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K3 Stops Transmitting

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Dennis Egan

K3 Stops Transmitting

In the middle of ARRL DX CW, my K3 stopped transmitting. It did not
shut off, it
would go into transmit and there were small flickers in ALC when the
meter was in
that position, but no power out. Pushing the TUNE button resulted in
the display
saying "0 watts". I played with it for several minutes, was
unsuccessful in restoring
any transmit capability, so subbed in the replacement rig and kept going.

I brought my K3 home, plugged it in, connected a key and a dummy load,
and it
transmitted perfectly. No problems. I've used it about 3 hours since,
and there
have been no problems.

First question, what could have happened to result in the no transmit state?
I will be using my K3 again this weekend in a contest. If the problem
happens again, what possible problems should I be looking for? Loose/
intermittent cable attached to the synthesizer?

Dennis W1UE

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Elecraft mailing list

Re: K3 Stops Transmitting

I had a similar event last October in the New York QSO Party with my K3, s/n67xx. After the first QSO (from a beautiful overlook in Fort Tryon Park in Manhattan) it simply stopped putting out RF. It went into transmit, just no RF. I tried power cycling, jiggling external connectors, etc. After about 10 minutes, and about one minute before giving up for the contest, while moving things around I unintentionally snapped the front bail, and things snapped back to life.

It has worked fine ever since.

73 - Jim K8MR

> On Mar 9, 2017, at 8:54 AM, Dennis <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> In the middle of ARRL DX CW, my K3 stopped transmitting. It did not shut off, it
> would go into transmit and there were small flickers in ALC when the meter was in
> that position, but no power out. Pushing the TUNE button resulted in the display
> saying "0 watts". I played with it for several minutes, was unsuccessful in restoring
> any transmit capability, so subbed in the replacement rig and kept going.
>
> I brought my K3 home, plugged it in, connected a key and a dummy load, and it
> transmitted perfectly. No problems. I've used it about 3 hours since, and there
> have been no problems.
>
> First question, what could have happened to result in the no transmit state?
> I will be using my K3 again this weekend in a contest. If the problem
> happens again, what possible problems should I be looking for? Loose/
> intermittent cable attached to the synthesizer?
>
> Dennis W1UE
>

Dennis Egan

Re: K3 Stops Transmitting

In reply to this post by Dennis Egan

First thing I did- and the first thing I do whenever I have any funny
happen- is to cycle power. I did so
several times. It still wouldn't transmit.

UE

On 3/9/2017 9:00 AM, Ed Muns wrote:

> When it was not transmitting and you were troubleshooting, did you cycle power?
>
> 73,
> Ed W0YK
> On Mar 9, 2017 5:54 AM, Dennis <[hidden email]> wrote:
>> In the middle of ARRL DX CW, my K3 stopped transmitting. It did not
>> shut off, it
>> would go into transmit and there were small flickers in ALC when the
>> meter was in
>> that position, but no power out. Pushing the TUNE button resulted in
>> the display
>> saying "0 watts". I played with it for several minutes, was
>> unsuccessful in restoring
>> any transmit capability, so subbed in the replacement rig and kept going.
>>
>> I brought my K3 home, plugged it in, connected a key and a dummy load,
>> and it
>> transmitted perfectly. No problems. I've used it about 3 hours since,
>> and there
>> have been no problems.
>>
>> First question, what could have happened to result in the no transmit state?
>> I will be using my K3 again this weekend in a contest. If the problem
>> happens again, what possible problems should I be looking for? Loose/
>> intermittent cable attached to the synthesizer?
>>
>> Dennis W1UE
>>
>> ______________________________________________________________
>> 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]

Dennis Egan

Re: K3 Stops Transmitting

In reply to this post by Elecraft mailing list

I did try the "drop" test- hold up the front of the radio a little bit,
and then drop it so that it contacts the table.
Kinda shake things up a bit. No luck. When I also brought it home, I
put it in the case, drove it 72 miles
back to my house, brought it in, and set it up 2 days later. So it was
jostled fairly good. As I say, when I got
it home it worked, and has worked, fine.

Dennis W1UE

On 3/9/2017 9:10 AM, Jim Stahl wrote:

> I had a similar event last October in the New York QSO Party with my K3, s/n67xx. After the first QSO (from a beautiful overlook in Fort Tryon Park in Manhattan) it simply stopped putting out RF. It went into transmit, just no RF. I tried power cycling, jiggling external connectors, etc. After about 10 minutes, and about one minute before giving up for the contest, while moving things around I unintentionally snapped the front bail, and things snapped back to life.
>
> It has worked fine ever since.
>
>
> 73 - Jim K8MR
>
>
>> On Mar 9, 2017, at 8:54 AM, Dennis <[hidden email]> wrote:
>>
>> In the middle of ARRL DX CW, my K3 stopped transmitting. It did not shut off, it
>> would go into transmit and there were small flickers in ALC when the meter was in
>> that position, but no power out. Pushing the TUNE button resulted in the display
>> saying "0 watts". I played with it for several minutes, was unsuccessful in restoring
>> any transmit capability, so subbed in the replacement rig and kept going.
>>
>> I brought my K3 home, plugged it in, connected a key and a dummy load, and it
>> transmitted perfectly. No problems. I've used it about 3 hours since, and there
>> have been no problems.
>>
>> First question, what could have happened to result in the no transmit state?
>> I will be using my K3 again this weekend in a contest. If the problem
>> happens again, what possible problems should I be looking for? Loose/
>> intermittent cable attached to the synthesizer?
>>
>> Dennis W1UE
>>

George Thornton

Re: K3 Stops Transmitting

I had something somewhat similar happen and the best I could tell it was related to power supply issues. Now I use thicker wire direct from the power supply to the K3 and it so far seems to be working better.

An advertised way to fix it is to re-load the firmware and recalibrate the transmit power.

From: Elecraft [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Dennis
Sent: Thursday, March 9, 2017 6:41 AM
To: Jim Stahl <[hidden email]>
Cc: Reflector Elecraft <[hidden email]>
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 Stops Transmitting

I did try the "drop" test- hold up the front of the radio a little bit,
and then drop it so that it contacts the table.
Kinda shake things up a bit. No luck. When I also brought it home, I
put it in the case, drove it 72 miles
back to my house, brought it in, and set it up 2 days later. So it was
jostled fairly good. As I say, when I got
it home it worked, and has worked, fine.

Dennis W1UE

On 3/9/2017 9:10 AM, Jim Stahl wrote:

> I had a similar event last October in the New York QSO Party with my K3, s/n67xx. After the first QSO (from a beautiful overlook in Fort Tryon Park in Manhattan) it simply stopped putting out RF. It went into transmit, just no RF. I tried power cycling, jiggling external connectors, etc. After about 10 minutes, and about one minute before giving up for the contest, while moving things around I unintentionally snapped the front bail, and things snapped back to life.
>
> It has worked fine ever since.
>
>
> 73 - Jim K8MR
>
>
>> On Mar 9, 2017, at 8:54 AM, Dennis <[hidden email]><mailto:[hidden email]%3e> wrote:
>>
>> In the middle of ARRL DX CW, my K3 stopped transmitting. It did not shut off, it
>> would go into transmit and there were small flickers in ALC when the meter was in
>> that position, but no power out. Pushing the TUNE button resulted in the display
>> saying "0 watts". I played with it for several minutes, was unsuccessful in restoring
>> any transmit capability, so subbed in the replacement rig and kept going.
>>
>> I brought my K3 home, plugged it in, connected a key and a dummy load, and it
>> transmitted perfectly. No problems. I've used it about 3 hours since, and there
>> have been no problems.
>>
>> First question, what could have happened to result in the no transmit state?
>> I will be using my K3 again this weekend in a contest. If the problem
>> happens again, what possible problems should I be looking for? Loose/
>> intermittent cable attached to the synthesizer?
>>
>> Dennis W1UE
>>

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________________________________
______________________________________________________________
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Bob Wilson, N6TV

Re: K3 Stops Transmitting

In reply to this post by Dennis Egan

No TX power is a common problem, especially on DXpeditions. Other than
power supply issues, it is usually one of three things:

1. Intending to use the BAND button, one holds down the right MODE
button by mistake, putting the K3 into TX TEST mode. The "TX" icon
flashes. But, since you reported that the TUNE button flashes "0 watts"
instead of flashing "TX TEST", it's probably something else in this case.
2. CONFIG:TX INH is set to LO=Inh (visible only when CONFIG:TECH MD is
ON). CONFIG:TX INH should be OFF unless you're using a lockout circuit that
depends on the inhibit line. A "floating" pin 10 on the ACC port can cause
TX to be intermittently inhibited when CONFIG:TX INH is set to LO=INh.
When TX is inhibited, the K3 will display "0 Watts" when you press the TUNE
button. The "TX" indicator also flashes when the rig is inhibited, similar
to TX TEST mode.
3. The most likely cause, which I've seen many times, is that the jumper
board connecting the subreceiver to the main board in the back left side of
the K3 has partially pulled out. This happens almost every time a K3 is
subject to any kind of strong mechanical stress, such as transport in
checked luggage. Make sure the SubRx is firmly seated and the problem
should disappear. If you don't have a SubRx, there's still a jumper board
that must be in place in the same spot.

73,
Bob, N6TV

On Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 6:38 AM, Dennis <[hidden email]> wrote:

> First thing I did- and the first thing I do whenever I have any funny
> happen- is to cycle power. I did so
> several times. It still wouldn't transmit.
>
> UE
>
> On 3/9/2017 9:00 AM, Ed Muns wrote:
>
>> When it was not transmitting and you were troubleshooting, did you cycle
>> power?
>>
>> 73,
>> Ed W0YK
>>
>> On Mar 9, 2017 5:54 AM, Dennis <[hidden email]> wrote:
>>
>>> In the middle of ARRL DX CW, my K3 stopped transmitting. It did not
>>> shut off, it
>>> would go into transmit and there were small flickers in ALC when the
>>> meter was in
>>> that position, but no power out. Pushing the TUNE button resulted in
>>> the display
>>> saying "0 watts". I played with it for several minutes, was
>>> unsuccessful in restoring
>>> any transmit capability, so subbed in the replacement rig and kept going.
>>>
>>> I brought my K3 home, plugged it in, connected a key and a dummy load,
>>> and it
>>> transmitted perfectly. No problems. I've used it about 3 hours since,
>>> and there
>>> have been no problems.
>>>
>>> First question, what could have happened to result in the no transmit
>>> state?
>>> I will be using my K3 again this weekend in a contest. If the problem
>>> happens again, what possible problems should I be looking for? Loose/
>>> intermittent cable attached to the synthesizer?
>>>
>>> Dennis W1UE
>>>
>>> ______________________________________________________________
>>> 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]
>>>
>>
> ______________________________________________________________
> 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]
>

Bob Wilson, N6TV

Re: K3 Stops Transmitting

Correction to Item 2. I meant to write "A floating *PIN 7* (TX INH) can
cause TX to be intermittently inhibited..."

73,
Bob, N6TV

On Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 6:50 PM, Bob Wilson, N6TV <[hidden email]> wrote:

> No TX power is a common problem, especially on DXpeditions. Other than
> power supply issues, it is usually one of three things:
>
> 1. Intending to use the BAND button, one holds down the right MODE
> button by mistake, putting the K3 into TX TEST mode. The "TX" icon
> flashes. But, since you reported that the TUNE button flashes "0 watts"
> instead of flashing "TX TEST", it's probably something else in this case.
> 2. CONFIG:TX INH is set to LO=Inh (visible only when CONFIG:TECH MD is
> ON). CONFIG:TX INH should be OFF unless you're using a lockout circuit that
> depends on the inhibit line. A "floating" pin 10 on the ACC port can cause
> TX to be intermittently inhibited when CONFIG:TX INH is set to LO=INh.
> When TX is inhibited, the K3 will display "0 Watts" when you press the TUNE
> button. The "TX" indicator also flashes when the rig is inhibited, similar
> to TX TEST mode.
> 3. The most likely cause, which I've seen many times, is that the
> jumper board connecting the subreceiver to the main board in the back left
> side of the K3 has partially pulled out. This happens almost every time a
> K3 is subject to any kind of strong mechanical stress, such as transport in
> checked luggage. Make sure the SubRx is firmly seated and the problem
> should disappear. If you don't have a SubRx, there's still a jumper board
> that must be in place in the same spot.
>
> 73,
> Bob, N6TV
>
> On Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 6:38 AM, Dennis <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
>> First thing I did- and the first thing I do whenever I have any funny
>> happen- is to cycle power. I did so
>> several times. It still wouldn't transmit.
>>
>> UE
>>
>> On 3/9/2017 9:00 AM, Ed Muns wrote:
>>
>>> When it was not transmitting and you were troubleshooting, did you cycle
>>> power?
>>>
>>> 73,
>>> Ed W0YK
>>>
>>> On Mar 9, 2017 5:54 AM, Dennis <[hidden email]> wrote:
>>>
>>>> In the middle of ARRL DX CW, my K3 stopped transmitting. It did not
>>>> shut off, it
>>>> would go into transmit and there were small flickers in ALC when the
>>>> meter was in
>>>> that position, but no power out. Pushing the TUNE button resulted in
>>>> the display
>>>> saying "0 watts". I played with it for several minutes, was
>>>> unsuccessful in restoring
>>>> any transmit capability, so subbed in the replacement rig and kept
>>>> going.
>>>>
>>>> I brought my K3 home, plugged it in, connected a key and a dummy load,
>>>> and it
>>>> transmitted perfectly. No problems. I've used it about 3 hours since,
>>>> and there
>>>> have been no problems.
>>>>
>>>> First question, what could have happened to result in the no transmit
>>>> state?
>>>> I will be using my K3 again this weekend in a contest. If the problem
>>>> happens again, what possible problems should I be looking for? Loose/
>>>> intermittent cable attached to the synthesizer?
>>>>
>>>> Dennis W1UE
>>>>
>>>> ______________________________________________________________
>>>> 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]
>>>>
>>>
>> ______________________________________________________________
>> 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]
>>
>
>