When fitting the connectors to the K3, make sure it seats solidly when the jackscrews are tightened.
Fellows have reported that some *commercially-made* connectors have jackscrews that are too long. They "bottom out" in the nuts before the connector pins are fully mated resulting in intermittent connections! It has not happened often enough to identify particular makes or sources, as far as I know. I'm aware of two instances that have been reported, both from fellows using commercially made connectors. The problem is pretty easy to spot. The connector should be tight and solid against the rig after the screws are tightened. Those that do not fit properly allow the connector shell to wiggle around even though the screws won't go in any further. At least one fellow creates some small washers from wire and wrapped them under the thumbscrew heads so the screws wouldn't extend quite so far in to the nuts on the mating connector. That fixed it for him. I understand one other succeeded by removing the lock washers under the jackscrew nuts on the back of his K3. The connectors supplied by Elecraft for the Aux Bus cables used in the transverters and K2 are fine, *IF* the jackscrews are installed correctly! Of course, those fit the RS232 connector on the K3, not the ACC connector. It's easy to put the jackscrews between the wrong two stops inside the connector shell resulting in the same problem: too much screw sticks out and it bottoms in the nut before the connectors are fully mated. If you have one of those that seems loose, there's a picture in the XV transverter Owner's Manual showing exactly how the jackscrews should be installed (figure 6 on page 10). That manual is available on-line from the Elecraft Manuals and Downloads page or here: http://www.elecraft.com/manual/XV%20Transverter%20Owner's%20Manual-D.pdf Ron AC7AC _______________________________________________ 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
