[Elecraft] Calibration of K3 wattmeter

[Ed Gray W0SD]

I must not be to sharp today because I read the manual and read a bunch 
of e-mails on the reflector and could not get the K3 power reading to 
calibrate against my Bird watt meter.

The manual on Page 46 says "ADJUST THE MENU PARAMETER".  Well I first 
thought that meant VFO knob A but I turned it and seen no change.  I 
tried the power knob setting but that was a dead end. I could not come 
up with anything else to try so I finally wrote Gary at tech support and 
here is what he said:

When in WMTP LP or WMTR HP and you press TUNE,  turning the VFO A knob 
counterclockwise for smaller numbers in the LCD will result in more RF 
output on an external wattmeter. Turning the VFO A knob the opposite way 
will decrease the actual RF output.   The change per 3 digit count in 
the menu is small, so you may need to turn the VFO A knob quite a bit to 
see much change in the actual RF output on the external wattmeter. This 
adjustment should be done with the K3 set to the 20m band. This 
calibration is done while you are in the WMTR menu *and* you then press 
TUNE.

The key is you have to turn VFO knob A quite a ways.  When I did not see 
a response right away I assumed I was not following the correct 
procedure when in fact I was.  Anyway now my watt meter and the K3 read 
the same.  I am pretty confident the Bird is correct as I have several 
watt meters and elements and they agree very closely.  BTW the K3 was 
not off a lot.  It was 45 watts when the Bird said 50 watts so about 10%.

I thought is would share my lack of being sharp today in case others 
suffer from not spinning the knob on VFO A long enough like I did.

Ed W0SD