[Elecraft] K3S Power Creep (again)

[Don Wilhelm]

One of the causes for that "power creep" when using soundcard data modes 
(DATA A or AFSK A) is insufficient audio to the K3.  The audio level 
must be adjusted to produce 4 bars solid with the 5th bar flashing on 
the ALC meter.

For voice modes, a similar situation may exist, and with compression set 
to zero, you need to drive the ALC meter at 5 to 7 bars on the ALC meter 
when talking in a normal voice.  After that you may set the compression 
to your pleasure.

Your situation may have a different cause, but that is the first thing 
to check.

Yes, the Elecraft implementation for power control is like many 
commercial transceivers, and unlike the "big 3".  It does not produce 
IMD, but depends on having sufficient audio into the transceiver to 
prevent "power hunting".

The rise times to full power you have stated is exceptionally long, so 
my first suspicion is that you are not driving with sufficient audio. 
In most cases (of normal operation) the time to full power output is in 
milliseconds.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 3/13/2018 5:46 PM, ab2tc wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> I have the same problem. Anytime I change something, like band, power or a
> number of other things, power starts up ridiculously low and creeps *very*
> slowly up to the 100W mark. Even without changing anything the actual peak
> power on a transmission can be anywhere between 80 and 120W as indicated by
> my LP-100A. I am not sure if this is a problem with K3S only. I still have
> my old K3 but don't use it often enough to know if this is a K3S problem
> only. I understand Elecraft's policy on not relying on a fast ALC to to
> control power like most of the big three do (causing IMD), but really, does
> it have to be this slow? This is on a fairly new K3S which has been back to
> the factory twice to get the latest upgrades to the transmitter chain. My
> experience is all SSB with 100W set for the power level.
> 
> AB2TC - Knut
> 
> 
> 
> Wes Stewart-2 wrote
>> This is an old subject but with a new wrinkle.  Although I'm observing a
>> drift
>> in power on all bands (and modes) after a band or power adjustment, it's
>> ridiculously slow on 17-meters.  It's taking 5-10 seconds to stabilize.
>>
>> Any change, such as switching to another band and back again or a minor
>> change
>> in power starts the process over.  This is particularly annoying on RTTY
>> AFSK
>> A.  (Please no lectures on how Elecraft ALC is different from other
>> radios, I've
>> been running AFSK RTTY for 10 years with K3s.)  Using the KPA500 power
>> graph as
>> an expanded proxy for the K3S output power, I'm seeing a change from about
>> 50
>> watts to 500 watts after an adjustment. On CW the first dit is about 100W.
>>
>> I reran the power calibration and this appeared to fix it initially but
>> the
>> issue returned.  This was particularly annoying when I was running a
>> digital
>> mode and saw that I was hitting the amp harder than desired.  I tried
>> adjusting
>> power during the transmission and it practically dropped to zero before
>> slowly
>> climbing.  Getting a precise level is difficult.
>>
>> Wes  N7WS
>>
>>
>>
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