K3 – Power Supply – My Experience I had a couple of issues with my K3 S/N 919 when I first assembled it. The issues turned out to be mostly my problems, not really the unit’s, and Elecraft’s support was incredible, even on the Memorial Day weekend. They had reassured me that they would get me through all of the issues and that turned out to be true. It was very much appreciated.
One of the issues that I had was a chirp and rough sounding CW note on 20 meters. 80 and 40 were fine. I use a Cobra Ultralite antenna on all bands (www.k1jek.com) with a Johnson Matchbox. I started out using a switching power supply (Mean Well SP300-12) rated at up to 13.2V at 24A. I thought everything was fine until I got a bad report on 20m one night. I did have some RFI in the receiver but I did not think it was too bad. Just in case, Elecraft sent a new synthesizer board to me and I installed it. I also moved some equipment around and took the Drake twins (with their transformers) off the desk. Finally, I bought a new Astron RS-35A from R and L Electronics (a great place to deal with). I have received good reports on 20 meters with this set up, and all of the RFI, including some sweeping signals that appeared in the receiver, is gone. The Astron power supply is as big as the rig itself and much heavier, and has a little noticeable hum sound to it (not electrically). But I am happy with the performance. Now I can try the built-in tuner and the BL-2 balun and compare that to the Johnson Matchbox. I have already established perfect matches on all bands from 160 to 10 but did not want to transmit that way until the reports were good. 73, John W2XS -- View this message in context: http://www.nabble.com/K3---Power-Supply---My-Experience-tp18034858p18034858.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
