[Elecraft] K3 Birdies

[Mike Scott]

>Still, I'm wondering if this is normal behavior, or whether all these 
>birdies might be a symptom of something else out of whack.  Comments 
>appreciated.

Dave, just thinking out loud about birdies...
I have a few birdies myself but because I live in a noisy environment they
don't bother me. I would love to have an S-1 to S-3 noise floor but alas I
don't.

I am wondering that since cable placement is critical there must be common
mode pick up coupling back into the unbalanced circuits at either end of the
cables. This is probably much the same as a coaxial feed line picking up
local noise and coupling that noise back into the antenna because the
antenna has become unbalanced for any myriad of reasons.

The traditional way of addressing antenna common-mode pick up due to
unbalance is to use common mode chokes. I don't know if TMP cables could be
dressed with bead chokes of say #31 or #47 ferrite and obtain enough common
mode impedance but it might be worth a try.

Mike Scott - AE6WA
Tarzana, CA (DM04 / near LA)
K3-100 #508/ KX1  #1311