[Elecraft] [K3] Keyer Pause

[Donald Thompson]

On Sep 4, 2012, at 11:46 AM, "David Cutter" <d.cutter at ntlworld.com> wrote:

> It's all about wetting current....

David,
I never knew this term but it looks to me I'm seeing it's effects.
I moved the key back to the CW Machine and it's totally clean. I sent a large string of 73s as well as my call sign at speeds from 16 to 25 and was totally clean, not the occasionally 7V or KAJ.. I get on the K3.  For another test I moved the Begali to my K2...it too runs completely clean.  Just to rule out an intermittent K3 issue I re-ran the tests with Begali and Hex keys using the same strings of 73s.  Again Hex totally clean and Begali stutters on dashes.  Sometimes holding the dash sets for a few seconds before starting the string.
All this is after a light cleaning with a strip of dry copy paper as suggested.  The paper strip showed a mark but no color.
I'm waiting on Begali's advice.  
One interesting question for Elecraft is what current flows on K3 vs K3?  Has this 'wetting current' issue been seen before ?  
And I just thought I'd missed a K3 config option..
Sorry for all the noise on this.  Thanks for all the ideas.
73,
Don KA1KU