P3 - Wandering Baseline

[k6dgw]

I thought I had this figured out and solved.  That I have not solved it
does not surprise me, I'm fairly old and this *has* occurred once or
twice before.

Every now and then, generally more "then" than "now," the baseline on my
P3 sort of wanders upwards.  Sometimes it's on the left, sometimes it is
on the right, sometimes [not so often], it's the entire baseline.  It
goes up maybe 1/3 of the screen [I usually have the waterfall turned
off, I can't see it, long story], and it moves around vertically, not
fast, but not slow either [being a retired engineer, I like to be precise].

The band noise and signals seem to ignore this, they just appear on the
elevated baseline as if they didn't know, which I suspect they don't.
If, when this is happening, I place my hand on the top of the P3, the
baseline returns to where it should be and stays there like a chastised
4 year old, with about the same attention span.

I have grounded the P3 to my single point ground [a wide copper strap
along the back of the shelf and "grounded" straight down to the ground],
I've moved the rig power supply [FT-1030A] away, and I've shut the
KPA500 [about 10 inches underneath] off with no change.

I actually don't mind putting my hand on it to fix it, I've banged
radios and moved stuff in magic ways for 50+ years to solve problems,
but I'm just curious.  My P3 is powered from the K3.  Has anyone else
seen this?  I haven't yet tried "hand on side of P3," tonight if the
baseline wanders.

73,

Fred K6DGW
- Northern California Contest Club
- CU in the 2011 Cal QSO Party 1-2 Oct 2011
- www.cqp.org
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[Don Wilhelm-4]

Fred.

Check the coax between the K3 and the P3.  I think you will find the
problem solution there.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 9/22/2011 8:09 PM, Fred Jensen wrote:

> I thought I had this figured out and solved.  That I have not solved it
> does not surprise me, I'm fairly old and this *has* occurred once or
> twice before.
>
> Every now and then, generally more "then" than "now," the baseline on my
> P3 sort of wanders upwards.  Sometimes it's on the left, sometimes it is
> on the right, sometimes [not so often], it's the entire baseline.  It
> goes up maybe 1/3 of the screen [I usually have the waterfall turned
> off, I can't see it, long story], and it moves around vertically, not
> fast, but not slow either [being a retired engineer, I like to be precise].
>
> The band noise and signals seem to ignore this, they just appear on the
> elevated baseline as if they didn't know, which I suspect they don't.
> If, when this is happening, I place my hand on the top of the P3, the
> baseline returns to where it should be and stays there like a chastised
> 4 year old, with about the same attention span.
>
> I have grounded the P3 to my single point ground [a wide copper strap
> along the back of the shelf and "grounded" straight down to the ground],
> I've moved the rig power supply [FT-1030A] away, and I've shut the
> KPA500 [about 10 inches underneath] off with no change.
>
> I actually don't mind putting my hand on it to fix it, I've banged
> radios and moved stuff in magic ways for 50+ years to solve problems,
> but I'm just curious.  My P3 is powered from the K3.  Has anyone else
> seen this?  I haven't yet tried "hand on side of P3," tonight if the
> baseline wanders.
>
>

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[k6dgw]

On 9/22/2011 6:28 PM, Don Wilhelm wrote:
> Fred.
>
> Check the coax between the K3 and the P3. I think you will find the
> problem solution there.

I've tried three different jumpers [the one that came with the P3, and
two others I'm very sure are good], with no change.  Most of the time,
the P3 works just great.  I'm pretty certain the case screws/2-D
thingy's are grounded, I took the pieces off and they all show
continuity and no paint.

Before cluttering up the list anymore, I'll try to figure out the P3
Utility and see if I can get a screen capture.  It may take a bit of
time since this anomaly occurs only infrequently.

73,

Fred K6DGW
- Northern California Contest Club
- CU in the 2011 Cal QSO Party 1-2 Oct 2011
- www.cqp.org
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