[Elecraft] K3 key clicks

[Geoffrey Mackenzie-Kennedy]

Bill,

The clicks which your neighbour heard could have been caused by something in
your antenna or feeder arcing over, or possibly an intermittent
contact.    I note that you said that sometimes your Cushcraft vertical "has
high SWR spikes", which suggests that something in your feeder or antenna is
sometimes misbehaving.

73,

Geoff
LX2AO


On December 13, 2012 at 8:24 PM, William Hein wrote:


>I am currently operating barefoot at my new-ish (moved here one year ago)
>QTH in Glade Park CO with a K3 and a Cushcraft vertical antenna.  (Much
>nicer antennas going up in the next few weeks and more power once I get
>220V to the shack).
>
> I have a neighbor, Jerry K0DU, who lives about 4 miles away and is an
> active contester.  We can see each other's QTHs from our respective shacks
> across a high elevation Colorado plateau.  Needless to say we have no
> trouble hearing each other.
>
> I have noticed that I can get within 2-kHz of Jerry when he's operating CW
> with at full 1.5-kW output with no clicks or elevated tx noise.  I can see
> a giant signal on the P3 but can't hear a thing once I'm 2-kHz either
> side.  This underscores how nice the K3 rx is.  I have a full set of
> accessory CW roofing filters.
>
> After the 10m test recently Jerry emailed me  "...(Jerry's guest op) came
> across you several times on CW... heard buckshot or key clicks out of the
> pass band of our receiver up & down the band"  This suprised since I had
> noted during the contest how close I could operate to Jerry.  And he was
> running his linear and I was operating barefoot.  Jerry has a FTdx5000 so
> I don't think poor selectivity or bad rx design is the issue.  I confirmed
> that Jerry's 5000 did not have the NB engaged during the 10m test.
>
> What can I do to check my K3 for transmitted key clicks and other unwanted
> emissions?  How to do to eliminate same once I confirm the problem?
> Frankly, I Jerry's transmissions don't bother me reciprocity didcates than
> my transmissions shouldn't bother him especially with an
> order-of-magnitude different to transmitted power.
>
> The Cushcraft vertical (an R8) sometimes has high SWR spikes.  Since its
> being decommissioned soon and I've been running low power I haven't
> bothered to trouble shoot it.  Could this be contributing to the
> clicks/"buckshot"?
>
> I'll run some tests with Jerry after I have a plan of attack.
>
> 73
> Bill