About a year ago, when I first got my K3, U1 on the KIO3 board fried during a lightning storm, even though all my antennas and control cables were disconnected. Apparently the damage was caused by EMP on the serial cable. Anyway, $110 later I added a surge protector between the radio and the cable, and swapped the cable for a USB-to-serial adapter, thinking it might reduce the chance of future damage. As suggested by Elecraft, I also started disconnecting from the RS-232 port when a lightning storm was expected.
Well, last Wednesday night I was awakened by thunder and lightning, went back to sleep, and in the morning discovered that I had *not* disconnected the serial cable. In fact, I'd also left the antenna on my QS1R - horrors! The QS1R was OK, as it turned out, but the EMP fried both my USB-to-Serial adapter and the KIO3 - probably U1 again, according to Elecraft, which is sending me the IC so that I can attempt a repair myself. Excellent support, as usual. It does seem, though, that the RS-232 port on the K3 is highly vulnerable - in some 15 years of using radios with serial ports, I had never before disconnected the serial cables, and never had any damage, even when my tower took a direct hit. I have heard that Elecraft is working on a ruggedized version of the KIO3, and wonder - when might it be ready, and will it be a user-performable mod? -- 73, Pete N4ZR The World Contest Station Database, updated daily at www.conteststations.com The Reverse Beacon Network at http://reversebeacon.net, blog at reversebeacon.blogspot.com, spots at telnet.reversebeacon.net, port 7000 ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
