K3/P3 DOA

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K3/P3 DOA

Nr4c
Friends,

 

My good friend and elmer Mark (n1lo) recently purchased a pre-loved K3 and
treated himself to a P3-K for Christmas.  I visited him yesterday, and
watched as he assembled his new 'toy'.  All went pretty well, until we
hooked it up.  It all seems to work, except, there is no signal showing on
the P3 screen.  All the markings are there, display seems to be working, but
no signal.  Adjusting the "REF LVL" brings up 'noise' but removing the BNC
cable does not change the display.  

 

Tried connecting to the IF OUT connector and turning the switch 'ON' made no
difference.  

 

Tried another BNC cable, same result.  

 

Opened the P3 and checked the TMP cable but it was firmly connected at both
ends.  No change.

 

He has emailed support for assistance but it is New Years and may not hear
anything immediately as expected with the holiday and all.

 

So, it the mean time, anyone here have an idea that we haven't thought of?

 

He did the mod to the radio to increase the output, but that looks good.

 

...bill  nr4c    (for Mark n1lo)

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Re: K3/P3 DOA

Stephen G4SJP
Look carefully at whether the two bnc connectors on the rear panel are in
the right positions.  It is possible (although not easy) to have them
reversed.

73 Stephen G4SJP



On 1 January 2012 18:09, Bill Conkling <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Friends,
>
>
>
> My good friend and elmer Mark (n1lo) recently purchased a pre-loved K3 and
> treated himself to a P3-K for Christmas.  I visited him yesterday, and
> watched as he assembled his new 'toy'.  All went pretty well, until we
> hooked it up.  It all seems to work, except, there is no signal showing on
> the P3 screen.  All the markings are there, display seems to be working,
> but
> no signal.  Adjusting the "REF LVL" brings up 'noise' but removing the BNC
> cable does not change the display.
>
>
>
> Tried connecting to the IF OUT connector and turning the switch 'ON' made
> no
> difference.
>
>
>
> Tried another BNC cable, same result.
>
>
>
> Opened the P3 and checked the TMP cable but it was firmly connected at both
> ends.  No change.
>
>
>
> He has emailed support for assistance but it is New Years and may not hear
> anything immediately as expected with the holiday and all.
>
>
>
> So, it the mean time, anyone here have an idea that we haven't thought of?
>
>
>
> He did the mod to the radio to increase the output, but that looks good.
>
>
>
> ...bill  nr4c    (for Mark n1lo)
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> 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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Re: K3/P3 DOA

wb2ssb
In reply to this post by Nr4c
I had the exact symptom when I first built my P3 .... I had installed the RF board in the P3 upside down (yes, it is possible to do so!), so I was actually connecting the IF in to the output jack of the P3 instead of the input jack ... silly error ... perhaps you can benefit from you carelessness and that is your problem?

-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email] [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Bill Conkling
Sent: Sunday, January 01, 2012 1:10 PM
To: [hidden email]
Cc: [hidden email]
Subject: [Elecraft] K3/P3 DOA

Friends,

 

My good friend and elmer Mark (n1lo) recently purchased a pre-loved K3 and treated himself to a P3-K for Christmas.  I visited him yesterday, and watched as he assembled his new 'toy'.  All went pretty well, until we hooked it up.  It all seems to work, except, there is no signal showing on the P3 screen.  All the markings are there, display seems to be working, but no signal.  Adjusting the "REF LVL" brings up 'noise' but removing the BNC cable does not change the display.  

 

Tried connecting to the IF OUT connector and turning the switch 'ON' made no difference.  

 

Tried another BNC cable, same result.  

 

Opened the P3 and checked the TMP cable but it was firmly connected at both ends.  No change.

 

He has emailed support for assistance but it is New Years and may not hear anything immediately as expected with the holiday and all.

 

So, it the mean time, anyone here have an idea that we haven't thought of?

 

He did the mod to the radio to increase the output, but that looks good.

 

...bill  nr4c    (for Mark n1lo)

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Re: K3/P3 DOA

Nr4c
In reply to this post by Stephen G4SJP
Thanks, but checked that as well.  I don't believe the assembly will fit
with the switch protruding the panel if reversed.

 

Thanks for the reply.

 

...bill nr4c

 

  _____  

From: Stephen Prior [mailto:[hidden email]]
Sent: Sunday, January 01, 2012 1:16 PM
To: Bill Conkling; Elecraft
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3/P3 DOA

 

Look carefully at whether the two bnc connectors on the rear panel are in
the right positions.  It is possible (although not easy) to have them
reversed.

 

73 Stephen G4SJP

 

 

On 1 January 2012 18:09, Bill Conkling <[hidden email]> wrote:

Friends,



My good friend and elmer Mark (n1lo) recently purchased a pre-loved K3 and
treated himself to a P3-K for Christmas.  I visited him yesterday, and
watched as he assembled his new 'toy'.  All went pretty well, until we
hooked it up.  It all seems to work, except, there is no signal showing on
the P3 screen.  All the markings are there, display seems to be working, but
no signal.  Adjusting the "REF LVL" brings up 'noise' but removing the BNC
cable does not change the display.



Tried connecting to the IF OUT connector and turning the switch 'ON' made no
difference.



Tried another BNC cable, same result.



Opened the P3 and checked the TMP cable but it was firmly connected at both
ends.  No change.



He has emailed support for assistance but it is New Years and may not hear
anything immediately as expected with the holiday and all.



So, it the mean time, anyone here have an idea that we haven't thought of?



He did the mod to the radio to increase the output, but that looks good.



...bill  nr4c    (for Mark n1lo)

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Re: K3/P3 DOA

Jorge
In reply to this post by Stephen G4SJP
Bill,

I had a similar problem.
I found the output of the IF connector on the back of the K3 to be
shorted on the RF board end of the pigtail. A solder bridge was the culprit.
If you have another receiver capable of tuning around 8.125mhz, you
might try hooking the IF output of the K3 to the receiver and see if you
hear the IF signal.
Jorge - KC5RY

Stephen Prior wrote:

> Look carefully at whether the two bnc connectors on the rear panel are in
> the right positions.  It is possible (although not easy) to have them
> reversed.
>
> 73 Stephen G4SJP
>
>
>
> On 1 January 2012 18:09, Bill Conkling<[hidden email]>  wrote:
>
>> Friends,
>>
>>
>>
>> My good friend and elmer Mark (n1lo) recently purchased a pre-loved K3 and
>> treated himself to a P3-K for Christmas.  I visited him yesterday, and
>> watched as he assembled his new 'toy'.  All went pretty well, until we
>> hooked it up.  It all seems to work, except, there is no signal showing on
>> the P3 screen.  All the markings are there, display seems to be working,
>> but
>> no signal.  Adjusting the "REF LVL" brings up 'noise' but removing the BNC
>> cable does not change the display.
>>
>>
>>
>> Tried connecting to the IF OUT connector and turning the switch 'ON' made
>> no
>> difference.
>>
>>
>>
>> Tried another BNC cable, same result.
>>
>>
>>
>> Opened the P3 and checked the TMP cable but it was firmly connected at both
>> ends.  No change.
>>
>>
>>
>> He has emailed support for assistance but it is New Years and may not hear
>> anything immediately as expected with the holiday and all.
>>
>>
>>
>> So, it the mean time, anyone here have an idea that we haven't thought of?
>>
>>
>>
>> He did the mod to the radio to increase the output, but that looks good.
>>
>>
>>
>> ...bill  nr4c    (for Mark n1lo)
>>
>> ______________________________________________________________
>> 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
>>
> ______________________________________________________________
> 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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Re: K3/P3 DOA

w8fn
In reply to this post by Nr4c
My P3 worked well for less than 24 hours after assembly and then
developed the same symptoms. It turned out to be a failure of the MMIC
amplifier device on the RF/Splitter board. I did a board exchange and
it's been running fine for several months. Perhaps there was a bad run
of these devices, as I believe I've seen a couple of others mention a
similar problem. Elecraft support will certainly make sure he gets the
P3 up and running ASAP.

73...
Randy, W8FN

> My good friend and elmer Mark (n1lo) recently purchased a pre-loved K3 and
> treated himself to a P3-K for Christmas.  I visited him yesterday, and
> watched as he assembled his new 'toy'.  All went pretty well, until we
> hooked it up.  It all seems to work, except, there is no signal showing on
> the P3 screen.  All the markings are there, display seems to be working, but
> no signal.  Adjusting the "REF LVL" brings up 'noise' but removing the BNC
> cable does not change the display.
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Re: K3/P3 DOA

Nr4c
In reply to this post by Nr4c
Hello, friends....

First I'd like to thank all that responded with possible solutions to my
friends dilemma.

We did verify the orientation of the RF board in the P3.

We did verify the resistor change was good.

We weren't too successful in listing to the IF OUT on the sub-rec.

Mark came by my shack this afternoon, and brought his radio/P3.   First we
hooked his P3 to my radio and it showed signals like it should.  I was
dismayed as I had hoped it would be a simple P3 problem, easily swapped out.

Then we began opening up the K3 hoping to find something amiss that we could
fix easily.  When we got down to the KX3Va board, and compared it's
installation to what the book called for, there it was.  It appears that the
original builder had inserted the TMP plug into the "OUT" socket, not the
"IN" socket.  We plugged the TMP cable into the correct socket, and
re-assembled the K3.  It worked as it was supposed to.  Hooray!  It was
fixed, Mark is a happy Elecraft owner.

Again, thanks to all who tried to help.

...bill  nr4c

-----Original Message-----
From: Bill Conkling [mailto:[hidden email]]
Sent: Sunday, January 01, 2012 1:10 PM
To: [hidden email]
Cc: [hidden email]
Subject: [Elecraft] K3/P3 DOA

Friends,

 

My good friend and elmer Mark (n1lo) recently purchased a pre-loved K3 and
treated himself to a P3-K for Christmas.  I visited him yesterday, and
watched as he assembled his new 'toy'.  All went pretty well, until we
hooked it up.  It all seems to work, except, there is no signal showing on
the P3 screen.  All the markings are there, display seems to be working, but
no signal.  Adjusting the "REF LVL" brings up 'noise' but removing the BNC
cable does not change the display.  

 

Tried connecting to the IF OUT connector and turning the switch 'ON' made no
difference.  

 

Tried another BNC cable, same result.  

 

Opened the P3 and checked the TMP cable but it was firmly connected at both
ends.  No change.

 

He has emailed support for assistance but it is New Years and may not hear
anything immediately as expected with the holiday and all.

 

So, it the mean time, anyone here have an idea that we haven't thought of?

 

He did the mod to the radio to increase the output, but that looks good.

 

...bill  nr4c    (for Mark n1lo)

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