that because who knows what kind of back log 
> >> they have. They do not publish those stats. I guess as I turned 60 this 
> >> last month, I've learn patiences (finally).
> >> 
> >> As I said in my previous post, Dale Farmer was excellent. There was not a 
> >> lot of communication between Elecraft and myself...and I had to email 
> >> Madelyn several times to see where I was in the process. That can be 
> >> frustrating, but again I exercised patience. She was quite helpful.
> >> 
> >> I would suggest to the folks at Elecraft to communicate better with repair 
> >> customers. They have my baby and I want it back! Just good customer 
> >> service...something they already do quite well.
> >> 
> >> Part of my patience was my K2/100. Still works fine.
> >> 
> >> Lee - K0WA
> >> 
> >> ===
> >> Ham Radio Operators: Kansas QSO Party is August 28-29, 2010. See 
> >> www.ksqsoparty.org for details
> >> 
> >> In our day and age it seems that Common Sense is in short supply. If you 
> >> don't have any Common Sense - get some Common Sense and use it. If you 
> >> can't find any Common Sense, ask for help from somebody who has some 
> >> Common Sense. Is Common Sense divine?
> >> 
> >> Common Sense is the image of the Creator expressing revealed truth in my 
> >> mind. - J. Wolf
> >> __
> >> 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
> >> 
> > 
> > __
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> This list hosted 

Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-01 Thread Julius Fazekas n2wn

As it was explained to me, there are two different areas, Repairs and
Modifications. 

I was told two to three weeks when I initially asked for an approximate
time, but that was back towards the beginning of the year. There has been
one new mod added since then.

I'm guessing a lot of folks put off sending a rig back and Elecraft got hit
all at once. I certainly would have liked a shorter turn around time, but do
understand why it is taking so long. I would also think any warranty repair
would have higher priority and would probably use repair/mod techs to build
newly ordered rigs, at least some of the time (this is my opinion only)

It's not been too horrible with a second K3 and K2 on hand, but sure do miss
the second RX at times. hihi

Too, now I have a good excuse to work on antennas and other station
improvements.

73,
Julius


-
Julius Fazekas
N2WN

Tennessee Contest Group
http://www.k4ro.net/tcg/index.html

Tennessee QSO Party
http://www.tnqp.org/

Elecraft K2/100 #4455
Elecraft K3/100 #366
Elecraft K3#1875
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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-01 Thread Phil Hystad
Just goes to show you that the smart operator is like a boy scout -- be 
prepared.  So, have two K3s or at least another good rig for backup.

Of course, a conspiracy theorist would see this as a Elecraft marketing scheme: 
 that is, slow down repair cycle to encourage customers to buy a second K3 for 
backup.


On Jul 1, 2010, at 9:24 AM, Donald Butler wrote:

> I've had to send a K3 back to Aptos two different times.  Each time I did so 
> it ended up taking twice as long as I was initially told it would (estimates 
> were provided by the tech support person rather than someone who probably 
> knew more).  I didn't like it.  I've always had more respect for businesses 
> who tell you the truth up front rather than those who embellish and tell you 
> what they think you might want to hear.
> 
> IMHO, as more and more Elecraft products are being sold, the need for repair 
> and service is obviously going to increase proportionally, and if the 
> service and repair sections are not continually expanded to keep up with 
> demand, we'll start seeing more posts of this type.
> 
> Don, N5LZ
> 
> - Original Message - 
> From: "Lee Buller" 
> To: "Elecraft Reflector" 
> Sent: Thursday, July 01, 2010 9:38 AM
> Subject: [Elecraft] K3 Repair
> 
> 
>> 
>> 
>> I must say it did take some time for them to get to my K3.  I sent it to 
>> Aptos around May 12th and got it back on June 30th.  Yes, that was quite a 
>> bit of  time, but I expected that because who knows what kind of back log 
>> they have.  They do not publish those stats.  I guess as I turned 60 this 
>> last month, I've learn patiences (finally).
>> 
>> As I said in my previous post, Dale Farmer was excellent.  There was not a 
>> lot of communication between Elecraft and myself...and I had to email 
>> Madelyn several times to see where I was in the process.  That can be 
>> frustrating, but again I exercised patience.  She was quite helpful.
>> 
>> I would suggest to the folks at Elecraft to communicate better with repair 
>> customers.  They have my baby and I want it back!  Just good customer 
>> service...something they already do quite well.
>> 
>> Part of my patience was my K2/100.  Still works fine.
>> 
>> Lee - K0WA
>> 
>> ===
>> Ham Radio Operators:  Kansas QSO Party is August 28-29, 2010.  See 
>> www.ksqsoparty.org for details
>> 
>> In our day and age it seems that Common Sense is in short supply.  If you 
>> don't have any Common Sense - get some Common Sense and use it.  If you 
>> can't find any Common Sense, ask for help from somebody who has some 
>> Common Sense.  Is Common Sense divine?
>> 
>> Common Sense is the image of the Creator expressing revealed truth in my 
>> mind. -  J. Wolf
>> __
>> Elecraft mailing list
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> 
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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-01 Thread Donald Butler
I've had to send a K3 back to Aptos two different times.  Each time I did so 
it ended up taking twice as long as I was initially told it would (estimates 
were provided by the tech support person rather than someone who probably 
knew more).  I didn't like it.  I've always had more respect for businesses 
who tell you the truth up front rather than those who embellish and tell you 
what they think you might want to hear.

IMHO, as more and more Elecraft products are being sold, the need for repair 
and service is obviously going to increase proportionally, and if the 
service and repair sections are not continually expanded to keep up with 
demand, we'll start seeing more posts of this type.

Don, N5LZ

- Original Message - 
From: "Lee Buller" 
To: "Elecraft Reflector" 
Sent: Thursday, July 01, 2010 9:38 AM
Subject: [Elecraft] K3 Repair


>
>
> I must say it did take some time for them to get to my K3.  I sent it to 
> Aptos around May 12th and got it back on June 30th.  Yes, that was quite a 
> bit of  time, but I expected that because who knows what kind of back log 
> they have.  They do not publish those stats.  I guess as I turned 60 this 
> last month, I've learn patiences (finally).
>
> As I said in my previous post, Dale Farmer was excellent.  There was not a 
> lot of communication between Elecraft and myself...and I had to email 
> Madelyn several times to see where I was in the process.  That can be 
> frustrating, but again I exercised patience.  She was quite helpful.
>
> I would suggest to the folks at Elecraft to communicate better with repair 
> customers.  They have my baby and I want it back!  Just good customer 
> service...something they already do quite well.
>
> Part of my patience was my K2/100.  Still works fine.
>
> Lee - K0WA
>
> ===
> Ham Radio Operators:  Kansas QSO Party is August 28-29, 2010.  See 
> www.ksqsoparty.org for details
>
> In our day and age it seems that Common Sense is in short supply.  If you 
> don't have any Common Sense - get some Common Sense and use it.  If you 
> can't find any Common Sense, ask for help from somebody who has some 
> Common Sense.  Is Common Sense divine?
>
> Common Sense is the image of the Creator expressing revealed truth in my 
> mind. -  J. Wolf
> __
> 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
> 

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Re: [Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-01 Thread John Ragle
A fate worse than death...being confined to 2 meter FM while the real 
rig is being tweaked/repaired!

John Ragle -- W1ZI

=

On 7/1/2010 12:10 PM, Tim Cook wrote:
> Wish I'd have known that before I sent one in for some work yesterday,
> I might have at least explored other options before sending it off for
> such a long time. Maybe an estimated repair time supplied with the RSA
> might be something to consider.
>
> Tim
> NZ8J
>
> Sent from my iPhone
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>
>
>

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[Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-01 Thread Tim Cook
Wish I'd have known that before I sent one in for some work yesterday,  
I might have at least explored other options before sending it off for  
such a long time. Maybe an estimated repair time supplied with the RSA  
might be something to consider.

Tim
NZ8J

Sent from my iPhone
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[Elecraft] K3 Repair

2010-07-01 Thread Lee Buller


I must say it did take some time for them to get to my K3.  I sent it to Aptos 
around May 12th and got it back on June 30th.  Yes, that was quite a bit of  
time, but I expected that because who knows what kind of back log they have.  
They do not publish those stats.  I guess as I turned 60 this last month, I've 
learn patiences (finally).  

As I said in my previous post, Dale Farmer was excellent.  There was not a lot 
of communication between Elecraft and myself...and I had to email Madelyn 
several times to see where I was in the process.  That can be frustrating, but 
again I exercised patience.  She was quite helpful.  

I would suggest to the folks at Elecraft to communicate better with repair 
customers.  They have my baby and I want it back!  Just good customer 
service...something they already do quite well.

Part of my patience was my K2/100.  Still works fine.

Lee - K0WA

===
 Ham Radio Operators:  Kansas QSO Party is August 28-29, 2010.  See 
www.ksqsoparty.org for details

In our day and age it seems that Common Sense is in short supply.  If you don't 
have any Common Sense - get some Common Sense and use it.  If you can't find 
any Common Sense, ask for help from somebody who has some Common Sense.  Is 
Common Sense divine?

Common Sense is the image of the Creator expressing revealed truth in my mind. 
-  J. Wolf
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Re: [Elecraft] K3 repair

2010-07-01 Thread Gary, W7TEA

Dave, I sent in my K3 for hardware updates that I was unable to perform.  It
was in Aptos just over a month. It arrives home tomorrow  When I
inquired earlier this year, I was told that the waiting period was
approximately two weeks. So, I believe they are experiencing a rush of new
work lately.  Some folks may be doing just what I did, updating in
preparation of the release of the P3.  

73 Gary W7TEA

-
73,

Gary W7TEA  K3 #1001
-- 
View this message in context: 
http://elecraft.365791.n2.nabble.com/K3-repair-tp5243177p5243366.html
Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
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[Elecraft] K3 repair

2010-07-01 Thread David leDuc
I  sent my K3 to Elecraft in California after I and tried and failed to fix
the problem using Elecraft's support process.

I finally called them after hearing nothing for over a week. The nice lady
who answered the phone told me that the radio wouldn't even be put on the
repair bench for at least a month.  

Is this the normal turnaround time? I'm sure that there are lots of techs
unemployed in CA. Maybe Elecraft should put them to work.

 

Dave N1IX 

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