Mystery Solved:?
Bad Q505 (BS170) was conducting when off.? During startup, before the first transmit,? the PA voltage control provides full voltage to the PA transistors even though the QMX is in receive? (this is a firmware anomaly).? This was the cause of the extra current.??
Replacing the bad BS170 corrected both the startup current and low transmit power.
Also, I did check the transition from the 3.3V linear and the buck regulators which was correct.
