[Boatanchors] Panadapter

[Kenneth D. Grimm, K4XL]

> At 04:34 PM 10/24/2003, Ron Hunsicker wrote:
> >Hey,
> >  what is a panadapter?
>
> Ron -
> A Panadapter is spectrum analyzer accessory for a receiver.  It
displays,
> on an oscilloscope screen, the power spectrum of the signal the
receiver is
> tuned to, and any other signals within 50 to 100 kHz of the tuned
> frequency.  It is useful for watching for appearance of a new
> signal,  without having to constantly tune the receiver back and forth
> across the band of interest.
>
> The amateur community has never become very interested in these
devices,
> although they have been marketed by Hallicrafters and Heathkit, as
well as
> Panoramic, Singer Metrics, Watkins-Johnson and other firms that market
to
> the military comm and SIGINT communities.  Panadaptor features have
been
> incorporated into some high-end receivers such as the ICOM R-9000.
>
> 73,
> --Chuck N7RHU

Hi Ron and Chuck,

The Panoramic Radio Products Corp. produced a box with a 2AP1 scope tube
and associated circuitry as an integrated unit and called it the
"Panadapter."  I think this was the first time the term was used.  The
design for the PCA-2 was acquired by Hallicrafters and became the
Skyrider Panoramic SP-44.  The schematics for the PCA-2 and the SP-44
are identical.

Modern incarnations include the "Spectrum Scope" feature on the Icom
IC-756 Pro II and others.  I find it to be a moderately useful feature
on my transceiver for the reasons that Chuck mentions.  In addition to
Chuck's list of manufacturers, Kenwood should probably be added for its
SM-220 with the BS-8 adapter which complemented the TS-940 and other
Kenwood boxes.

Undoubtedly, Chuck is correct that most hams never found "panadapters"
to be very useful.  However, I've always been fascinated by the gadgets
and even built a copy of the SP-44 many years ago using a 3BP1 CRT.  I
used it on a series of communications receivers during the 60's and
70's.

73,
Ken K4XL
k4xl@arrl.net
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