[Elecraft] K3 MCU 4.17 (APF beta) kills SSB output?

[Dave Perry N4QS]

Now I seem to have a real problem.  I did a TX Gain calibration using the K3 
Utility for both 5 and 50 watts.  I worked perfectly and tx gain appeared to 
be right on all bands.  I then did some testing into a dummy load with RTTY. 
I noticed that power would start out at 25 watts and it would take several 
transmissions to get it up to 70  to 100 watts.  So I decided to do a 
wattmeter calibration.  I had selected WMTR LP and was attempting to do the 
5.0 W calibration into a dummy load.  But I could not get the output power 
to change much and after several tries I got a high current reading.  Now I 
can get audio only out of the left side of headphones and when I attempt to 
reselect the WTMR parameter it is no longer there.  The selection in Config 
skips from VFO OFS to XVn ON.  I assume I have blown something out. 
However, I am considering reverting back to MCU version 4.14.  Any other 
suggestions?

Thanks in advance.  I would hate to see the K3 go down right before the SS 
CW weekend.

Dave, N4QS

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dave Perry N4QS" <n4qs at comcast.net>
To: "Nate Bargmann" <n0nb at n0nb.us>; <elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Thursday, November 04, 2010 7:34 PM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 MCU 4.17 (APF beta) kills SSB output?


>I am seeing the same reduction in SSB output power.  I installed 4.17 Beta
> last night.  It appears that the reduced power only occurs when I have APF
> activated.  I have twice restored SSB power by doing the following:  1).
> Changing mode back to CW, 2). Going to Dual PB in Config menu and turning
> APF off, 3). exiting Config menu, 4). changing mode back to SSB.  Power is
> restored back to a full 100 watts.  With APF set to on, SSB power is 
> reduced
> to about 70 watts.  I confirmed this on 17M by repeating the process 
> twice,
> and I then tried 20 M SSB and the power was back to 70 watts (after I had
> turned APF back on.)  Is this a problem with the beta release?  I saw
> Wayne's suggestion to do a TX gain calibration, but it seems strange that 
> I
> would only need to do this after installing Beta 4.17.
>
> APF works great, but I need to resolve this SSB power issue.  I may try 
> RTTY
> next to see what happens in that mode.
>
> Dave, N4QS
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Nate Bargmann" <n0nb at n0nb.us>
> To: <elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Thursday, November 04, 2010 6:30 PM
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 MCU 4.17 (APF beta) kills SSB output?
>
>
>>* On 2010 04 Nov 18:23 -0500, Dave, W8OV wrote:
>>> I had no loss of SSB power output after the 4.17 Beta install.  The APF
>>> works wonderfully, with only a hint of ringing to my ears.  Really nice
>>> addition to the K3.
>>
>> At least some of you aren't seeing this.  :-)
>>
>> James Rogers suggested turning the Mic gain to 0 and then back up and he
>> was getting good output.  After I did that, I could only get about 25
>> Watts peak on both meters.  I switched to CW mode, transmitted a short
>> carrier which showed 100 Watts on both meters (power control set to
>> 100).  Switching back to SSB both meters showed about 70 Watts.  I have
>> since bumped TXG VCE up to the max, 3.0 dB and am getting about 90 Watts
>> peak on each meter (I say fourrrrr in a normal voice to get the K3's
>> meter to stabilize for a bit).  I had previously had TXG VCE set to 1.0
>> dB.
>>
>> I'm not sure that rolling back to the last stable firmware would solve
>> this or be fraught with other issues.  Generally, roll-backs don't work
>> all that well in other devices.
>>
>> 73, de Nate >>
>>
>> -- 
>>
>> "The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all
>> possible worlds.  The pessimist fears this is true."
>>
>> Ham radio, Linux, bikes, and more: http://n0nb.us/index.html
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