I purchased an assembled K3 because I didn't want to do the whole assembly project because of problems that I have with doing a lot of close work. I'm experienced with electronics repair in general, having operated service facilities for industrial instrumentation and having always repaired my ham radio equipment. Since the purchase, I've done the following:
1. Fixed a band pass filter problem caused by a semi-defective trimmer capacitor which caused low drive on 30 meters. The capacitor had a sticky point and was repaired by turning it several times after unsticking it with a screwdriver, sturdier than an alignment tool and setting it to the other side of the capacitor. I had consulted Elecraft and got trouble shooting advice from them. Elecraft service suggested returning it to them but I preferred to do it myself. The troubleshooting process also involved removing the antenna tuner and installing some jumpers which I subsequently removed as the tuner 8 MHz trap turned out to not be the problem. Troubleshooting also involved performing some calibration tests and measuring signal levels on the KXV3 although those turned out to be unnecessary steps. 2. Installed two filters which was a trivial excercise. 3. Installed the K44XV and exchanged the KXV3A which was necessary for the transverter installation. I also installed two more filters at the same time. 4. Installed an exchange dsp board, the K3DSPUPGD upgrade, which was quite straight forward.* *The most difficult part of these upgrades and repair was getting the two meter IF and antenna cables plugged back into the transverter. So, even if you purchase an assembled K3, you can do repairs and upgrades yourself and have email and telephone support as needed. The K3 instructions are explicit and quite adequate, even if you didn't build it from a kit first. If you take reasonable care and follow the instructions, you can avoid shipping and waiting. * *Dunc, W5DC Ed Lambert wrote: > As a prospective K3 customer, I have been following this link with very > great interest. I would be interested in knowing what percent of K3 > deliveries require return to Elecraft for repair and of that cohort, what is > the percentage of K3's that were fundamentally defective upon delivery as > opposed to damaged by customer (mis)use. > > For me the weakness of the K3 is the (probably necessary) departure from the > "kit model" of the rest of the Elecraft line where self repair is the order > of the day. The repair of a K3, it seems to me, almost certainly requires a > factory return, which, from this thread, is somewhat unappealing. > > I am interested further discussion on this thread in order to help me > determine whether my very limited funds go toward a K3 purchase or the > purchase of a second, but "fully tricked out", K2/100. > > Ed Lambert, KD3Y (K2 1999, KX1 1492) > > > ______________________________________________________________ > 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 > > ______________________________________________________________ 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
