[Elecraft] time to order your P3, design details?

[sfbonk at aol.com]

The P3 controls sure don't look simple to me. Then again, this may be the Ten Tec version since it has Orion on it.

http://www.shutterpoint.com/Photos-ViewPhoto.cfm?id=668020

W3OU, Steve






-----Original Message-----
From: Al Lorona <alorona at sbcglobal.net>
To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Sent: Mon, Apr 19, 2010 2:26 pm
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] time to order your P3, design details?



 To get you started, look at ... 
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_Fom1QwNa4&feature=related  
That is really pretty, but my prevailing thought was that perhaps it's just too 
uch eye candy-- which really doesn't make interpreting the data any easier. The 
pectrum readout-- arguably the most important area of the screen-- is difficult 
o concentrate on with the distraction of the other detail (color, shading, 
exture, 3D effects, text, labels, buttons, controls) of the skin.
I really believe simpler is better. Let me illustrate by example. The last time 
ou flew on a Boeing 767 this is what the pilots saw on the flight deck:
ttp://www.airliners.net/photo/Continental-Airlines/Boeing-767-424-ER/0111170/&sid=0444c7e1280e36facb8845d82b29142f   

any of you would perhaps laugh at such a simplistic 1970s display and would 
ind excuses not to pay money for it in 2010. But this is certainly a 
ission-critical application where simpler displays mean quick, efficient 
nterpretation by the pilots in whose hands we place our lives. They gotta be 
ble to glance and read the situation instantly, without having to twiddle or 
ead a lot of controls. 
I know I'm comparing apples and oranges. And I know I'm sounding like an old 
uy. But the trend in radios-- whether traditional or SDR-- is certainly going 
owards more and more eye candy. These fancier and fancier GUIs (and front 
anels) can start to make one dizzy. If it doesn't have at least four blue LEDs 
nd two or three irregular-shaped pink buttons, people won't buy it, I guess!
The display of the P3 shares many characteristics with the 767 display. Without 
etting into any of the pro-computer/ anti-computer arguments, this is one 
eason why I like the way the P3 has been laid out.
I kinda like simple and uncluttered. If it's good enough for the captain of a 
67, it's good enough for me.
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