[Elecraft] K3 Slow power change

[Rich - K1HTV]

K3 Slow power change

I've been using WSPR for the past week with my 100 Watt K3 at QRP (5W) and QRPp (100mw to 500mw) power levels. I noticed that if I move the K3 'PWR' power level control either up or down one increment (i.e from 5W to 4W or from 0.5 to 0.6W) the power drops way down and slowly rises. Here is how long it takes the power, as read on the K3 and on a W2 watt meter, to recover after the PWR control is changed slightly.

Elapsed time - Power output
0 seconds    -  5 Watts
1 seconds    -  2 Watts
7 seconds    -  3 Watts
19 seconds   -  4 Watts
30 seconds   -  5 Watts

Making a small incremental change in the power output using the PWR control will cause the slow recovery if done before or during a WSPR transmission.

Is this normal?

73,
Rich - K1HTV
K3 #3657