I agree that sounds like a pretty good test..... The K3 is a PHENOMENAL radio and I'm very familiar with things breaking in their infancy. I'm just hoping that the kinks are very well buried when it comes back. Appreciate the tips on what you did....
On Fri, 2008-07-04 at 09:25 -0400, John King wrote: > Disclaimer - the following test method is not approved or > sanctioned by Elecraft. Conduct any testing at your own risk. > > I work in Quality Assurance in my day job (30 years and counting.) > > Long before FD I performed a 24 hour endurance test on my K3 > to approximate worst-case FD conditions. I recorded a CQ FD message > similar to the actual message we would be using at FD into one of > the K3's message memories, then set the message repeat time to > minimum. The K3's output power was set to 120 Watts and the rig > was connected to a 50 ohm dummy load with a Bird thruline wattmeter > in line. The DC input voltage was set to 13.5 volts. The test was > performed at ambient room temp, about 24 degrees C. The K3 sent > the continuous message loop for a 24 hour period without incident. > > The actual environmental conditions at our FD were a bit more > severe than the test conditions above. The K3 was operated in a > 4-man dome tent exposed to full sun with an outside air temp > approaching 90 degrees. We didn't measure the actual temperature > inside the tent, but my informal assessment was "hot as hell." > Of course, the transmit duty cycle in actual FD use was less > demanding than the test duty cycle. I had high confidence that > the K3 would be up to the task, and it was. > > I'm sorry to hear about your failure at FD. I have heard no other > reports of FD failures, and to my knowledge the VP6DX crew had > no failures during their operation earlier this year. It may be > of small comfort to you, but I regard your failure as an anomaly > - stuff happens. Overall, the K3 is establishing a reputation as > a very reliable field rig. > > > 73, > john WA1ABI > > > > > > > > > > Has anyone done a burn in on their radios to test? They rate to 100W > > 100% duty cycle for 10 minutes. I'm sure there is quite a bit of > > headroom in that too. Has anyone tested to that? Do any of the > > Elecraft guys object to that type of testing? > > > > I had a strange failure at FD this year and worry that unless I do a > > burn in like that once it gets back that my normal amount of operation > > will take quite a while to emulate what the rig saw during field day. > > > > _______________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > You must be a subscriber to post to the list. > Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm > Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
