[Elecraft] K3 on FD

[Nick-WA5BDU]

My K3 got in its 4th Field Day here in Russellville, Arkansas at K5PXP.

I had some issues late into the night when the K3 totally wigged out 
while we were working 40M.  First the CW sidetone went away.  A restart 
fixed it.  Then the audio went away, then the rig would stick in 
transmit with or without indicated power, then the CW messages wouldn't 
send or would send a couple characters and stop, then the N1MM memories 
wouldn't key the rig properly, then a couple of those ERR FW1 (or 
something) messages popped up.  I even reloaded the firmware at one point.

I noticed Sunday morning after we'd gone back to 20M that the rig was 
behaving properly.  So I assumed it was an RF feedback problem on 40M.  
After I got back home I checked out the rig on 40 into a dummy load and 
then on my antenna and everything was normal.  So I don't think there's 
anything wrong with the K3.  Wondering if next year I should attach a 
quarter wave 40M counterpoise to the rig. Funny thing - we were using a 
center fed 180 foot dipole with ladder line and a Johnson Matchbox.  
Tuning was broad and I didn't get any RF bites.  Maybe it was just being 
in the near field of the antenna that caused the problem.

Those things didn't hold us back much.  The CW station made over 1100 
Qs, most on 40 and 20 and some on 15.  I got good comments on the rig.  
Before FD I disabled most of my macros and set the bandswitch to skip 
the WARC bands.  I should have disabled the "fast QSY" feature of the 
RIT.  I like that feature but it caused some guys to lose their run 
frequency a couple times and even caught me once.

One thing I'd like to see, possibly as an option.  I was using the 
"repeat" feature of my CQ memory.  The need to tap the paddle to stop 
the next repeat caused me to miss a letter or two of the calling station 
over half of the time that I initiated QSOs in that way.  I'd like the 
fist dit (or first paddle closure) not to be sent, or have some other 
way of stopping sending, maybe tapping the memory key again.  It would 
be very cool if the K3 could detect a signal come on in the passband and 
cancel the next repeat.  Even with some false triggers, that would be nice.

Our temperature got to 104 degrees - hottest reported temperature in the 
state.  What are the odds of that happening twice in a row? Meanwhile 
I've got a buddy in Oregon who says they were freezing and blowing 
smoke, sitting on their hands to keep them warm.

Maybe when it's time for an SS report, I'll be talking about the KX3.

73-

Nick, WA5BDU