[Elecraft] Skimmer and the K3S

[Peter W2IRT]

Hello all,
With the vast majority of my friends having gone the Flex route rather than
the K3, I'm finding I'm at a rather huge disadvantage in terms of CW
operation, and that's Skimmer, which is an absolute game-changer for
everybody who's running it. I just can't figure out how to make it work
acceptably well with the K3S/P3 combination I have here.

I went the LP-PAN route and the birdies/mirror images make that device
wholly unsuitable for me, so I'm back to square one. I don't want to spend
another small fortune on interface boxes, but something better than LP-PAN
is clearly the answer. I just don't know what it is, what to do once I buy
it, or anything else. The big limitation I have is whatever devices that I
will need to buy will also have to play well with MicroHam Router software,
and in the past that has left my head spinning. This stuff is SO far beyond
my understanding I feel as if I've been thrown into the deep end of the pool
without knowing how to swim.

Working backwards, let's say the required end result is to have the CW
portion of whichever band I'm on skimmed and calls displayed on my bandmap
in either N1MM+ or DX Labs' Commander. Not 22kHz worth of calls relative to
my operating frequency, but everything, from .000 to .100 and maybe beyond.
If I'm running in CQWW or ARRL-CW, I'm less impressed with what the cluster
is showing me and would rather rely more heavily on what my own antenna is
picking up.

I have only two antenna feeds on the property: Whatever's selected on the
tower or a K9AY loop connected to the RX-in line on the back of the K3S. I
don't' have a separate antenna to feed another receiver so I guess the idea
is to take signal off the IF from the P3 out, yes? Like I said, I'm really
very old-school and I need help getting up to speed with all this stuff. I
migrated from a Mark V last year and the learning curve on the K3S is still
as steep as Mt. Everest for me. Any help greatly appreciated,
please'n'thanks!

---------------------------------------------
73 and Good DX
Peter, W2IRT

 

S/N 10023