[Elecraft] Keying the K3s

[Brian Hunt]

I’d like clarification on this also. I don’t run an amp but I’ve run my K3 for years at 5 watts for QRP events without issue. My TUN PWR is set to 7 watts to keep my remote tuner and LPA happy. 

The manual states that to manually initiate a TX GAIN calibration to set TUN PWR to exactly 5 (or 50) watts and hold the TUNE button. I can imagine that accidentally doing so into an antenna rather than a 50 Ohm dummy load could really mess up the TX GAIN calibration. 

Thoughts?

73, Brian, K0DTJ

> On Jan 24, 2023, at 09:20, Lee Hiers <lee.hiers at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> How would one search the archives for this info?
> 
> Is this only the K3S, or does it also include K3?  How about a K3/10?
> 
> And you're saying one should never transmit with the transmitter set to 5W
> (or 50W)?
> 
> I do drive an Alpha 8410 with my K3/10 -  and I've probably done so at 5W
> out of the K3/10, although normally I'm using 12W.
> 
> I would appreciate a link to something that indicates this is a bad thing
> to do.
> 
> 73 de Lee, AA4GA
> 
> 
>> On Tue, Jan 24, 2023 at 10:57 AM Jim McCook <w6ya at cox.net> wrote:
>> 
>> Dave,
>> 
>> You should _never_ key the K3s at 5w (or 50w)!  It can disrupt the TX
>> GAIN settings and create huge power spikes, which can be a real problem
>> if you use an amplifier.  Just use 6w or 4w or 5.5w, etc.  You can
>> confirm this with Elecraft, who will tell you the same thing.   Check
>> previous threads; it has been discussed before.  73, Jim W6YA
>> ______________________________________________________________
>> Elecraft mailing list
>> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
>> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
>> Post: mailto:Elecraft at mailman.qth.net
>> 
>> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
>> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>> Message delivered to lee.hiers at gmail.com
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:Elecraft at mailman.qth.net
> 
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
> Message delivered to huntinhmb at coastside.net