[Elecraft] K3: spurious CW T/R switching while VOX off

[Mario Lorenz]

Hi,

I have brought my K3 to our local club station to see how the K3
would play within a contest setting. We use the external T/R
output to control various things, like the PA.

What I noticed is that in CW mode, with VOX/QSK to OFF, when
accidentally hitting the paddle, the T/R and all the other connected
relays would spring into "full-qsk-style" action, ie. activate for
each single dot (with PTT/XMit not pressed). No HF is being generated.

Normal behaviour (with any other radio) would be no action at all -
Since the K3 Manual says that when VOX is not active, one MUST either
push PTT or the XMIT button to transmit, I regarded this behaviour as
an error and duly reported it to Elecraft.

Thats what I received as an answer:

"We hashed this out for months in our focus group. This is the behavior
 that  probably 90% of our customers prefer. But I've noted it for a possible
 future menu entry."

I'm now somewhat at a loss. I absolutely cannot imagine any possible
reason why someone would want the T/R switch when accidentally hitting
the CW paddle, and thus also cannot see why this would need to be
configurable (since menu entries, as was explained earlier, are a limited
resource).

Hello "focus group", as it obviously was a hot topic in some
discussions, would you mind sharing even one single use case in favour
of this behaviour ?

Mario

-- 
Mario Lorenz                            Internet:    <ml at vdazone.org>
                                        Ham Radio:   DL5MLO at DB0ERF.#THR.DEU.EU
Remember: In god we trust -- all others we polygraph.
  -- Jim Christy, Assistant for law enforcement, US Air Force