Jennifer Martinez

so ive been chasing this one for about three weeks now and im starting to lose my mind a little. my 7300 started dropping output maybe a month ago, used to put out a solid 100w on all bands, now im seeing maybe 30-35w on 20m and it gets worse as i go higher, like on 10m im barely getting 15w out. SSB and CW both affected.
before anyone says ALC — yes i checked. ALC is not pegging, its behaving normally. drive level looks fine on the screen. ive reseated all the internal connectors i can get to without going too deep, checked the fan is spinning, radio doesnt feel like its overheating. SWR is fine, antenna hasnt changed. tried two different dummy loads.
did the usual reset to factory defaults, no change. firmware is current. the weird thing is if i drop power to like 25w it seems... almost more stable? like the ratio of actual output to what im asking for gets a little closer but still not right. it just feels like somethings degrading in the PA stage but i dont want to assume that and go chasing ghosts. anyone dealt with this on a 7300 specifically?

check the mic connector wiring before you go too deep into the board. sounds stupid but ive seen people rewire a mic plug wrong and the PTT line never actually closes properly — radio thinks it's transmitting internally but the whole chain never kicks off. you said you swapped mics, did you verify both mics actually work on another radio? also is the fan spinning up at all when you key it? on mine the fan kicks on pretty much immediately when TX is active, if thats not happening either something upstream of the PA is just completely not initiating the TX sequence.

this is making me want to actually push my club to do something like this, we keep talking about it but its usually just a once a year SET and honestly those feel pretty scripted to me. like everyone kind of knows whats coming and it doesnt really stress test anything.
question — how did you handle people who couldnt make it in person, did you do any of it over the air or was it all around a table? we have a few members who are pretty far out and getting everyone in one room is tough.

oh man SU-001 is a great first one, not too brutal of a hike if I remember right. I did my first activation last spring and was absolutely terrified I wouldnt make 4 contacts but ended up with like 22 on 20m SSB. The chasers are super active and friendly, way more forgiving than a contest pileup haha.
One thing I'd add -- bring more battery than you think you need. I always convince myself the KX2 will be fine on one pack and then I end up sitting at the top longer than planned because the bands are good and I dont want to leave.