[Elecraft] Fwd: K3 and its future external panadapter

[wayne burdick]

Lyle,

Can you include FAQ TOC entries for our "mini-white-papers"?  Let's see 
-- I think I've posted four or five already, starting with the K3 
announcement and the modular kit philosophy. There's also the 
panadapter posting and the "not just a PC peripheral" posting. These 
will make fun reading, I predict, for people *NOT* yet on our reflector 
  ;)

I'd like you to do a mini-white-paper on the DSP and PC audio I/O, etc 
(including binarual audio, stereo speakers, you get the idea). The goal 
is to tell people why we did certain things, get their buy-in, and have 
educated disciples to spread the word.

Now, what will the title of you mini-white-paper be?

tnx
W


Begin forwarded message:

> From: wayne burdick <n6kr at elecraft.com>
> Date: April 28, 2007 11:25:51 AM PDT
> To: Elecraft Reflector <elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
> Subject: K3 and its future external panadapter
>
> Sometime in the future (give us at least six months!) we'll be 
> offering a very high-performance panadapter for the K3. Let's call it 
> a "P3" for now. The P3 will work with any radio that has an I.F. tap, 
> but it will be styled to match the K3. We're thinking 2/3rds of the 
> K3's width, but the same height and depth. It may have a speaker 
> and/or 20 A power supply. Your input on this would be very welcome.
>
> Early on in the K3 design process, we decided not to include an 
> *internal* panadapter. Here's our reasoning:
>
>  - A panadapter takes up a *lot* of front-panel real-estate. So, if 
> you want to
>    keep the radio at compact desktop size, you have to displace a lot 
> of controls.
>    The displaced controls end up buried in menus or "soft keys," 
> making basic
>    radio operation much more difficult. The K3 has a menu for things 
> rarely used,
>    but since there's no huge display, we were able to put every 
> often-used control
>    at your fingertips, optimally placed with respect to the LCD. A 
> good example
>    is our filter passband graphic, which is centered directly above 
> the DSP controls.
>
>  - An internal panadapter adds a lot of cost. Many customers, we felt, 
> would
>    rather have such cost be optional. If you want a panadapter, you'll 
> be able
>    get our P3 and set it beside the rig. Then, if you want to grab 
> your K3 and head
>    for the hills, you can optionally leave the panadapter on the desk 
> (along with
>    its speaker and power supply).
>
>  - Internal panadapters often have severe performance compromises. 
> There's at least one
>    very new radio on the market with a panadapter that takes over the 
> rig during sweeps.
>    Many of them are sluggish or have user-interface issues due to lack 
> of panel space.
>    Our external panadapter will be an entirely independent unit, so it 
> will not interfere
>    with radio use at all, either operationally or due to overloading 
> of controls.
>    That said, it will be highly integrated with, and controlled by, 
> the K3 (or
>    attached computer).
>
>  - We may use a display technology that offers faster rewrite speeds 
> than you can get
>    in an inexpensive graphic LCD such as the type most often used for 
> internal panadapters.
>    With the panadapter in a separate enclosure, we'll be able to use 
> very fast logic,
>    and possibly an exotic display such as an OLED (organic LED), 
> without incurring
>    any RFI problems.
>
> 73,
> Wayne
>
>
> ---
>
> http://www.elecraft.com
>
>
>

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