[Elecraft] Importance of good coaxial jumpers

[Joe W2KJ]

Howdy Gang:

I find my KX3 to be my "go to" QRP rig these days....my K3 is getting dusty (grin).

I was on 15M CW the other day and noticed birdies every 1Khz across the band.

I didn't think this was right so I dug deeper.

After eliminating the antenna coax switch and connecting the antenna directly to my KX3 lo and behold...no birdies.

Hmmm....what's going on here.

I replaced the coax jumper cable (RG58) from my KX3 to my coax antenna switch with a new one and the birdies disappeared!!

I checked the cable (PL259's on each end) and found that the braid was not soldered....evidently the only thing making connection from the braid to the reducer was a friction fit.

The copper braid looked kinda sparse so I replaced with a know new good jumper cable and the problem was solved.

Now I'm gonna check all the coax jumper cables I have in the shack and make sure they all have properly installed coax connectors on them.

Lesson learned....now back to 15M!!

					73, Joe W2KJ
					I QRP, therefore I am