[Elecraft] P3 - Wandering Baseline

[Fred Jensen]

I thought I had this figured out and solved.  That I have not solved it 
does not surprise me, I'm fairly old and this *has* occurred once or 
twice before.

Every now and then, generally more "then" than "now," the baseline on my 
P3 sort of wanders upwards.  Sometimes it's on the left, sometimes it is 
on the right, sometimes [not so often], it's the entire baseline.  It 
goes up maybe 1/3 of the screen [I usually have the waterfall turned 
off, I can't see it, long story], and it moves around vertically, not 
fast, but not slow either [being a retired engineer, I like to be precise].

The band noise and signals seem to ignore this, they just appear on the 
elevated baseline as if they didn't know, which I suspect they don't. 
If, when this is happening, I place my hand on the top of the P3, the 
baseline returns to where it should be and stays there like a chastised 
4 year old, with about the same attention span.

I have grounded the P3 to my single point ground [a wide copper strap 
along the back of the shelf and "grounded" straight down to the ground], 
I've moved the rig power supply [FT-1030A] away, and I've shut the 
KPA500 [about 10 inches underneath] off with no change.

I actually don't mind putting my hand on it to fix it, I've banged 
radios and moved stuff in magic ways for 50+ years to solve problems, 
but I'm just curious.  My P3 is powered from the K3.  Has anyone else 
seen this?  I haven't yet tried "hand on side of P3," tonight if the 
baseline wanders.

73,

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