As Don suggested, you should email k3support(at)elecraft.com ASAP. However, you probably want to DO something. I would look for a screw length being wrong. If the K3 has been moved, this may have re-aligned everything so that some net is grounded to the chassis that shouldn't be. An incorrect screw length can cause this.
If the rig hasn't been moved around much, this is a less likely cause but still may exist and be worth looking for. The last one of these that I worked on (about a month back) grounded out the synthesizer, somewhere on the PCBA, that caused it to go intermittent. Complete disassembly revealed the problem, but this also required measuring all the screw lengths. The ham that did the building felt foolish, but was also relieved there wasn't any damage. He went home with all the subassemblies in ESD bags, in a box, and all the hardware bagged and tagged. The he spent another fun couple of days rebuilding the K3 (he actually liked this part). The K3 is almost impossible to kill. No worries. And YES, it could be a component or subsystem failure, but look for the obvious errors first. If you weren't the builder and Elecraft built the K3, the above scenario is extremely unlikely, but there is always a small possibility the screw length thing is the problem. 73, matt W6NIA K3 #24 On Mon, 11 Jul 2011 11:49:52 -0600, you wrote: >Anybody have any ideas? I took the bottom rear cover off and don't see >anything. It looks like it will be a chore to get to it from the top. > >Nothing plugged in except the power cable. ERR PTT anytime it is turned on. >One more thing, the last few days, the CW key would NOT work at all, paddle >still OK. Tested on another radio and the key and cable are just fine. > >Not that it has turned to a solid problem, I see that it was causing my >previous intermittent problems as well. When I turned it on, it would do >repeated short transmit "pulses" all just a partial second each and random >and not of any significant length to start. I thought it was being caused >my the P3 as it would generally stop when I turned it off. but all was OK >after maybe 20 or 30 seconds as it slowed and then quit. I usually turned it >to test tx as quickly as I could and started it with the dummy load selected >anyway. > >Nothing was changed that I can remember and nothing at all had been done >recently, not even the recent updates for the past 2? months. I downloaded >the updates and installed them and then a couple of days later, it turned >solid but I think the intermittent problems I had been having were actually >the same problem and it probably was not being caused by the P3. > > > >______________________________________________________________ >Elecraft mailing list >Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft >Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm >Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > >This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net >Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
