[Elecraft] Intermittent Loss of Power Output

[KE1B]

I put my new K3S under “contest conditions” for the first time this weekend, and discovered an intermittent problem.

Running SSB (it may happen in other modes as well, I don’t know), the radio will stop outputting power. I hit the footswitch and the radio goes into TX mode, and I can hear myself clearly in the monitor in the headset. (That tells me that it’s not an intermittent microphone connector.) I checked the Mic level and Power level and they are where they are supposed to be (31 and 50W, respectively). However, the power meter LEDs don’t move, and the amplifier is getting no drive.

A power-off/power-on reset of the radio cures the problem. Interestingly, switching from ANT1 to ANT2 and back cures the problem. The problem occurs every few minutes during “intense” (contest) operation. Could I have a defective/intermittent T/R relay, or is this something anyone has seen before?

Rich KE1B