[Elecraft] LPPan vs. P3
Jack Brabham
kz5a at att.net
Fri Aug 6 16:47:50 EDT 2010
I purchased LP-PAN with PowerSDR/IF at the same time as my K3 and have
enjoyed using them together a great deal. The pan-adapter is really
useful and its biggest shortcoming seems to be lack of a high resolution
zoom. The 2nd RX is much much better than I expected and is well
integrated with the K3, tunes with the "B" knob, does "A/B" swaps,
listen to both sides of a split pileup, etc. The 2nd RX's biggest
limitation is being constrained to use within the pan-adapter's
frequency view.
My original thought was to use PowerSDR/IF as a relatively inexpensive
way to evaluate the utility of the pan-adapter with a second receiver
for SSB contesting. There's not much doubt about the utility of a
second RX but I've never had a serious pan-adapter and didn't really
know how well they would play together. For me, it works well enough
that I expect to add the P3 and the second RX to the K3 somewhere down
the road, but that's about a 2 grand upgrade and my station has more
pressing needs currently (like more/better antennas).
Also given the high degree of utility I'm getting from the $300 LP-PAN
PowerSDR/IF setup I'm content to wait until the P3 has gone through some
software teething, the inevitable hardware upgrades, and has had some of
those intriguing holes on the back panel filled..... or Xmas, which ever
comes first.
I can't make any informed comparisons with the P3, not having never seen
one in the flesh, but relative to the PowerSDR/IF pan-adapter my
reservations are mainly with the relatively small screen/low resolution
and the absence of "point and click QSY" via the PC mouse (PC integration).
In terms of one pan-adapter vs the other, as I understand the current
levels of functionality, I think I would prefer the PowerSDR/IF
pan-adapter, mainly for the larger screen size, although the high
resolution zoom of the P3 would be very useful in many situations.
Seems like the best answer to one vs the other would be BOTH. One
could use PowerSDR/IF in full screen, full width mode for point and
click QSY and band searching and use the P3 in reduced bandwidth mode to
get a higher resolution view of the immediate band area. That would
take good advantage of the strengths of each and I don't see any reason
why they wouldn't play together well.
It will be interesting to see how the future "P3 external monitor" is
implemented. If it is merely a hardware Video output the display size
will be larger (to suit) and presumably the screen resolution will be
increased proportionately which will be a major enhancement. However
if it turns out to be a "P3 Utility" type PC program the possibilities
are much greater, potentially including things like, monitor sharing,
resizing, "point and click QSY", and integration with logging program
band maps.
I have to concur with the comments about PowerSDR/IF being a PC resource
hog. My station PC is a AMD 5400+ dual 64 bit machine running Win7-64
with three monitors. I usually run PowerSDR/IF full screen on its own
1680x1050 22 inch display. This single program utilizes around 50% of
the available CPU cycles on my machine in this mode and that is with
having done some tweaks to PowerSDR/IF to reduce the CPU load. You can
reduce the CPU load further by shrinking the display (less pixels) but
my old eyes like it better full screen. I'm going the other way with a
planned upgrade to a 6400+ CPU.
I suspect that when I have the 2nd RX in the K3 and a P3 with some
flavor of external display and PC integration, the LP-PAN PowerSDR/IF
setup will become redundant and be retired. .....Or I might find that
I "need" two pan-adapters and 3 RXs.....Hi Hi
73 Jack KZ5A
On 8/6/2010 1:07 AM, Scott Prather wrote:
> One aspect of the LP Pan/PowerSDR-IF combination that hasn't been mentioned
> is that in addition to serving as a panadapter, PowerSDR-IF is a complete
> receiver, totally independent of any settings on the K3 itself other than
> the operating frequency. The LP Pan I/Q demodulator obtains its sample from
> the K3's 1st IF, which is about 200 kHz wide. PowerSDR-IF includes filters,
> AGC and demodulators (implemented in software) to support LSB, USB, AM,
> Synchronous AM, etc. The AM audio quality is superior to that of the K3,
> because there's no roofing filter in front of the demodulator. So if you are
> looking for a second receiver to use with your K3 or are looking for the
> ability to utilize a bandwidth far wider than what's possible with the K3
> itself, the LP Pan/PowerSDR-IF combination will do that for you.
>
> However, keep in mind that there's a cost associated with this flexibility,
> namely that your PC must have a dual-core CPU to run PowerSDR-IF
> successfully, and you'll need a high quality, wideband soundcard. Also, with
> 200 kHz bandwidth in front of the LP Pan I/Q demodulator, this greatly
> increases the chances that the demodulator and/or the sound card will be
> overloaded by very strong signals, creating serious intermodulation
> distortion. Like any technical solutions, it has its pluses and minuses.
>
> Scott
> N7NB
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net
> [mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Tony McClenny
> Sent: Thursday, August 05, 2010 1:40 PM
> To: K4IA at aol.com; elecraft at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] LPPan vs. P3
>
> Buck,
>
> I too would like to hear from those with the experience to discuss both
> units - good suggestion. Thank you.
>
> - Tony, N3ME -
>
> 118 Ashwood Street
> Bethany Beach, DE 19930-9699
> (302) 539-5638
> Grid: FM28lm
> http://www.n3me.net
> Elecraft K3 # 2462
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net
> [mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of K4IA at aol.com
> Sent: Thursday, August 05, 2010 19:54 PM
> To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: [Elecraft] LPPan vs. P3
>
> I am using the LPPan and am very happy with the large screen, the
> interface, etc. I can also see the P3 being very intriguing. Perhaps they
> are two
> versions of the same thing, maybe they are meeting two different needs.
>
> I'd be interested in hearing some comments from folks who have tried both.
> How do they compare? I don't think this is a question of which one is
> "better" as "better" is going to be defined by your operating style and
> needs. Just tell us how they're different and what features of each you
> like or
> not and why.
>
> To start off
>
> LPPan P3
>
> Dual core computer No Computer needed
>
> High end sound card No Sound card needed
>
> Big Screen Little screen
>
>
> k4ia
> Craig "Buck"
> Fredericksburg, Virginia
> K3 #101
>
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