[Elecraft] P3 as a portable RFI bandscope?

[Vic Rosenthal K2VCO]

A reminder: Elecraft warned that the preamp in the P3 is sensitive to 
static discharges, so be very careful connecting/disconnecting the P3 to 
external antennas.

On 5/17/2014 4:47 PM, Jim Miller wrote:
> I've pulled my P3 out of my setup to try and go searching for sources of
> 160/80m RFI.
>
> I did a whole house shutdown today and made sure that anything which had a
> battery was also shut down. That included the fire/burglar alarm system.
> For the purposes of these two bands my house is "clean."
>
> So now I need to do a walk around the area to see if I can locate the
> sources.
>
> I tried a little DC to daylight receiver with little success even with a
> 1ft diameter 2 turn loop for an antenna. The signals in question are too
> narrow band and the receiver is too insensitive so the signals are buried
> in noise.
>
> I'm now trying to use the P3 in hopes that its signal processing and
> averaging and ability to see a broader spectrum might be easier to use than
> listening to a single frequency.
>
> I tried the loop antenna directly into the P3 while powered on a battery
> and it seems like I could use a bit of gain to get over the input noise of
> the P3.
>
> Have others tried this and if so what sort of preamp, antenna or other
> setup was used?
>
> Right now focused on 160 and 80m.
>
> 73
>
> jim ab3cv


-- 
73,
Vic, K2VCO
Fresno CA
http://www.qsl.net/k2vco/