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K3 Power Drop During Operation

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Jeffrey Maass

K3 Power Drop During Operation

I was running some stations on 160-meters this morning, and noted that the power output had dropped from the amp.

Further investigation found that the maximum power out from the K3/100 was reduced from ~100W to about 54W, with no error messages displayed on the K3. Advancing the 'PWR' control beyond 54 W made no difference. I stopped operating, and found that the power slowly restored, first to a maximum of 84W, and then back to the normal 100W maximum.

I assume that this is an issue with temperature? The ambient temperature was cool (A/C running in shack). I have not noted this problem before.

The fan was set to 'Config > KPA3 > PA nor'. recommended setting for hard contest use?

73, Jeff PJ2ND / K8ND
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Bill Frantz

Re: K3 Power Drop During Operation

If you have the ATU, it can be fooled into thinking you have a
bad match by AM broadcast stations nearby. If you have a nearby
broadcast transmitter, a band reject filter is one solution.

73 Bill AE6JV

On 1/25/18 at 3:54 AM, [hidden email] wrote:

>I was running some stations on 160-meters this morning, and
>noted that the power output had dropped from the amp.
>
>Further investigation found that the maximum power out from the
>K3/100 was reduced from ~100W to about 54W, with no error
>messages displayed on the K3. Advancing the 'PWR' control
>beyond 54 W made no difference. I stopped operating, and found
>that the power slowly restored, first to a maximum of 84W, and
>then back to the normal 100W maximum.
>
>I assume that this is an issue with temperature? The ambient
>temperature was cool (A/C running in shack). I have not noted
>this problem before.
>
>The fan was set to 'Config > KPA3 > PA nor'. recommended setting for hard contest use?
>
>73, Jeff PJ2ND / K8ND

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Bill Frantz |Security, like correctness, is| Periwinkle
(408)356-8506 |not an add-on feature. - Attr-| 16345
Englewood Ave
www.pwpconsult.com |ibuted to Andrew Tanenbaum | Los Gatos,
CA 95032

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Jeffrey Maass

Re: K3 Power Drop During Operation

Thanks Bill.

No broadcast stations within many miles, and no high-power AM transmitters at all on Curacao!

No other transmitters here at PJ2T were active during my "power suck" event.

73, Jeff PJ2ND / K8ND

On Thu, 25 Jan 2018 21:06:08 -0800, Bill Frantz wrote:

If you have the ATU, it can be fooled into thinking you have a
bad match by AM broadcast stations nearby. If you have a nearby
broadcast transmitter, a band reject filter is one solution.

73 Bill AE6JV

On 1/25/18 at 3:54 AM, [hidden email] wrote:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Bill Frantz |Security, like correctness, is| Periwinkle
(408)356-8506 |not an add-on feature. - Attr-| 16345
Englewood Ave
www.pwpconsult.com |ibuted to Andrew Tanenbaum | Los Gatos,
CA 95032
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Pete Michaelis - N8TR

Re: K3 Power Drop During Operation

I had a similar problem with one of my K3's (#4576) starting last November.
Seemingly at random, output power dropped to around 35 watts. At low
power settings (less than 12 watts) power was limited to 3.5 watts. Sometimes
normal power output would be restored in a couple of hours, other times I had
to turn the radio off for a day or two. In December I sent it back
to Elecraft to
find and fix the problem. It is still there so I don't know what the
problem was.

73, Pete - N8TR

At 10:07 AM 1/26/2018, you wrote:

>Thanks Bill.
>
>No broadcast stations within many miles, and no high-power AM
>transmitters at all on Curacao!
>
>No other transmitters here at PJ2T were active during my "power suck" event.
>
>
>73, Jeff PJ2ND / K8ND
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Elecraft mailing list

Menu item

In reply to this post by Bill Frantz

My K3 came back from being upgraded and seems to have a new menu item,
called ATTEN, with "10db" displayed. When I turn the big knob, it stays at
that value and the secondary display says "N/A". It's not in my instruction
book, nor is it in the online manual I found on the Elecraft website. Am I
missing something obvious, or can someone explain?
73, andy ae6y

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Jack Brindle-2

Re: Menu item

This is in the MAIN menu. Take a look at page 55 of the K3S manual. You will find that the K3 and K3S commands and menu items are pretty much the same now. For recent firmware, looking at the K3S menu will generally give you what you are looking for.

73,

Jack, W6FB

> On Feb 1, 2018, at 8:36 PM, Andy Faber via Elecraft <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> My K3 came back from being upgraded and seems to have a new menu item, called ATTEN, with "10db" displayed. When I turn the big knob, it stays at that value and the secondary display says "N/A". It's not in my instruction book, nor is it in the online manual I found on the Elecraft website. Am I missing something obvious, or can someone explain?
> 73, andy ae6y
> ______________________________________________________________
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Ken K6MR-3

Re: Menu item

In reply to this post by Elecraft mailing list

The Main:Atten setting is for the new 5/10/15 dB attenuator in the K3s
main receiver. Unless you got the new RF board I don't think you have
it. So the Atten setting is fixed at 10 dB. The firmware probably
identifies the old RF board and is trying to tell you that the setting
is N/A for your radio.

Ken K6MR

On 01-Feb-18 20:36:25, "Andy Faber via Elecraft"
<[hidden email]> wrote:

My K3 came back from being upgraded and seems to have a new menu item,
called ATTEN, with "10db" displayed. When I turn the big knob, it stays
at that value and the secondary display says "N/A". It's not in my
instruction book, nor is it in the online manual I found on the Elecraft
website. Am I missing something obvious, or can someone explain?
73, andy ae6y
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iw2noy

Re: Menu item

Hello,

very strange !

The firmware is able to identify if is a K3 or K3s (serial number is
different, the k3s always begin with 10xxx) and if is a K3. the menu it
should not appear, i guess.

Best 73 de iw2noy - w2noy

Il 02/02/2018 08:41, Ken K6MR ha scritto:

> The Main:Atten setting is for the new 5/10/15 dB attenuator in the K3s
> main receiver. Unless you got the new RF board I don't think you have
> it. So the Atten setting is fixed at 10 dB. The firmware probably
> identifies the old RF board and is trying to tell you that the setting
> is N/A for your radio.
>
> Ken K6MR
>
>
>
>
> On 01-Feb-18 20:36:25, "Andy Faber via Elecraft"
> <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> My K3 came back from being upgraded and seems to have a new menu item,
> called ATTEN, with "10db" displayed. When I turn the big knob, it
> stays at that value and the secondary display says "N/A". It's not in
> my instruction book, nor is it in the online manual I found on the
> Elecraft website. Am I missing something obvious, or can someone
> explain?
> 73, andy ae6y
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
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>
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>
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
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>
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>