K3S no RF at CW

Hi Guys,

My newly built K3S is TXing fine on SSB and SSB+CW but gives only a little RF power with CW or DATA MODE selected. The EE_INIT or reload of DSP 2.88 and upgrade to beta FW ver 5.60 does not help. I cannot find older FW on Elecraft website to check out. The DSP outputs only a very small 15kHz signal in CW MODE. The TUNE and Calibration insert CW carrier and of course fail. TX_ALC off did not help either. Would you have any ideas how to fix this problem?

Thanks,

Marian, WS9M

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Yes, I have VOX enabled and FL1 with BW=2.8kHz is set as TX filter for all modes - no ERR_TXF. The K3S switches from RX to TX, the red TX LED blinks and I can hear my Morse code on another radio when TXing into dummy load. Just output power in CW mode is minuscule to 1 bar on RF indicator, read as 0 or -15 dBm with K3 Utility Calibration. I measured 103 mV pk-pk on 50 Ohm load at ANT1 connector giving 26.7 uW or -15.7 dBm where 12 W should be. CONFIG:KXV3B is NORm. Everything is fine in SSB and SSB+CW mode but not with CW MODE selected.

________________________________
From: [hidden email] <[hidden email]>
Sent: Friday, June 16, 2017 7:17 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: K3S no RF at CW


Hi Guys,

My newly built K3S is TXing fine on SSB and SSB+CW but gives only a little RF power with CW or DATA MODE selected. The EE_INIT or reload of DSP 2.88 and upgrade to beta FW ver 5.60 does not help. I cannot find older FW on Elecraft website to check out. The DSP outputs only a very small 15kHz signal in CW MODE. The TUNE and Calibration insert CW carrier and of course fail. TX_ALC off did not help either. Would you have any ideas how to fix this problem?

Thanks,

Marian, WS9M

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No, the TXTEST is not enabled and TX indicator is not flashing, The power level is set well above zero to 5 ,10 or 12 W. I tried DATA as FSK-Direct and PSK-Direct. With AFSK, feeding soundcard output to SSB modulator, I suppose DATA would work.

The problem appeared first as inability to calibrate. K3 Utility commanded K3S to RF power 5 W and radio responded with RF output power 0 W. TUNE was giving also 0 W RF power.

Then I set 2-Tone on and in SSB mode I got RF power as set with PWR knob. After setting MH-2 mic bias on and 2-Tone off I was able to transmit SSB to a dummy load. After setting SSB+CW I was able to transmit CW full power (12W) to dummy load in SSB mode.

With MODE set to CW or CW-R the RF power is still at 1 bar even with VOX on and PWR knob set well above zero  to 5, 10 W. TUNE gives two dashes ("- -") on main VFO  frequency display and "0.0 W" on VFO-B. RF power and K3 Utility is still unable to calibrate. TX_INHibit is set to off. I can hear my Morse code on another radio, but the RF power is very low.

I am afraid some solder joint around DSP might have failed during the bumpy UPS truck ride on old Route 66 from California to New York.

________________________________
From: [hidden email] <[hidden email]>
Sent: Saturday, June 17, 2017 1:21 AM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: K3S no RF at CW


Yes, I have VOX enabled and FL1 with BW=2.8kHz is set as TX filter for all modes - no ERR_TXF. The K3S switches from RX to TX, the red TX LED blinks and I can hear my Morse code on another radio when TXing into dummy load. Just output power in CW mode is minuscule to 1 bar on RF indicator, read as 0 or -15 dBm with K3 Utility Calibration. I measured 103 mV pk-pk on 50 Ohm load at ANT1 connector giving 26.7 uW or -15.7 dBm where 12 W should be. CONFIG:KXV3B is NORm. Everything is fine in SSB and SSB+CW mode but not with CW MODE selected.

________________________________
From: [hidden email] <[hidden email]>
Sent: Friday, June 16, 2017 7:17 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: K3S no RF at CW


Hi Guys,

My newly built K3S is TXing fine on SSB and SSB+CW but gives only a little RF power with CW or DATA MODE selected. The EE_INIT or reload of DSP 2.88 and upgrade to beta FW ver 5.60 does not help. I cannot find older FW on Elecraft website to check out. The DSP outputs only a very small 15kHz signal in CW MODE. The TUNE and Calibration insert CW carrier and of course fail. TX_ALC off did not help either. Would you have any ideas how to fix this problem?

Thanks,

Marian, WS9M

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[Don Wilhelm]

Marian,

I think you need to contact [hidden email] about this if you
have not already.  Perhaps they will have some additional things you can
try.

Since you have have already tried EEINIT there is little that we can
offer in addition as K3 users.

Unfortunately, they will not be available until Monday, and will have to
wade through a lot of support email Monday - patience is a virtue.  They
are running short-staffed at the moment.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 6/17/2017 11:35 AM, [hidden email] wrote:
> No, the TXTEST is not enabled and TX indicator is not flashing, The power level is set well above zero to 5 ,10 or 12 W. I tried DATA as FSK-Direct and PSK-Direct. With AFSK, feeding soundcard output to SSB modulator, I suppose DATA would work.
>
> The problem appeared first as inability to calibrate. K3 Utility commanded K3S to RF power 5 W and radio responded with RF output power 0 W. TUNE was giving also 0 W RF power.
>
> Then I set 2-Tone on and in SSB mode I got RF power as set with PWR knob. After setting MH-2 mic bias on and 2-Tone off I was able to transmit SSB to a dummy load. After setting SSB+CW I was able to transmit CW full power (12W) to dummy load in SSB mode.
>
> With MODE set to CW or CW-R the RF power is still at 1 bar even with VOX on and PWR knob set well above zero  to 5, 10 W. TUNE gives two dashes ("- -") on main VFO  frequency display and "0.0 W" on VFO-B. RF power and K3 Utility is still unable to calibrate. TX_INHibit is set to off. I can hear my Morse code on another radio, but the RF power is very low.
>
> I am afraid some solder joint around DSP might have failed during the bumpy UPS truck ride on old Route 66 from California to New York.
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I sent few emails and talked to David at Elecraft twice last week. He suggested probing RF at 2nd TX Mixer, which confirmed 0 RF on CW and full RF power on SSB.
I found out that on KREF3 board the high insertion loss >45dB of the wide-band TX crystal filter activated only in CW MODE caused the 0 CW RF Power.  Probably some of the crystal leads inside the can detached during transport. I bypassed it temporarily by turning the relay on as it is in SSB mode with thin wire between pins 2 and 4 of the KREF3 module. The K3S power calibrated then as expected. The filter could be there for extra purity of CW signal, so I will have to exchange the module for a good one.
I would like to extend my gratitude also to W, G and OM hams who helped me solve this problem with their personal emails.
73,
Marian, WS9M
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