[Elecraft] K3: Power output low on 30 meter band

[Phil Hystad]

Since putting together my K3 two weeks ago I had a chance to try it out on 30 meters today.  I tuned up my delta loop to 10 meters and then noticed that the power was low.  I thought that maybe my meters were reading funny or something funny about the antenna so I switched over to my Icom 756 Pro III to try the same antenna.  It was dead on with a 1.1:1 SWR on the same frequency of 10.106 MHz.  And, the meters for the Pro III were reading about 101 watts output (two different meters).

So I switched the antenna back to the K3 and checked the SWR and it was about the same, 1.2:1 for the same frequency.  But, the power output is only about 65 watts even though the power adjust knob reads 100 watts.  I tried different readings and about 55 watts, the external meter power output starts to flatten out compared to the digital readout of the power on the K3 (the external meter is an LP-100A).

All other bands show good power output.

Any hints?  

73, phil, K7PEH