This past weekend, I took my K3 (SN 1428) to the W2GD 160M Contest station in West Creek, NJ where we used it as the run station. We used another K3 for the mult station. Both were connected through an Acom lockout box to the same amplifier and antennas. Following the contest, I received an email from Tony, K2SG, telling us that he heard key clicks across all of 160M when the run station was transmitting but not when the mult station was transmitting. Tony lives about 2 miles from our contest station and has two K3s and P3. He heard the "clicks" on both K3s and could see them on the P3.
This is the first contest that we used my K3 at the run station -- in past contests, we used it for the mult station. I noticed that this year the mult station was not able to hear as well when the run station was transmitting. I now suspect this was due to the clicks from my K3. I've been able to replicate the problem at my station with a combination of using the K3 transmitting into my inverted-L while receiving on an IC-736 using a EWE about 100 feet from teh inverted-L. I can hear the clicks across 160M when sending with either the internal keyer (paddles connected to Paddle jack on the back of the K3) or an external keyer (connected to Key jack on the back of the K3). The clicks are very evident on 160M running between 0 and 100 watts. They are slightly evident on 80M and I could not detect them on 40M or above. I found that I can eliminate the clicks by using PTT when sending CW. I first noticed this when using the PC to send CW. (I use the RS-232 interface to send CW and that relies on PTT). If I use my foot switch to trigger PTT, there are no clicks. However, if I release the foot switch, the clicks return and don't go away if I depress the foot switch again. I've been able to find some references to K3 clicks and spurious signals on 160M caused by the T/R switching PIN diodes. I've also seen a brief reference to a fix to this problem but there were no specifics. I need help fixing this key click problem before I can take the K3 to a multi-op station. Gerry, W1GD ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
