The CQ 160M CW contest last weekend was the first contest for my K3 SN 4518. First time I've heard the fans kick in, same for the Samlex PS. And I have to say I am very pleased with the receive performance - with filter bandwidth set to 200 HZ and fine tuning, the band didn't seem crowded at all. Very few times did I have any trouble with adjacent signals. But I did have one scare.
The KAT3 has always auto tuned my OCF dipole to a reasonable match. But about 7 hours into the contest I experienced a pop in the earphones and the K3 went deaf. The SWR was high and the KAT3 wouldn't tune better than 5.3:1. Thinking maybe I lost a leg off the dipole, I went outside and checked the antenna. All looked OK. I tested the antenna with another rig and a manual tuner and it seemed OK. Not knowing what else to do, I checked the OCF dipole on several other bands with the K3, and the KAT3 tuned to a good match. Then when I went back to check 160, all was well again. Needless to say, I was relieved. Went back to the contest and had no more problems.
Anyone else ever experience anything like this?
73, Glenn / KD0Q
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