[Elecraft] K3 power output problems

[Don Wilhelm]

Mark,

There is one possibility of a loose connection in the ground path for 
the antenna connectors.

At the upper right-rear corner of the K3 there is a 2D connector, a long 
screw and a standoff is fastened to the threads of that long screw.
The tightness of that standoff is important to the ground path to the 
antenna connectors.  See page 22 of the K3 Assembly manual.

To tighten the standoff, you will have to first loosen the screw that 
goes into the inside end of that standoff, then tighten the standoff 
with pliers (or better yet, a 3/16 inch wrench).  Once you have 
tightened the standoff against the 2D connector, you can tighten the 
screw again.
I believe recent K3s are built with an enlarged hole in the 2D connector 
so the threads of the screw are not held captive by both the standoff 
and 2D connector.
On 9/22/2012 5:14 PM, Mark n2qt wrote:
> thanks for the suggestion John.  I tried it but it didn't allow calibration
> to occur.
> However I noticed that after the ATU tuned the 50 ohm load the rig showed
> high SWR (4.1:1 or so) when I manually keyed it.  Also on the bands the
> power output it good, the Current drawn is shown as 2.3 Amps, which would
> be pretty spectacular.  I did confirm the ~100W output power on a W2
> wattmeter.
>
>