I meant to say that I ran into Eric, not Wayne. Wayne is pretty talented, but probably not so gifted that he can be in two places at once...
Ken On Jul 26, 2012, at 2:04 PM, Ken Lopez wrote: > Thomas, > > The first KXPD3 I got with my rig was behaving very erratically, dropping > dits or dahs at random, and often locking up and sending strings of dahs or > dits, even after many adjustments. Maddening. > > After I made my comments on the reflector, Wayne sent a private email > suggesting that I have Customer Service send me a new one for exchange so > that they could analyze mine. Moments later, Howard from CS contacted me and > suggested the same. > > Yesterday I took advantage of the fact that Im in Monterey for a week, only > 20 minutes from Watsonville. I dropped my four year old K3 off for the > hardware updates and to add a KXV3a for a soon to be ordered P3. The K3 had > never left the desk top in four years, and works flawlessly. > > At the same time, I met with Howard of CS to examine and exchange KXPD3 > paddles. Mine was behaving badly, and Howard took it apart and made some > changes and adjustments. It was better, but still dropping dits. > > The new KXPD3 is quite a bit better so far. I have only had a short time to > test it, but it does seem like an improvement. I know they are working on > solving the issues with the paddles, so I'll be patient and wait for the > "ultimate solution", whatever that may be. I know they are looking at > contacts, and other issues to solve the problems. > > Thanks to Wayne for being so attentive, and Howard for the service help and > swap. Also, thanks to Dale, who is tackling my K3 and trying to have it > ready before I return to LA. As an added bonus, I ran into Wayne in the > hallway. I hadn't spoken to him in a while, and that was a pleasant > interlude. > > All in all, a rewarding visit. And I'll be back in a bit to pick up the K3 > if all goes well. > > Thanks Elecraft! > > Ken N6TZV > > > On Jul 24, 2012, at 10:39 AM, Thomas Horsten wrote: > >> Ken, >> >> I'm a bit sorry to (mostly) agree with your points. The Elecraft folks are >> certainly better rig designers than key makers. I'll say that the paddle is >> usable up to maybe 25 WPM and above that it becomes too erratic. The contact >> spacing needs to be far wider than what I'm comfortable with to avoid >> spurious contact, and it needs to be beaten much harder than what I'm used >> to. >> >> On the other hand comparing it to my Begali Sculpture is not fair. But I did >> write to Piero and ask if he'd make a paddle for the KX3, this was before >> the posts in this group, and he replied that he already was working on a >> prototype - I'm already signed up for it. But it would be nice if the >> Elecraft key could be modified to make it a little better with close contact >> spacing. Not sure if it's doable, but I'm open to any suggestions. >> >> So far, I'm planning to try rounding the contact screws like suggested by >> Wayne, and clean them up with DeOxit. Let's see how far that goes towards >> helping this issue. As I haven't been able to do more portable than back >> garden operations (weather only turned good this weekend!), so far I've >> mostly taken my Begali Sculpture out in the garden with me, but it won't be >> going with me on longer trips. >> >> 73, Thomas M0TRN >> >> >> On 24 July 2012 18:17, Ken Lopez <[email protected]> wrote: >> Steve, and All, >> >> I have similar problems with my KXPD3. This little paddle is cute and >> ingenious. >> But it drives me crazy! >> I've adjusted, changed springs, adjusted, fiddled, disassembled it, cleaned >> contacts. >> NOTHING seems to fix the generally clunky and inaccurate sending, random >> dits or dah strings, etc. >> The KXPD3 has less finesse than my 1962 Vibroplex Bug, and needs as much >> spacing and force to operate. >> >> I'm fed up with it. I'll be using my Palm paddles until Begali makes their >> Adventurer paddles available. >> >> Ken N6TZV >> > ______________________________________________________________ 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
