[Elecraft] P3 and Digital Mode Operation

[Ken Chandler]

Maybe behind times, !!! But has a price and shipping been fixed on the  
P3!!

Ken..G0ORH

Sent from my iPhone




On 29 Mar 2010, at 19:40, Lyle Johnson <kk7p at wavecable.com> wrote:

>
> I've been testing the P3 < URL:http://www.elecraft.com/news.htm >  
> for a
> while now, and it has a really nice feature for Digital Modes that my
> other panadapter solutions lack.
>
> The P3 has a SPAN control.  This sets the width of the spectrum  
> display
> in kHz.  When looking at a busy band, for example during last  
> weekend's
> contest, this made it pretty easy to spot activity on a relatively  
> quiet
> band (15m) or a hole on a very busy busy band (20m).  This isn't much
> different than other panadapters, just more convenient.
>
> However, let's say you decide to operate a digital mode, such as PSK  
> 31.
>
> Dial down the SPAN to ± 3 kHz.  Suddenly, the display looks like the
> usual "waterfall" you are accustomed to when using DM780, MIXW,
> MultiPSK, CocoaModem, etc.  You can easily distinguish individual
> signals, and see the modulation on them.  It is extremely simple to  
> then
> set the marker on a signal, tap the control to re-tune, then then tap
> the SPOT button on the K3 to get it nailed.  You are now ready for a  
> QSO
> using PSK-D mode.
>
> This same feature is also very useful when operating RTTY.  Further,  
> the
> P3 lets you see nearby signals in fine detail even when you have the
> K3's dual passband feature turned on.  Use of such narrow filtering on
> the K3 restricts the usual waterfall display on the DM780 or MMTTY
> console, for example.
>
> And, the P3 doesn't consume PC screen real estate.
>
> The reason this works so well with the P3 is that as you adjust the
> SPAN, the P3 automatically adjusts its internal filters, sampling  
> rates
> and calculations to effectively utilize the display width. If you use
> the ZOOM control on PowerSDR with LP-PAN, for example, you just get a
> much coarser display as you zoom in because the sampling rate for the
> soundcard being used with PowerSDR doesn't automatically adjust as you
> change displayed bandwidth.  If it did, it has limited rate selections
> depending on the soundcard being used and its drivers.  Since the P3
> hardware is purpose-built from the outset to be a panadapter rather  
> than
> a general spectrum display or a soundcard, it does not have these
> limitations.
>
> 73,
>
> Lyle KK7P
>
> Disclaimer: I work for Elecraft.
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:Elecraft at mailman.qth.net
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html