[Elecraft] Skimmer and the K3S

[Peter W2IRT]

From: "Luis V. Romero" <lromero56 at tampabay.rr.com>
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Skimmer and the K3S

In the words of the Immortal Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery Scott of Star Fleet:
"The more complex they make the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the
drain."

[pjd] A sentiment I generally hold to quite religiously. Scotty had the
right of it. 

Flex's are nice, they do nice things.  My lowly K3/KPA500/KAT500/P3 station
integrates just fine with anything I have here:  It works in a SO2R
environment with my secondary TS590s managed by microHAM u2R and two
microKEYERs Via N1MMPlus Logger. Radio selection and Antenna switching is a
one button push operation from N1MMPlus.[pjd] 

 [pjd] That's a nice setup, no question. But imagine doing all of that with
one and only one piece of hardware (plus the amp/tuner)? That's the
intriguing part to me. SO2R with one box. But that said, SO2R however it's
done is a pretty amazing feat and my hat is off to anybody who can do it
well.

All of this with a radio and PC I purchased in 2006.  The system will be 10
years old next month. Flex was not ready when I was looking.  They have come
a long way.  Craig K9CT has Maestro in his station.  I'm sure it will be
developed more and more as he and his ops beat on it.  

I'm sure more things are to come from Eric and Wayne.  Time will tell.  

[pjd] I hope so. I would dearly love to see an Elecraft pure SDR far more
than I would prefer to jump into the Flex line. After 14 months I've JUST
managed to figure out enough to be comfortable with my K3S as it is!

[pjd] And to answer an earlier question, I don't *want* to abandon the K3
platform (or Elecraft themselves--I believe in the company whole heartedly).
But I would like to see something with a fresh approach to hamming that's a
direct shot across the bow of the Flex 6700. The single biggest issue to be
overcome is having multiple pieces of software needing to control the radio
and speak to each other. In my case, the K3S, Microham Router, DX Lab
Suite's Commander *and* WinWarbler, a second instance of MMTTY, WSJT-X, CW
Skimmer, N1MM Plus, RCFOrb Server, Win4K3,  and NaP3. I do not believe it's
possible to run everything together and have it all work on the K3. Of
course, my biggest dream is to do SO2R, but that's a long ways out.

 >>But what I have is simple, competitive, reliable and has been, for 10
years now.  And I'm not totally dependent on a computer platform. 

 [pjd] This is where you and I differ. I would rather do all of this through
software, not hardware. Too many wires behind the desk is a recipe for
failure IMHO, and said failure invariably happens at the most inopportune
time. Right in the middle of a P5 pileup or a nice EU run in CQWW. I would
much rather have everything on a RELIABLE computer, tested eight ways from
Sunday and backed up daily (with a 3 week archive), so if something goes
completely pear shaped, it's a brief reload from a known-good backup and I'm
back in business. I'm not tracking down a bad cable that the cat dislodged
or that suffered a mechanical failure in a multi-conductor connector. Then
again, I sit and stare at computer screens for 14-18 hours a day anyways, so
I'm far more comfortable in front of a PC than some.

 >>I'm not that great of an op.  I'm also antenna challenged here in the
middle of the city.  But I win my share. And I credit my K3 station for a
lot of this success.

[pjd] Ditto on all accounts. Just a 70' tower, one antenna per band, wires
for 80/160 and a small RX loop for 160, all on a quarter-acre city lot. One
radio, one 8-port antenna switch, a P3, tuner, amp and computer. Thazzit.

----------------------------------------------------
Regards,
Peter Dougherty, W2IRT
www.facebook.com/W2IRT