Re: Mysterious intermittent failure possibly related to power supply?

[George Thornton]

I have been having some mostly transmission issues that I suspect might be related to the power supply.

The issue is intermittent failure of the K3 to generate full power on transmit.  It operated fine for an hour or two at Field Day but suddenly we were QRP on my k3/100.  No error messages, just would not deliver full power.

When I got home I was told to re-install firmware and calibrate transmitter.  Did that and everything worked fine again.

Yesterday while working on getting a new installation of PACTOR running I got an ERR DSE message which is solved by, again, re-installing firmware and DSP.  Again, it ran after the K3's software was refreshed.

From what I have seen errors like this could be traced to erratic power supply issues.

My power supply is a 15 year old Astron RS-35M.  I adjusted the operating voltage up a bit as I am also using a PWRGate PG40s to mediate charging of some gel cell storage batteries.  I usually leave the Astron on all the time.

My K3 is currently wired direct to the Astron with heavier gauge wiring so I am getting power direct from the Astron with no mediation through batteries or the PWRGate.

Anybody have any thoughts to what might be going on?

I have a K3 in the 3900 serial number range, running latest (non-beta) firmware.  K3 has most of the bells and whistles including sub receiver and has been upgraded with the new synthesizers.
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[Ken G Kopp]

George,

Does your K3 have the gold PA pin upgrade?

Are the nuts on the filter cap studs that mount the circuit board tight?

73

K0PP
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[George Thornton]

The long history was that a few years ago I lent the rig for Field Day use and something unknown went wrong.  There was a nut that came loose inside the rig and there might have been a short circuit somewhere.

The rig was sent back to Elecraft for diagnosis and repair and it was fully worked over including all the mods including gold pins.  It came back fine and I did not open the case between then and this year's Field Day power transmit failure.

After Field Day I re-flashed the firmware and recalibrated transmit and it worked fine again although it did not get heavy use as my main antenna was down for servicing.

The synthesizers were upgraded about two weeks ago without a problem.



From: Ken G Kopp [mailto:[hidden email]]
Sent: Sunday, September 4, 2016 8:42 AM
To: George Thornton <[hidden email]>; [hidden email]
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Mysterious intermittent failure possibly related to power supply?


George,

Does your K3 have the gold PA pin upgrade?

Are the nuts on the filter cap studs that mount the circuit board tight?

73

K0PP

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[Phil Wheeler-2]

Ah, yes: "Lent the rig for Field Day use". I did
that only when I could be there and could watch
such things closely.

My only loss was a sledgehammer I loaned. It came
back "repaired" with duct tape, and totally
useless. I've kept it that way and a reminder
about the risk of loaning things for use at Field
Day :-)

73, Phil W7OX

On 9/4/16 9:12 AM, George Thornton wrote:

> The long history was that a few years ago I lent the rig for Field Day use and something unknown went wrong.  There was a nut that came loose inside the rig and there might have been a short circuit somewhere.
>
> The rig was sent back to Elecraft for diagnosis and repair and it was fully worked over including all the mods including gold pins.  It came back fine and I did not open the case between then and this year's Field Day power transmit failure.
>
> After Field Day I re-flashed the firmware and recalibrated transmit and it worked fine again although it did not get heavy use as my main antenna was down for servicing.
>
> The synthesizers were upgraded about two weeks ago without a problem.
>
>
>
> From: Ken G Kopp [mailto:[hidden email]]
> Sent: Sunday, September 4, 2016 8:42 AM
> To: George Thornton <[hidden email]>; [hidden email]
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Mysterious intermittent failure possibly related to power supply?
>
>
> George,
>
> Does your K3 have the gold PA pin upgrade?
>
> Are the nuts on the filter cap studs that mount the circuit board tight?
>
> 73
>
> K0PP

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[Rose]

George,

I shudda been more clear and asked if the nuts on the filter
cap studs that hold the circuit board in place atop the caps
inside your Astron are tight.  This is the circuit board with the
output voltage adjustment pot on the bottom that's difficult to
reach> (;-)

73

K0PP

On Sun, Sep 4, 2016 at 10:12 AM, George Thornton <
[hidden email]> wrote:

> The long history was that a few years ago I lent the rig for Field Day use
> and something unknown went wrong.  There was a nut that came loose inside
> the rig and there might have been a short circuit somewhere.
>
> The rig was sent back to Elecraft for diagnosis and repair and it was
> fully worked over including all the mods including gold pins.  It came back
> fine and I did not open the case between then and this year's Field Day
> power transmit failure.
>
> After Field Day I re-flashed the firmware and recalibrated transmit and it
> worked fine again although it did not get heavy use as my main antenna was
> down for servicing.
>
> The synthesizers were upgraded about two weeks ago without a problem.
>
>
>
> From: Ken G Kopp [mailto:[hidden email]]
> Sent: Sunday, September 4, 2016 8:42 AM
> To: George Thornton <[hidden email]>;
> [hidden email]
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Mysterious intermittent failure possibly related
> to power supply?
>
>
> George,
>
> Does your K3 have the gold PA pin upgrade?
>
> Are the nuts on the filter cap studs that mount the circuit board tight?
>
> 73
>
> K0PP
>
> ________________________________
> ______________________________________________________________
> 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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[Bill Frantz]

Sometimes power supply problems become very obvious if you look
at the power supply output with an oscilloscope.

73 Bill AE6JV

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[Gary Smith-2]

Is it possible that you use the auto-tuner at home, some gremlin at
FD pushed the ATU and put it into Bypass or adjusted it for that FD
antenna and it no longer plays nice with your antenna at home, with
the K3 folding back with things not copaesthetic as they were when
you let your baby into the hands of varmits?

Of course if this were the case, you kept a back up of your
configuration so you could restore it to the
"As-left-the-shack-after-being-loaned-out-and-being-returned-to-me"
condition. Yes?

Just a guess, if the tuner is set for something much different than
your home antennas, it'll fold back the power. Check that before
wringing your hands. If not, maybe wringing of hands might help...

Just an Idear,

73,

Gary
KA1J

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