[Elecraft] K3 Power-hunting on FT8

[Pete Smith N4ZR]

OK guys - rather than reply individually, let me try to pull everything 
together in one message.

In a previous effort at FT8 I followed the standard advice to set the 
power slider in WSJT-X (on the lower RIGHT side) so that my K-3 showed 4 
bars on the ALC meter, just below the threshold for ALC starting, and 
that seemed to work fine.  Then a technically-qualified local ham showed 
me spectrum analyzer images of a K-3 at 4 bars versus at no bars, and 
the difference was startling - the no bars signal was clean and narrow, 
while the 4-bars signal looked like some of those SSB sigs we hear 
during contests, wide and with many artifacts.  I am not going to 
identify my source here, but I'm fairly sure he reads this reflector, so 
maybe he'll join the discussion

Anyway, I'm kind of at sea - WSJT-X works fine with no bars - I've 
finished 12 and 17M, as well as digital DXCC in the last few weeks, 
following his advice.  But the hunting typically takes almost 20 seconds 
of transmitting - roughly 1 1/2 FT-8 cycles - to reach full power - and 
happens every time I change bands, which puts me behind the curve if I 
switch bands, see someone I need, and have to spend 1 1/2 transmit 
cycles getting up to full power before I can call him effectively.

73, Pete N4ZR