[Elecraft] [K3] Power too high in PSK31 / SSB

[Steve Ward]

"Julian, G4ILO" <julian.g4ilo at gmail.com> writes:

>I have just noticed that my K3 appears to be giving vastly more peak power
>out than the value selected by the power control. I assume that this issue
>has occurred since my loading the version 2.38 production firmware after
>returning from holiday, because I did not have this problem before then.

>The constant carrier power level when TUNE is pressed appears to be correct.
>However in PSK31 mode I am getting almost full scale on the internal meter
>when 40W is dialled up. When the PSK software sends a tune signal (pure
>tone) an external power meter shows about twice the amount of power that has
>been specified. On SSB at 100W the internal meter seems to be at full scale
>most of the time as well.

>Has anyone else experienced this, and what is the solution?

I have noticed that with my setup the power level varies greatly depending on where in the passband I'm transmitting.  In other words if I setup HRD to work a QSO on a lower frequency (say between 800Hz and 1000Hz) I get a much higher indicated power output than if I work at the center (1350Hz) or higher.  I just figured this was due to the frequency response of my soundcard (SignaLink USB) and or the accuracy of the power output meter at different audio frequencies.  I'd appreciate hearing others' thoughts on this too!

Steve
AD7OG
K3 #1544