[Elecraft] (Mini)P3 v SubRX

[dyarnes]

Hi All,

That modified (cut down) version of the P3 by WA6KBL is quite intriguing. 
Someone else has suggested that doing this could cause some interference 
action with the display, which is too bad if it is true.  It seems to me 
that, since the PX3 works fine in a smaller enclosure, why wouldn't the P3 
work O.K. as well?  Personally, I wish the P3 had less bulk, particularly 
since it seems excessive and clumsy.  I know the P3's dimensions were 
determined, at least in part, to correlate to the K3's dimensions.  However, 
so much wasted space would be nice to eliminate if possible.

Some time back, a friend of mine was casually asked whether he and his wife 
did much cooking at home.  After a brief pause, my friend's tongue in cheek 
response was that "We store very valuable documents in our oven!"  That's 
sort of how I felt about my old Orion II, which is (in my view) enormously 
oversized, and takes up a lot of desk space.  There is a lot of empty space 
inside.  Same goes for the P3 I now have.  The width and height are fine, 
which accommodates the display size, but the depth is seemingly excessive, 
and not by just a little bit.  I suppose some would say that the additional 
room you might gain by having a reduced sized P3 would just be dead space 
anyway.  However, I think a smaller version would add significantly to the 
portability and handling ease of the unit without any sacrifice in 
utilization--assuming the interference concerns are unfounded.  Even the 
modified version by WA6KBL doesn't cause things inside to seemingly be 
cramped.

I've traveled with my K3 several times, but I have never taken the P3 along, 
and mainly because I thought it was just too much additional bulk.  I might 
feel differently if my P3 was more in line size wise with the WA6KBL 
version.  So, if Elecraft feels they could offer a modified enclosure kit, 
I, for one, very well might be interested.  It looks to me like it might 
just be a matter of providing shortened top, bottom, and side plates.  The 
back plate could be preserved.  Would this be all that expensive or 
problematic to do???

Dave W7AQK