[Elecraft] Elecraft K3 with K2 as station panadapter setup?

[Sam Morgan]

Perhaps you have heard of the expression:
'going around your posterior to get to your elbow'?
Well the following is a real world example of the same.


Station:
1 each K3, K2, and 2.9gig 2X AMD with 4 gig ram running XP home (32bit).
(With all the below programs running, plus firefox and thunderbird, the system 
is using about 1gig of ram and CPU usage is at about 26-30%.)

First the goal:
I wanted to be able to see DX spots and click on them and the rig go there,
all setup, band, mode, and frequency, and ready to go.
I also wanted to be able to click on a panadapter display
and go to the frequency/station I had clicked on.

However,because of 3 limitations at my station.
1st limitation:
the pan adapter I have, only works with my K2
(I'm using a separate rx antenna on the K2)

2nd limitation:
I want to use my K3 for both TX and RX

3rd limitation:
I much prefer DXLabs's SpotCollector to HRD's Logbook/DXCluster for spots.


So let the games begin....

Here are the working pieces:
I can get HRD to control/sync the K3 and the K2, ok.
I can get the K2 to work with Power SRD-IF, ok.
But how to get DXLabs to control the spotting aspect of point and click?
The dreaded 'port already in use' problem come into play.

I could have run DXLab to control the K3 and the K2,
but I was unable to figure out how to run VSPE or LP-Bridge,
so I could then, also, connect the K2 to the Power SDR-IF pan display.

Again, the goal was to have any one of the 3 control methods used,
at any time, to change bands, modes, and frequencys,
1) when a spot was clicked on,
2) or a trace on the display was clicked on,
3) or I simply turned the knob on the rigs, (how primitive, hi hi).

I finally found a little program called: DXLab HRD Bridge
http://www.dxlabsuite.com/download.htm#Bridges,%20Gateways,%20%20and%20Extenders
http://www.dxlabsuite.com/HRD_Bridge/

So now I'll try to explain this monstrosity to the few that might be interested.
Also so it will be documented somewhere, in case I forget it all when I go to 
sleep tonight. (sigh) Don't laugh, you to will grow old one day grasshopper.

1) Start HRD 5.0 and connect to the K3 (comm 4)
2) Start another, separate, instance of HRD 5.0 and connect to the K2 (comm 8)
3) Start Power SDR-IF (with it's rig connection set for HRD)
4) Start HRD's pgm called Synchronizer, set the  K3 as master and K2 as slave.
5) Start DXLab Launcher
6) Start DXLab SpotCollector (set to use VE7CC-1 as well as VE7CC)

Did it take me 3 days to figure this out, yes.
Was it fun figuring this out, not really.
Does it really work, yes.
Is it perhaps overly complicated, absolutely.

Could it have been done using HRD's 3rd party serial port, maybe?
Could it have been done just running DXLab and VSPE or LP-PAN, probably?
Was I able to find any help files that went past the standard:
create 2 virtual ports, and then connect who to what and how, HELL NO!

If anyone wishes to go further than just saying:
"well you shoulda/coulda done it this or that way".....
I'm all ears, if and only if, you give a detailed explanation.

/me steps down from soapbox and takes a deep breath and leaves the keyboard for 
the fridge and a well deserved beer.

/poof


-- 
GB & 73
K5OAI
Sam Morgan