[Elecraft] [K3] My K3 needs pimping

[Jim Brown]

On Mon,3/9/2015 9:24 AM, Don Putnick via Elecraft wrote:
> Should my next purchase be a subreceiver or a panadapter, and why?

Buy the P3 first. Both are useful. My primary use for the 2nd RX is 
diversity reception, which requires two antennas. It's most useful on 
the lowest bands, especially 160 and 80, but also on 40. I also use it 
to listen on my TX frequency when running split in a pileup. That way, I 
know if there's a QSO there. I can also time my calls with another 
station in the same pileup on that frequency.

The P3 gives you a nice overview of the pileup, it allows you to monitor 
a "dead" band for activity (like 10M, 6M), it helps you identify RFI, it 
can even show you the bandwidth of dirty signals. In the E30FB pileup on 
15CW this morning, K7RR was clicking almost 2 kHz wide, and the P3 
clearly showed it.

On 6M, I set the P3 for 200 kHz (max width), to display 50.08 MHz to 
50.280 MHz. This lets me monitor for CW, SSB, and JT65/JT9 activity. 
I've picked up a lot of rare grids in short openings that way. Last fall 
there was an opening to CX and PY I made four Qs in three grids!

73, Jim K9YC