K3 Seems to have Failed on TX

[Ian Greenshields]

My K3/100 seems to have died on TX.

It's worked fine for many years, but now on TX with any mode and band,
there is no output power.

The rig switches to TX, but the display shows 0W, and there of no RF from
the antenna socket. Changing the power control briefly shows the set power,
but then the display return to 0W and '--' where the SWR is normally shown.

This occurs both above and below the 12W power threshold (where the 100W PA
switches in).

The receiver and UI/firmware all seem to work fine.

I've checked the obvious sillies like TX test not on and TX inhibit not set.

I've also reinstalled the latest firmware and reverted to a known good
configuration file, but the problem still persists.

It feels like there may be failure some where in the driver stages, but
does anyone have any ideas for what the issue might be and hopefully some
pointers to track it down and fix?

It's an early unit, S/N 180, if that helps.

TIA and 73,
Ian G4FSU
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[Don Wilhelm-4]

Ian,

Simplify everything and do a test.
Eliminate the antenna system by connecting to a dummy load.  An in-line
wattmeter between the K3 and the dummy load may prove to be
informative.  Make sure the jumper cables used are good.

As an extra step, remove all cables from the K3 except for a hand key -
don't have a hand key, then plug the paddles into the key jack and use
the dot side of the paddles.  Do you get output in CW mode (make sure
VOX is turned on).

If you have no transmit under those conditions, contact K3support.

73,
Don W3FPR


On 1/10/2016 10:17 AM, Ian Greenshields wrote:

> My K3/100 seems to have died on TX.
>
> It's worked fine for many years, but now on TX with any mode and band,
> there is no output power.
>
> The rig switches to TX, but the display shows 0W, and there of no RF from
> the antenna socket. Changing the power control briefly shows the set power,
> but then the display return to 0W and '--' where the SWR is normally shown.
>
> This occurs both above and below the 12W power threshold (where the 100W PA
> switches in).
>
> The receiver and UI/firmware all seem to work fine.
>
> I've checked the obvious sillies like TX test not on and TX inhibit not set.
>
> I've also reinstalled the latest firmware and reverted to a known good
> configuration file, but the problem still persists.
>
> It feels like there may be failure some where in the driver stages, but
> does anyone have any ideas for what the issue might be and hopefully some
> pointers to track it down and fix?
>
> It's an early unit, S/N 180, if that helps.
>
> TIA and 73,
> Ian G4FSU
> ______________________________________________________________
> 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
> Message delivered to [hidden email]
>

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Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post: mailto:[hidden email]

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Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Message delivered to [hidden email]