Somewhere, not too far after the introduction of the P3, Elecraft seems
to have received some inferior RG-58 patch cables with BNC connectors
from a supplier and the problems were several. In my case, at narrow
spans [20 KHz or so], the baseline would just drift up. Putting my hand
on top of the P3 sent it back down where it belonged. At wider spanss
[~100 KHz, I could see that it looked like a very broad spur of variable
amplitude.
Elecraft sent me a new cable with explicit instructions to cut the old
one into small pieces so it didn't show up at a flea market. :-) I did,
the new cable solved the problem. Anyone who has worked in
manufacturing engineering knows the problem, sometimes it's 2nd or 3rd
generation ... your supplier got some bad stuff from their supplier and
didn't know about it.
It is very important that the case of the P3 be electrically intact ...
any overspray on contact surfaces be removed and *all* screws tight.
Also, if you have an early K3 [mine is #642], there is a simple mod to
increase the first IF output. Just destroy one SMT resistor ... you
don't have to unsolder it, just break it with needle nose pliers ... and
replace it with a "regular" resistor. Results in less gain requirement
in the P3, and got rid of a lot of "grass" for me.
73,
Fred K6DGW
- Northern California Contest Club
- CU in the 2014 Cal QSO Party 4-5 Oct 2014
- www.cqp.org
On 4/8/2014 11:09 AM, Bill W2BLC wrote:
I had problems similar to what you describe when I first got the P3. The
story is simple: Use a mil-spec RF patch cable between the K3 and the
P3.
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