[Elecraft] K3 strange power surging behavior

[Randy Diddel]

I had a similar issue with my K3, it only happened on 15M.  It got even
worse with my KPA500 in operate mode.  I removed everything but a dummy
load and then started adding things back-RX antenna, KPA500, P3, etc...  In
my case, it turned out to be the mic cable pigtail. I put about a pound of
ferrite on it and the erratic power output has gone away.

As a side note, I even sent it to Elecraft to see if they could find the
source and as they correctly suggested, it turned out to be a local issue
with my shack.  The odd thing was that nothing about my shack had
changed-operating position, antenna location, etc.  It just started one day.

Good luck,

73

K5RHD

/randy



2014/07/08 11:09?NZ0T <nz0tham at gmail.com> ??????:

> My K3 SN 1502 with MCU 4.83 is exhibiting a strange surge in transmit
power
> level.   When the rig is keyed in CW with the power set all the way up
power
> output surges from a high of around 140 (!) watts down to 60 watts and
back
> in a rapid fashion.  It is at it's worst on 30 meters shows at least a
high
> power spike on all bands except 160 and 80 before it settles down to
around
> 100 watts.  If I turn the power down the cycling is much less severe but
> there is still a leading spike of around 140 watts.  I have tried
reloading
> the firmware with no luck.  I have checked all my jumpers and connections
> and they are fine and the rig does this even straight into a dummy load.
 My
> power supply is an Astron RS-35M in great shape.
>
> I should mention that we suffered a lightning strike last Labor Day
weekend
> that took out my Ten Tec tuner, W2 wattmeter and a few other things but
the
> K3 was not affected at all and I hope this problem is not some delayed
thing
> from that strike!
>
> An ideas?  The rig is almost six years old - maybe I need to open it up
and
> make sure screws are all tight?
>
> 73 Bill NZ0T