[Elecraft] Spurious

[N4CW at aol.com]

I became aware of the problem last summer while in Maine. I was on 6-Meter  
CW and K1DG/N1LI gave me a quick call and asked me to QSY to fone. So I did 
and  he asked me what rig I was using; I told him the K3.
Then he told me I had sidebands. It took us a while to find the cause: I  
was operating in "casual" mode and using the K3's internal speaker. What we  
found out was that the problem disappeared when I turned the monitor volume 
down  to nothing! ...but it's hard for me to send CW that way, especially 
with a  paddle and the internal keyer... Then I found out that the problem 
went away if  I used my headphones...so that was the workaround.
 
I called Elecraft support on it and they verified that the problem exists  
and that they're working on it. What was news to me (I should have read the  
manual!!!) was that the CW is generated on the DSP board and that the 
speaker  accoustically couples to the board. This is supposed to be minimized by 
the  mounting washers on the speaker, so I disassembled the speaker on the 
top cover  and reassembled it, being diligent to insure the washers were 
properly located,  etc. per the assembly instructions.
 
For good measure/insurance, I've used external speakers or headphones ever  
since. 
 
But, you know, there are situations where operators would probably use the  
K3's internal speaker, such as demonstrating the rig to visiting hams or at 
 Field Day, or some such thing. That might not be good publicity if a 
returning  station or two came back and said "Shut it off...you're polluting the 
band!",  and they were right! 
 
Like Wayne said, they're working on it.
 
Bert, N4CW