[Elecraft] K3 Power-hunting on FT8

[Walter Underwood]

By “first flickers of ALC” do you mean one bar flickering? If so, that will cause power hunting.

Not sure who advised against setting it at the 4th bar, but that was probably bad advice. That sounds like advice for non-Elecraft transmitters. I recommend following the setup instructions on pages 31 and 32 of the manual.

https://ftp.elecraft.com/K3/Manuals Downloads/E740107 K3 Owner's man D10.pdf <https://ftp.elecraft.com/K3/Manuals%20Downloads/E740107%20K3%20Owner's%20man%20D10.pdf>

wunder
K6WRU
Walter Underwood
CM87wj
http://observer.wunderwood.org/ (my blog)

> On Jul 20, 2023, at 2:16 PM, Pete Smith N4ZR <pete.n4zr at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> I've recently started operating FT8, and on advice from other K3 users, have been adjusting the power slider in WSJT-X to a level just short of or just into the first flickers of ALC.  I did this because I was advised that setting the slider for 4 or 5 bars of ALC generated junk in the FT8 passband.  I am running the K3 in Data A mode
> 
> Since I did this, I've noticed strange (to me, anyway) behavior from my K3.  When WSJT-X starts an FT8 transmit cycle, after I have just switched to the current band or changed the power slider in WSJT-X or the PWR control on my K-3, the K3's power output starts essentially at zero and slowly ramps up through 1- 1 1/2 FT8 transmit cycles.  Once it reaches the expected level, subsequent transmissions stay at that level.
> 
> I've been told (not by Elecraft) that this behavior is a result of the K3's firmware "hunting" for the right power level, but such a slow and repetitious behavior doesn't fit with the rest of what I've come to expect from my K3.  It doesn't happen on CW or SSB either. So what's going on?
> 
> -- 
> 73, Pete N4ZR
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