[Elecraft] P3 Info!

[Gordan Hribar]

From: wayne burdick <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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