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[K3]Microphone socket wobble

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ab2tc

[K3]Microphone socket wobble

Hi all,

My front microphone connector has always had a fairly significant wobble in it. Partly because of that and partly to get rid of the clutter, I have finally moved my Heil proset and the footswitch to the back. So this is no longer a big deal. Now that the socket is "naked" I notice that when I rock the outer ring of the connector, the pins inside do not rock with it. I bought the rig assembled, so I haven't personally seen how the connector assembly works. I am guessing that the pins are soldered to the FP board and that the board is not moving anything to speak of. Is the outer sleeve not anchored to the board at all? Is there anything that can be done about this? I am entertaining the idea of having a 2nd mic attached to the front connector, but frankly the wobble does bother me.

AB2TC - Knut

lstavenhagen

Re: [K3]Microphone socket wobble

Don't know if this applies to the K3, but the outer ring on my K2 is loose like that too. I couldn't get the plug far enough into the board to lock it down. I didn't feel like breaking anything so soon as I got it as far as it'd go I soldered 'er in.

maybe this is by design for the mic plug?

73,
LS
W5QD

Don Wilhelm-4

Re: [K3]Microphone socket wobble

In reply to this post by ab2tc

Knut,

Not to worry, it is just the shell that is moving - If you purchase a
bare mic jack, you can see that the plastic assembly to which the pins
are mounted are not held rigidly to the shell.
If you want to fix it, remove the front panel, scrape away a bit of the
solder mask at the base of the mic jack shell, use a soldering iron with
a large tip and apply heat until the shell of the jack can melt solder a
bit away from the iron loaction, then pool some solder between the mic
jack shell and the ground plane of the front panel board. That will not
only anchor the shell tightly in place, but will also ground the shield.
Most microphones do not use the jack shell for grounding, but there may
be some unusual mics with shielded cable that do connect to the shell.
If you have one of those unusual ones, then you should definitely ground
the mic jack shell. I have been doing that on all K2s that I repair if
they have the KSB2 option installed, just in case a customer is using
one of those unusual mics.
If you wonder whether your microphone connects an overall shield to the
shell of the mic plug, check out your mic at G4WPW's website
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/rg4wpw/date.html - he has compiled an
impressive list of microphone wiring information.

73,
Don W3FPR

ab2tc wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> My front microphone connector has always had a fairly significant wobble in
> it. Partly because of that and partly to get rid of the clutter, I have
> finally moved my Heil proset and the footswitch to the back. So this is no
> longer a big deal. Now that the socket is "naked" I notice that when I rock
> the outer ring of the connector, the pins inside do not rock with it. I
> bought the rig assembled, so I haven't personally seen how the connector
> assembly works. I am guessing that the pins are soldered to the FP board and
> that the board is not moving anything to speak of. Is the outer sleeve not
> anchored to the board at all? Is there anything that can be done about this?
> I am entertaining the idea of having a 2nd mic attached to the front
> connector, but frankly the wobble does bother me.
>
>

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ab2tc

Re: [K3]Microphone socket wobble

I might want to do that. Is there any truth to the rumor that this can be accessed by removing the left side panel only? I really don't want to got through the front panel disassembly and reassembly.

AB2TC - Knut

Don Wilhelm-4 wrote

Knut,

Not to worry, it is just the shell that is moving - If you purchase a
bare mic jack, you can see that the plastic assembly to which the pins
are mounted are not held rigidly to the shell.
If you want to fix it, remove the front panel, scrape away
<snip>

Don Wilhelm-4

Re: [K3]Microphone socket wobble

Knut,

On the K2, you may access the mic jack by removing only the left side
panel,but on the K3, I believe you must remove the front panel assembly
to gain access to the base of the mic jack - you do not have to remove
the front panel from its metal enclosure, nor do you need to remove the
DSP board.

If you look at K3_Application_Note_Front_Panel_Microphone_Grounding.pdf
on the Elecraft website, you can see how to gain access. Lok carefully
at Figure 4 on page 2, and you will see that the microphone jack shell
is grounded by a wire in the K3. That wire provides the grounding that
I mentioned, however it does not provide mechanical stability for the
mic jack shell (which is not important IMHO, but may ba a "problem" to
some other folks). Soldering the shell to the ground plane will provide
the "lack of wobble" that some may desire.

73,
Don W3FPR

ab2tc wrote:
> I might want to do that. Is there any truth to the rumor that this can be
> accessed by removing the left side panel only? I really don't want to got
> through the front panel disassembly and reassembly.
>
> AB2TC - Knut
>
>
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KARL MARDERIAN

Re: [K3]Microphone socket wobble

Hello Don,
I have been following this tread. I have had my K3 for about two years and the mic socket will turn a little. I said something a year or so ago on line here but never got any feed back. Do you think it a defect, or just needed play and should be well enough left alone. Never had any issues with the mic.
Karl N6XVT
On Mar 9, 2010, at 5:06 PM, Don Wilhelm wrote:

> Knut,
>
> On the K2, you may access the mic jack by removing only the left side
> panel,but on the K3, I believe you must remove the front panel assembly
> to gain access to the base of the mic jack - you do not have to remove
> the front panel from its metal enclosure, nor do you need to remove the
> DSP board.
>
> If you look at K3_Application_Note_Front_Panel_Microphone_Grounding.pdf
> on the Elecraft website, you can see how to gain access. Lok carefully
> at Figure 4 on page 2, and you will see that the microphone jack shell
> is grounded by a wire in the K3. That wire provides the grounding that
> I mentioned, however it does not provide mechanical stability for the
> mic jack shell (which is not important IMHO, but may ba a "problem" to
> some other folks). Soldering the shell to the ground plane will provide
> the "lack of wobble" that some may desire.
>
> 73,
> Don W3FPR
>
> ab2tc wrote:
>> I might want to do that. Is there any truth to the rumor that this can be
>> accessed by removing the left side panel only? I really don't want to got
>> through the front panel disassembly and reassembly.
>>
>> AB2TC - Knut
>>
>>
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html

Don Wilhelm-4

Re: [K3]Microphone socket wobble

It certainly is not a problem. All foster type jacks that I have
encountered have this condition. The insert holding the pins is not
tightly fixed to the shell. If the mic jack shell is secured to the
panel and the pins are connected to the PC board with wires, the
assembly with the pins will move inside the shell, and no-one complains,
they think that is normal. However, when the K2 and K3 front panel
boards connect the *pins* of the connector directly to the PC board,
then the pins are fixed in position and the shell will move a bit around
the pin housing. This is NOT a problem.
I have given those who would *believe* it to be a *problem* the solution
- solder the shell as well as the pins to the PC board. That will
prevent any movement between the jack pin assembly and the shell.

BUT - repeat after me - "this is not a problem" -- "this is not a problem"

If you do fix the shell and the pins together, and subsequently pick up
a mic plug that is slightly misaligned, you will not be able to plug it
into your mic jack that has been soldered to allow no movement. Take
your pick - a soldered and fixed mic jack shell tha may not allow the
plugging of a slightly misaligned mic plug, or just leave it as-is, and
all mic plugs (even those slightly misaligned) will plug in easily.

This is a NON-problem. The solution I gave is only for those who would
loose sleep over a slightly "wobbly" microphone jack shell - it can be
made "non-wobbly", but it is not important to any operation and does
have its down-sides.

73,
Don W3FPR

KARL MARDERIAN wrote:
> Hello Don,
> I have been following this tread. I have had my K3 for about two years and the mic socket will turn a little. I said something a year or so ago on line here but never got any feed back. Do you think it a defect, or just needed play and should be well enough left alone. Never had any issues with the mic.
> Karl N6XVT
> On Mar 9, 2010, at 5:06 PM, Don Wilhelm wrote:
>
>
>
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KARL MARDERIAN

Re: [K3]Microphone socket wobble

In reply to this post by KARL MARDERIAN

Don,
Right you are. Some times we K3 owners can be mighty picky and not see
the Forrest from the trees.
N6XVT. Karl 73

Sent from my iPhone

On Mar 9, 2010, at 5:26 PM, Don Wilhelm <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Karl,
>
> As I stated, it may seem to be a "problem" for some folks, but I
> certainly do not consider it a problem at all. It simply allows a
> bit of play to accept a slightly misaligned microphone plug. The
> connector was designed that way.
> If it were mounted in a panel, the shell would not move, but the pin
> assembly would be a bit loose - most all microphone jacks I have
> seen have always been this way. The difference is that in the case
> of the K2 and K3. the pins are fixed to the board, and the same
> effect requires that the connector shell move instead of the pins -
> it is all relative, and definitely not a problem.
>
> Some folks just seem to be a bit paranoid about unimportant stuff.
>
> 73,
> Don W3FPR
>
> KARL MARDERIAN wrote:
>> Hello Don,
>> I have been following this tread. I have had my K3 for about two
>> years and the mic socket will turn a little. I said something a
>> year or so ago on line here but never got any feed back. Do you
>> think it a defect, or just needed play and should be well enough
>> left alone. Never had any issues with the mic.
>> Karl N6XVT
>> On Mar 9, 2010, at 5:06 PM, Don Wilhelm wrote:
>>
>>
>>> Knut,
>>>
>>> On the K2, you may access the mic jack by removing only the left
>>> side panel,but on the K3, I believe you must remove the front
>>> panel assembly to gain access to the base of the mic jack - you do
>>> not have to remove the front panel from its metal enclosure, nor
>>> do you need to remove the DSP board.
>>>
>>> If you look at
>>> K3_Application_Note_Front_Panel_Microphone_Grounding.pdf on the
>>> Elecraft website, you can see how to gain access. Lok carefully
>>> at Figure 4 on page 2, and you will see that the microphone jack
>>> shell is grounded by a wire in the K3. That wire provides the
>>> grounding that I mentioned, however it does not provide mechanical
>>> stability for the mic jack shell (which is not important IMHO, but
>>> may ba a "problem" to some other folks). Soldering the shell to
>>> the ground plane will provide the "lack of wobble" that some may
>>> desire.
>>>
>>> 73,
>>> Don W3FPR
>>>
>>> ab2tc wrote:
>>>
>>>> I might want to do that. Is there any truth to the rumor that
>>>> this can be
>>>> accessed by removing the left side panel only? I really don't
>>>> want to got
>>>> through the front panel disassembly and reassembly.
>>>>
>>>> AB2TC - Knut
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>> ______________________________________________________________
>>> Elecraft mailing list
>>> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
>>> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
>>> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>>>
>>> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
>>> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>>>
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