[Elecraft] [KX3] Dropping Out of TX

[John Reilly]

Running a contest tonight, and kept noticing the KX3 would 
intermittently drop out of transmit. I would send "SP" and it would 
transmit "i  e n" , or send "N0TA" and it would transmit "N0 A". Another 
words, it would miss an element or two of a character. This is happening 
randomly (as far as I can tell), about 5 percent of the time.

I started using a WinKeyer, then switched to connecting the paddle 
directly to the KX3 - both times, it would drop transmit. I switched to 
straight key -- same problem.

Any ideas as to what might be causing this?
   - 73, John, N0TA