Elecraft K3 Assembly Manual - Manual (Page 70)

69
Test and Calibration
It’s time to apply power! In the following tests and procedures you will check out and calibrate essential
functions of your basic K3. You must complete these procedures before operating your K3 at low power or
before installing a KPA3 100-watt power amplifier option.
Have your K3 Owner’s Manual handy. Detailed procedures are in your Owner’s Manual where you can find
them easily in the future if you need them.
YOUR K3 WILL NOT OPERATE, OR WILL NOT OPERATE CORRECTLY, until
you complete the Test and Calibration procedures below, including:
Synthesizer Calibration.
Filter Setup (all five procedures listed for each filter installed).
Reference Oscillator Calibration.
TX Gain Calibration on all bands.
Using Tap/Hold Switches: Most K3 switches have two functions. Tapping activates the function labeled on
the switch. Holding (~1/2 sec.) activates the function labeled beneath the switch.
Initial Power Checks
Connect your 13.8 VDC nominal (11-15 VDC) power supply to the red and black 12VDC IN connector on
the back of your K3. Don’t connect anything else to your rig until instructed to do so.
On the front panel, tap P O W E R to turn the K3 on. The LCD display should illuminate as it did before. It
will probably show an error message, e.g. ERR PLL or ERR PL1 . This is normal! It is reporting that the
synthesizer has not been calibrated. Tap D I S P (display) to clear the error message. Other error messages may
follow, depending upon which modules you have installed, indicating that they have not been initialized yet.
Press display until you have cleared the error messages.
Always turn your K3 off by pressing the P O W E R button. Removing DC power while the K3 is
on can, on rare occasions, result in corrupted data in the EEPROM requiring you to reload the
firmware.