[Elecraft] P3 - Ref Lvl

[Fred Jensen]

My P3 is new, I'm just getting used to it.  Quite suddenly today, the 
leftmost third of the baseline noise started to rise upward.  Tuning 
doesn't change it, it's still the leftmost 1/3.  Happens at any span 
setting, and rises about half way up the scale.  It's sort of variable, 
jumping up and down a bit and has the band noise on it just like it 
normal if it was straight across the bottom.

I discovered that putting my hand on the top of the P3 anchored it back 
to the bottom.  A clip lead from the IF Out BNC outer shell to the 
station ground also anchored it solidly down.  The antenna coupler, 
power supply, K3, and KPA500 are all grounded to the single copper strap 
on the back of the shelf which is connected to a UFER ground directly 
under the shack, and to the utility safety ground ["green wire"]  There 
is no ground lug on the P3.

I would have thought the coax IF connection would have grounded the P3 
chassis to the K3.  I'm wondering if I've got some grounding problem in 
the P3.  It has worked fine since I built it and first turned it on and 
this is the first time I've seen this anomaly.

73,

Fred K6DGW
- Northern California Contest Club
- CU in the 2011 Cal QSO Party 1-2 Oct 2011
- www.cqp.org

anomaly [n. ahh-NAHM-ahh-lee]  A term used by NASA to describe any 
unexpected or unplanned event or system state, regardless of severity. 
It can range from a burned out indicator on a panel to the rocket 
landing pointy-end down outside of Tucson.