[Elecraft] K3 power loss
Hello (On behalf of a friend, Gerard, familiar with his K3, but not so much with the English language ) When he sets the power of his K3 at 110, 100, or 90 watts, it decreases gradually down to 50 watts, CW or SSB. If set to 80 watts, no change ! Has anyone an idea ? Best regards to everyone Jacques de F9OJ __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K3 power loss
Check out the antenna. Maybe the radio is 'folding' back the power due to a serious antenna mis-match. The default foldback level may be 50 watts, and at power levels of 90, 100 or 110, it sees too high a VSWR and protects itself. But at 80 watts, it isn't as bad so it plods on, still suffering, but not dangerous. ...bill nr4c On Tue, 24 May 2011 16:00:49 +0200, jgaudron wrote: Hello (On behalf of a friend, Gerard, familiar with his K3, but not so much with the English language ) When he sets the power of his K3 at 110, 100, or 90 watts, it decreases gradually down to 50 watts, CW or SSB. If set to 80 watts, no change ! Has anyone an idea ? Best regards to everyone Jacques de F9OJ __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K3 power loss: Last settings forgotten
Following Eric's report of having his KAT3 hang in a strange state after powering down without first pushing the K3 POWER button, I queried Wayne about how this could happen. He pointed out that can be the case if an EEPROM write operation happens to be in progress when the power is removed. He said it's rare but possible and recommends *always* pushing the POWER button to shut down the K3 before removing the DC power to avoid problems. The original query about losing last settings is covered explicitly in the Owner's manual (page 13). Ron AC7AC __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K3 power loss: Last settings forgotten
Next time I powered down by pushing the K3 power button instead of the Big Switch. This time when I powered the K3 on again it remembered all settings. Looks to me like the K3 doesn't store all settings unless its power switch is pushed to shut down. Is this how it is supposed to work? The K3 is designed to be turned off by pressing its front panel switch. It then performs a series of shutting down housekeeping tasks in an orderly fashion. If you arbitrarily remove power, it may or may not have all your latest front panel settings stored in non-volatile memory. 73, Lyle KK7P __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K3 power loss: Last settings forgotten
What you experienced is not a bug. Do you turn off your PC by unplugging it? The K3 has a CPU in it, and in order to clean up and go to a power down state, it needs to be RUNNING to stage itself down. Ever try unloading the groceries the car while it's rolling away from you? Put yourself in the mind of the CPU, who has detected that the power is going down, and now trying to clean up while the circuits go dead, trying to remember the last state, and the disappearing DC has rendered the memory erratic containing the bits in question. The worst kind of computer interruption around here is a power hit, which can go down in ways that leave circuits in indeterminate states. We have UPS on our two main PC's, just so the PC's can do an orderly shutdown. But there are all the boxes (washer, dryer, TVs, Microwaves, clock radios) that have CPUs in them and sometimes come up quite wierd depending on the timing of the hit. It's a new world. Hit the K3 power button (it sends a signal to the CPU, doesn't break the DC) and let the K3 clean up before it turns itself off in an orderly fashion. 73, Guy. - Original Message - From: Erik N Basilier ebasil...@cox.net To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Sent: Sunday, March 01, 2009 12:58 AM Subject: [Elecraft] K3 power loss: Last settings forgotten I just shut down the station by pulling the big switch and then turned it back on soon after. Of course I had to push the power button on the K3 to get it going again. Then I noticed what I never noticed before: The K3, while still tuned to the same 40m cw frequency, came up in LSB mode, with coarse frequency display. I pushed FINE and MODE DOWN to get back to cw and two decimals. Then I shut down the same way again, with the same result. Next time I powered down by pushing the K3 power button instead of the Big Switch. This time when I powered the K3 on again it remembered all settings. Looks to me like the K3 doesn't store all settings unless its power switch is pushed to shut down. Is this how it is supposed to work? I am running 2.76. 73, Erik K7TV __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K3 power loss: Last settings forgotten
Guy, I am very familiar with the internals of computers, more than enough to know that these behaviors can be expected unless one pointedly designs to eliminate them, and that *can* be done. There is no fundamental reasons that any machine that contains a computer needs to behave like a PC. I do not mean to criticize the design of the K3, particularly since we know that there are more important goals for the designers. My objective was just to find out whether the behavior of my K3 was consistent with the K3 design. In general, I find the K3 to be much more free from those computerish characteristics than a PC is, and that is one reason I am using a K3 and not a radio that depends on a PC to function. 73, Erik K7TV - Original Message - From: Guy Olinger, K2AV olin...@bellsouth.net To: Erik N Basilier ebasil...@cox.net; elecraft@mailman.qth.net Sent: Sunday, March 01, 2009 7:35 AM Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 power loss: Last settings forgotten What you experienced is not a bug. Do you turn off your PC by unplugging it? The K3 has a CPU in it, and in order to clean up and go to a power down state, it needs to be RUNNING to stage itself down. Ever try unloading the groceries the car while it's rolling away from you? Put yourself in the mind of the CPU, who has detected that the power is going down, and now trying to clean up while the circuits go dead, trying to remember the last state, and the disappearing DC has rendered the memory erratic containing the bits in question. The worst kind of computer interruption around here is a power hit, which can go down in ways that leave circuits in indeterminate states. We have UPS on our two main PC's, just so the PC's can do an orderly shutdown. But there are all the boxes (washer, dryer, TVs, Microwaves, clock radios) that have CPUs in them and sometimes come up quite wierd depending on the timing of the hit. It's a new world. Hit the K3 power button (it sends a signal to the CPU, doesn't break the DC) and let the K3 clean up before it turns itself off in an orderly fashion. 73, Guy. __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K3 power loss: Last settings forgotten
And the K3 is pretty resistant to the sort of craziness some CPU's experience with unexpected shutdowns. I'm not aware of anyone who has had a crash of the system due to the power being pulled unexpectedly. I've done it hundreds of times working with my k3 without any ill effects other than, as you noted, some front panel control settings may not be stored. FWIW that's true of the K2 as well. 73, Ron AC7AC -Original Message- From: elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Erik N Basilier Sent: Sunday, March 01, 2009 9:12 AM To: Guy Olinger, K2AV; elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 power loss: Last settings forgotten Guy, I am very familiar with the internals of computers, more than enough to know that these behaviors can be expected unless one pointedly designs to eliminate them, and that *can* be done. There is no fundamental reasons that any machine that contains a computer needs to behave like a PC. I do not mean to criticize the design of the K3, particularly since we know that there are more important goals for the designers. My objective was just to find out whether the behavior of my K3 was consistent with the K3 design. In general, I find the K3 to be much more free from those computerish characteristics than a PC is, and that is one reason I am using a K3 and not a radio that depends on a PC to function. 73, Erik K7TV __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K3 power loss: Last settings forgotten
Ron, I have been shutting down the external power rather than using the K3's power switch hundreds of times, a habit I established with earlier radios. I am comforted to know that you have also shut down your K3 in a similar way with no ill effects. But one thing now comes to mind that I didn't think about previously. Twice in several months of having the K3 I had a problem where the radio seemed disconnected from the antenna and showed a high swr on transmit. I jiggled the connector pins at the automatic tuner board etc. to no effect. At the first instance, the radio just started working normally after I used its power switch to power down and back on again. The second time (months later) I had to reload the firmware to get back to normal. Of course, there is nothing to say that either incident had anything to do with how the radio was shut down, just something that came to mind. If there were a chance of corrupting the firmware by unexpected power loss, then it would have implications for portable operation where alligator clips happily jump off of battery terminal posts etc. 73, Erik K7TV - Original Message - From: Ron D'Eau Claire r...@cobi.biz To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Sent: Sunday, March 01, 2009 11:04 AM Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 power loss: Last settings forgotten And the K3 is pretty resistant to the sort of craziness some CPU's experience with unexpected shutdowns. I'm not aware of anyone who has had a crash of the system due to the power being pulled unexpectedly. I've done it hundreds of times working with my k3 without any ill effects other than, as you noted, some front panel control settings may not be stored. FWIW that's true of the K2 as well. 73, Ron AC7AC __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K3 power loss: Last settings forgotten
Interesting Eric. That's one you might post to k3supp...@elecraft.com. I've not seen it here and I suspect Wayne would be surprised to see it. (He monitors that list carefully.) Even though I frequently hit the POWER button switching off the main supply, when working on the K3 on the bench testing assembly procedures, etc., I often just pull the plug with the K3 live with no ill effects. Indeed, the one problem with shutting down the K3 that I've seen was that if the power supply wasn't turned off, a few K3s wouldn't turn on again later! That was traced to small current leakage through the KPA3 that managed to keep the CPU partially alive so it never did a complete shutdown. But that's just the opposite. Turning off the main supply fixed the problem (it's also fixed by the addition of a 1N4148 diode as described in http://www.elecraft.com/K3/mods/KPA3_12V_Sense_Modification_Rev_A.pdf) Ron AC7AC -Original Message- From: Erik N Basilier [mailto:ebasil...@cox.net] Sent: Sunday, March 01, 2009 10:44 AM To: Ron D'Eau Claire; elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 power loss: Last settings forgotten Ron, I have been shutting down the external power rather than using the K3's power switch hundreds of times, a habit I established with earlier radios. I am comforted to know that you have also shut down your K3 in a similar way with no ill effects. But one thing now comes to mind that I didn't think about previously. Twice in several months of having the K3 I had a problem where the radio seemed disconnected from the antenna and showed a high swr on transmit. I jiggled the connector pins at the automatic tuner board etc. to no effect. At the first instance, the radio just started working normally after I used its power switch to power down and back on again. The second time (months later) I had to reload the firmware to get back to normal. Of course, there is nothing to say that either incident had anything to do with how the radio was shut down, just something that came to mind. If there were a chance of corrupting the firmware by unexpected power loss, then it would have implications for portable operation where alligator clips happily jump off of battery terminal posts etc. 73, Erik K7TV - Original Message - From: Ron D'Eau Claire r...@cobi.biz To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Sent: Sunday, March 01, 2009 11:04 AM Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 power loss: Last settings forgotten And the K3 is pretty resistant to the sort of craziness some CPU's experience with unexpected shutdowns. I'm not aware of anyone who has had a crash of the system due to the power being pulled unexpectedly. I've done it hundreds of times working with my k3 without any ill effects other than, as you noted, some front panel control settings may not be stored. FWIW that's true of the K2 as well. 73, Ron AC7AC __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K3 power loss: Last settings forgotten
Ron: I have never had this problem. I often operate with the power supply off. I do have 75 AH of batteries connected to the K3. I sometimes operate for 3 to 5 days (intermittently) before turning on the power supply. Just my backup plan. 73, Ty, W1TF, K3 #696 --- On Sun, 3/1/09, Ron D'Eau Claire r...@cobi.biz wrote: From: Ron D'Eau Claire r...@cobi.biz Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 power loss: Last settings forgotten To: 'Erik N Basilier' ebasil...@cox.net, elecraft@mailman.qth.net Date: Sunday, March 1, 2009, 1:57 PM Interesting Eric. That's one you might post to k3supp...@elecraft.com. I've not seen it here and I suspect Wayne would be surprised to see it. (He monitors that list carefully.) Even though I frequently hit the POWER button switching off the main supply, when working on the K3 on the bench testing assembly procedures, etc., I often just pull the plug with the K3 live with no ill effects. Indeed, the one problem with shutting down the K3 that I've seen was that if the power supply wasn't turned off, a few K3s wouldn't turn on again later! That was traced to small current leakage through the KPA3 that managed to keep the CPU partially alive so it never did a complete shutdown. But that's just the opposite. Turning off the main supply fixed the problem (it's also fixed by the addition of a 1N4148 diode as described in http://www.elecraft.com/K3/mods/KPA3_12V_Sense_Modification_Rev_A.pdf) Ron AC7AC -Original Message- From: Erik N Basilier [mailto:ebasil...@cox.net] Sent: Sunday, March 01, 2009 10:44 AM To: Ron D'Eau Claire; elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 power loss: Last settings forgotten Ron, I have been shutting down the external power rather than using the K3's power switch hundreds of times, a habit I established with earlier radios. I am comforted to know that you have also shut down your K3 in a similar way with no ill effects. But one thing now comes to mind that I didn't think about previously. Twice in several months of having the K3 I had a problem where the radio seemed disconnected from the antenna and showed a high swr on transmit. I jiggled the connector pins at the automatic tuner board etc. to no effect. At the first instance, the radio just started working normally after I used its power switch to power down and back on again. The second time (months later) I had to reload the firmware to get back to normal. Of course, there is nothing to say that either incident had anything to do with how the radio was shut down, just something that came to mind. If there were a chance of corrupting the firmware by unexpected power loss, then it would have implications for portable operation where alligator clips happily jump off of battery terminal posts etc. 73, Erik K7TV - Original Message - From: Ron D'Eau Claire r...@cobi.biz To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Sent: Sunday, March 01, 2009 11:04 AM Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 power loss: Last settings forgotten And the K3 is pretty resistant to the sort of craziness some CPU's experience with unexpected shutdowns. I'm not aware of anyone who has had a crash of the system due to the power being pulled unexpectedly. I've done it hundreds of times working with my k3 without any ill effects other than, as you noted, some front panel control settings may not be stored. FWIW that's true of the K2 as well. 73, Ron AC7AC __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K3 power loss: Last settings forgotten
My apologies, Ty. That was a personal reply to Eric I accidentally included on the list. I didn't intend to post it because only a very few K3's had the power off issue I mentioned and it's been addressed. In your case pulling the big switch leaves you fully operational with that battery system, Hi! I'm considering something like that myself for the operating desk. Ron AC7AC -Original Message- From: elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Ralph Tyrrell Sent: Sunday, March 01, 2009 12:28 PM To: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 power loss: Last settings forgotten Ron: I have never had this problem. I often operate with the power supply off. I do have 75 AH of batteries connected to the K3. I sometimes operate for 3 to 5 days (intermittently) before turning on the power supply. Just my backup plan. 73, Ty, W1TF, K3 #696 --- On Sun, 3/1/09, Ron D'Eau Claire r...@cobi.biz wrote: From: Ron D'Eau Claire r...@cobi.biz Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 power loss: Last settings forgotten To: 'Erik N Basilier' ebasil...@cox.net, elecraft@mailman.qth.net Date: Sunday, March 1, 2009, 1:57 PM Interesting Eric. That's one you might post to k3supp...@elecraft.com. I've not seen it here and I suspect Wayne would be surprised to see it. (He monitors that list carefully.) Even though I frequently hit the POWER button switching off the main supply, when working on the K3 on the bench testing assembly procedures, etc., I often just pull the plug with the K3 live with no ill effects. Indeed, the one problem with shutting down the K3 that I've seen was that if the power supply wasn't turned off, a few K3s wouldn't turn on again later! That was traced to small current leakage through the KPA3 that managed to keep the CPU partially alive so it never did a complete shutdown. But that's just the opposite. Turning off the main supply fixed the problem (it's also fixed by the addition of a 1N4148 diode as described in http://www.elecraft.com/K3/mods/KPA3_12V_Sense_Modification_Rev_A.pdf) Ron AC7AC -Original Message- From: Erik N Basilier [mailto:ebasil...@cox.net] Sent: Sunday, March 01, 2009 10:44 AM To: Ron D'Eau Claire; elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 power loss: Last settings forgotten Ron, I have been shutting down the external power rather than using the K3's power switch hundreds of times, a habit I established with earlier radios. I am comforted to know that you have also shut down your K3 in a similar way with no ill effects. But one thing now comes to mind that I didn't think about previously. Twice in several months of having the K3 I had a problem where the radio seemed disconnected from the antenna and showed a high swr on transmit. I jiggled the connector pins at the automatic tuner board etc. to no effect. At the first instance, the radio just started working normally after I used its power switch to power down and back on again. The second time (months later) I had to reload the firmware to get back to normal. Of course, there is nothing to say that either incident had anything to do with how the radio was shut down, just something that came to mind. If there were a chance of corrupting the firmware by unexpected power loss, then it would have implications for portable operation where alligator clips happily jump off of battery terminal posts etc. 73, Erik K7TV - Original Message - From: Ron D'Eau Claire r...@cobi.biz To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Sent: Sunday, March 01, 2009 11:04 AM Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 power loss: Last settings forgotten And the K3 is pretty resistant to the sort of craziness some CPU's experience with unexpected shutdowns. I'm not aware of anyone who has had a crash of the system due to the power being pulled unexpectedly. I've done it hundreds of times working with my k3 without any ill effects other than, as you noted, some front panel control settings may not be stored. FWIW that's true of the K2 as well. 73, Ron AC7AC __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K3 power loss: Last settings forgotten
Ron, in those two instances where I had to take some extra steps to make the K3 work normally again, I did correspond with Gary at Elecraft, but no conclusion about cause was arrived at. It was only our conversation today that made me think of the remote possibility of a connection between those incidents and my power shutdown habits. And because you suggested it, I now think that I should write Elecraft again about it. Thanks. Erik K7TV - Original Message - From: Ron D'Eau Claire r...@cobi.biz To: 'Erik N Basilier' ebasil...@cox.net; elecraft@mailman.qth.net Sent: Sunday, March 01, 2009 11:57 AM Subject: RE: [Elecraft] K3 power loss: Last settings forgotten Interesting Eric. That's one you might post to k3supp...@elecraft.com. I've not seen it here and I suspect Wayne would be surprised to see it. (He monitors that list carefully.) Even though I frequently hit the POWER button switching off the main supply, when working on the K3 on the bench testing assembly procedures, etc., I often just pull the plug with the K3 live with no ill effects. Indeed, the one problem with shutting down the K3 that I've seen was that if the power supply wasn't turned off, a few K3s wouldn't turn on again later! That was traced to small current leakage through the KPA3 that managed to keep the CPU partially alive so it never did a complete shutdown. But that's just the opposite. Turning off the main supply fixed the problem (it's also fixed by the addition of a 1N4148 diode as described in http://www.elecraft.com/K3/mods/KPA3_12V_Sense_Modification_Rev_A.pdf) Ron AC7AC -Original Message- From: Erik N Basilier [mailto:ebasil...@cox.net] Sent: Sunday, March 01, 2009 10:44 AM To: Ron D'Eau Claire; elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 power loss: Last settings forgotten Ron, I have been shutting down the external power rather than using the K3's power switch hundreds of times, a habit I established with earlier radios. I am comforted to know that you have also shut down your K3 in a similar way with no ill effects. But one thing now comes to mind that I didn't think about previously. Twice in several months of having the K3 I had a problem where the radio seemed disconnected from the antenna and showed a high swr on transmit. I jiggled the connector pins at the automatic tuner board etc. to no effect. At the first instance, the radio just started working normally after I used its power switch to power down and back on again. The second time (months later) I had to reload the firmware to get back to normal. Of course, there is nothing to say that either incident had anything to do with how the radio was shut down, just something that came to mind. If there were a chance of corrupting the firmware by unexpected power loss, then it would have implications for portable operation where alligator clips happily jump off of battery terminal posts etc. 73, Erik K7TV - Original Message - From: Ron D'Eau Claire r...@cobi.biz To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Sent: Sunday, March 01, 2009 11:04 AM Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 power loss: Last settings forgotten And the K3 is pretty resistant to the sort of craziness some CPU's experience with unexpected shutdowns. I'm not aware of anyone who has had a crash of the system due to the power being pulled unexpectedly. I've done it hundreds of times working with my k3 without any ill effects other than, as you noted, some front panel control settings may not be stored. FWIW that's true of the K2 as well. 73, Ron AC7AC __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K3 power loss: Last settings forgotten
Erik N Basilier wrote: I am very familiar with the internals of computers, more than enough to know that these behaviors can be expected unless one pointedly designs to eliminate them, and that *can* be done. There is no fundamental One factor to consider here is that the flash memory has a limited write cycle life time, typically in the range of 100,000 to 1,000,000 cycles. That means that you don't want to write every change back immediately. reasons that any machine that contains a computer needs to behave like a PC. I do not mean to criticize the design of the K3, particularly since we know that there are more important goals for the designers. My objective was just to find out whether the behavior of my K3 was consistent with the K3 design. In general, I find the K3 to be much more free from those computerish characteristics than a PC is, and that is one reason I am using a K3 and not a radio that depends on a PC to function. -- David Woolley The Elecraft list is a forum for the discussion of topics related to Elecraft products and more general topics related ham radio List Guidelines http://www.elecraft.com/elecraft_list_guidelines.htm __ 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] K3 power loss: Last settings forgotten
I just shut down the station by pulling the big switch and then turned it back on soon after. Of course I had to push the power button on the K3 to get it going again. Then I noticed what I never noticed before: The K3, while still tuned to the same 40m cw frequency, came up in LSB mode, with coarse frequency display. I pushed FINE and MODE DOWN to get back to cw and two decimals. Then I shut down the same way again, with the same result. Next time I powered down by pushing the K3 power button instead of the Big Switch. This time when I powered the K3 on again it remembered all settings. Looks to me like the K3 doesn't store all settings unless its power switch is pushed to shut down. Is this how it is supposed to work? I am running 2.76. 73, Erik K7TV __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K3 power loss on 10 meter USB
On all bands except 10m my K3 transmits down to 9.5V with pretty reasonable supply current. This is commendable. That K3 requires 13.5V to shut down not as often on 10m indicates a problem. I tried new KPA3 and it was more less the same . Our problem could be in a bad capacitor in LPF for 10m or something similar. Gary from Elecraft wants my K3 in his shop. Ignacy -- View this message in context: http://n2.nabble.com/K3-power-loss-on-10-meter-USB-tp1660124p1960793.html Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com. ___ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
Re: [Elecraft] K3 power loss on 10 meter USB
Hi, I am not out of the woods with respect to the K3 reducing power while transmitting as I experienced during the 2008 December 10m contest. But I am standing on the edge of the forest. The K3 has built-in protection for the 100w power amplifier and automatically reduces power when some sensor is triggered. I had been operating the K3 on a “long” extension cord from my Astron RS-35A power supply. The voltage drop at the end of this extension cord was over a volt when transmitting 100w as seen by the built-in volt meter in the K3. The power supply voltage observed when in receive mode by the K3 is 13.6 volts. On the extension cord, the K3 reports a power supply voltage of 12.5 volts when transmitting 100w. This change in voltage sometimes causes my K3 to reduce the transmit power out to something much less than 100w. The transient power supply voltage as seen by the K3 may well have been less than what voltage the K3 display indicated. This behavior was very frequent while operating on 10m and much less frequent while operating on lower bands. I now have the K3 connected to the power supply using only the cable that came with the K3. The K3 now observes 13.4 volts when transmitting 100w. The percentage of transmissions that I now experience loss in power has dropped by more than one order of magnitude. The K3 firmware was the 2.58/1.94 vintage. There still are times when my K3 fails to transmit 100w. Today for example, I was on a QSO on 17m and transmitting 100w where I observed loss in transmitted power maybe once in every 20 transmissions. i.e. out of 20 transmissions I would transmit 19 times and and observe 100w output and once I would experience much less than 100w output. I have tested the K3 on 10m, in particular, with 100w output on every transmission. Bottom line: keep the supply voltage to the K3 as constant as possible. To accomplish this, keep the IR drop in the power cord to a minimum and use a power supply that can handle the current demand of the K3. There is something else going on to cause an occasional loss of full power. Any suggestions? Don, N0YE -- View this message in context: http://n2.nabble.com/K3-power-loss-on-10-meter-USB-tp1660124p1803141.html Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com. ___ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
[Elecraft] K3 power loss on 10 meter USB
During the 2008 10 meter contest this past weekend I experienced some power loss during USB transmissions. The K3 was set to 100 watts, more or less. The K3 firmware is the 2.58/1.94 vintage. In responding to another party calling CQ I would send my call sign, N0YE. The N0 would be transmitted at the full 100 watts. The YE would be transmitted at about 10 watts. The power level observations were made on the built in power indicator in the K3. This behavior was highly repeatable. The K3 would transmit about 4 syllables of speech at full power and drop to a low power there after. This behavior occurred with whatever I spoke while transmitting. I used more than one antenna during the contest. Each antenna had it's own tuner and so the K3 antenna tuner was bypassed. I can not say for certain that the SWR to the rig was always better than 2:1. I do not know what I can do to get the K3 into this abnormal operational state. And I am not totally sure how I got the K3 into a “normal” operating state. I think changing power levels is one trigger to get into this abnormal state. I think going into the TUNE mode for a while is a way to get in the normal state. I also think changing bands say from 10m to 12m and back to 10m without transmitting is another way to get to the normal state. Power cycling the K3 may be another way to get to the normal state. Once in the normal mode, the K3 would function normally for a long time. After I built the K3 kit, I experienced power fluctuations while transmitting. These fluctuations were cured by grounding pins 7 and 8 onto the MIC connector shell. The K3 has functioned normally on 40m, 20m, 17m and 15m bands since that fix. The modified MIC connector was used during this contest. This other problem and fix are mentioned in the off chance there may be a connection to this 10m transmit power problem. So my questions to the group are: Is this a problem observed by others? Is this a solved problem? If this is not a solved problem, are there things I could do to mitigate the problem? Don, N0YE -- View this message in context: http://n2.nabble.com/K3-power-loss-on-10-meter-USB-tp1660124p1660124.html Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com. ___ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
