Thanks to all for your suggestions. Carl's suggestion to run the 5 and 50 W transmitter gain calibration appears to have solved the issue, although I have no idea why.
Don, I'm familiar with how much drive the K3 wants from the mic, and have it set properly for my HC-5 element. The behavior was not erratic - it was easily repeatable using the steps I described. After running the calibrations, I can no longer repeat the issue. The only time I had ever previously run the calibrations was during final setup after assembling the radio a couple years ago. Is that something that one should do periodically, or after each firmware update? Hank, I did back up my configuration both before and after running the calibration, so I have that in my back pocket as well. Again, thanks to all who responded - I'll keep an eye on it and report back if it reappears. 73 de W0ZF On Sat, Jan 21, 2017 at 11:11 PM, Don Wilhelm <[email protected]> wrote: > Dave, > > This is a classic case with Elecraft transceivers that do not drive the > audio sufficiently. Unless you drive the audio as instructed in the > manual, the power output will be erratic or non-existent. > > When you speak into the microphone, do you see 5 to 7 bars on the ALC > meter? If not, you do not have adequate audio drive, increase the mic gain > until that condition is realized. > > If you have a Heil HC6 or HC7 mic element, those have very low output > levels and you may need to go to the MIC Gain High range. > Note that the high range only applies to the front panel mic jack. Go to > the K3 menu for MIC SEL and tap "3" to toggle the setting on/off. The high > gain mic preamp is indicated by the icon "H'" in the display. > > 73, > Don W3FPR > > > On 1/21/2017 10:20 PM, Dave Fugleberg wrote: > >> I seldom operate 80M phone, so don't know if this is a new issue or not. >> K3 >> S/N 8334 with latest firmware. When I key the transmitter and speak or >> whistle into the mic, I get no RF output. I can hear myself in the >> monitor. >> If I enable VOX, speaking engages the transmitter, but no RF output. >> Engaging the TUNE function does produce RF output as expected. >> If I switch the mode to CW and tap the straight key, the radio transmits >> with expected output. If I THEN switch mode back to LSB, radio functions >> normally with expected output. >> Note that all of the above is with radio connected to a dummy load, so my >> antenna is out of the picture. >> >> Once I switch to CW, key the radio, and switch back to LSB as described >> above, transmit works fine until I power cycle the radio, or adjust the RF >> Power control (even if I just dial it down a couple watts and then right >> back to where it was). Either of those two events appears to disable SSB >> transmit until I 'kick' it by transmitting with CW. >> >> As far as I can tell, this behavior is ONLY on 80M. The rig is NOT in >> 'Test >> mode', and Xmit Inhibit is turned off in the menu. All other radio >> functions and bands seem to work FB. >> > ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to [email protected]
