[Elecraft] K3 wierd action.

[Richard Ferch]

Paul,

The "ERR KEY" message indicates that you have CONFIG:PTT-KEY set to 
something other than OFF-OFF and that either the RTS or the DTR line was 
set "On" at the time you restarted.

This may be related to the intermittent TX problem: I find that when 
using a USB-to-serial adapter for radio control, making changes to other 
USB devices sometimes results in disturbances on these control lines, 
and if I have PTT set to use RTS, I see the radio toggling between RX 
and TX for a few moments at these times. One solution to that is to turn 
CONFIG:PTT-KEY to OFF-OFF and use PTT via software command instead. 
Another is to do PTT and CW (and FSK) keying on a different serial port 
from the one you are using for radio control.

73,
Rich VE3KI

NF8J wrote:
> The last couple of days, on 20 meters, 14.070 in data mode for psk31,
> the TX led lights up intermittently, and the audio make clicking
> sounds. Of course, while watching the waterfall, the traces are
> interupted by the radio going into transmit, and I can not print the
> data on the screen. I am using HRD and DM 780 and have been operating
> for the last yr and a half with no problems. I powered the radio off
> and the power supply off and when turning on the ps and the K3, I get
> an error message on the B vfo line. ERR-Key, and then the banner
> scrolls and the error message goes away. I cannot find in the owners
> manual any reference to "ERR KEY".  When I switch the K3 to the "Test
> Mode", the TX led does not light of course, but the traces continue
> to be interrupted by the radio going into transmit.. As far as I can
> tell, this behavior does not happen in any other mode. The K3 is
> serial # 758 and the firmware is 3.11 and the DSP is 2.15. Anyone
> have a suggestion of something I might check.