[Elecraft] Survey and summary: Elecraft K3/K3S panadapter solutions

[Ian White]

Thanks to Stefan for surveying opinions of the P3 from the world's top contesters.

Three years ago, I asked Elecraft about the possibility of point-and-click tuning using a mouse plugged into the USB port of the P3SVGA. These were the key points of Elecraft's reply.

1.  "The firmware architecture is arranged to control the P3 from the P3 front panel.  The SVGA is controlled by the P3, rather than the other way around." 
Comment: That does seem to be a substantial technical point, although they also agreed that "anything can be done" (which we must presume to mean, "given sufficient demand and priority").

2. "You would have to choose between a mouse and a keyboard.  The P3SVGA USB does not support... multiple devices at the same time." 
Comment: Not a deal-breaker. 

3. "Is the knob really that much slower than a mouse?"
Comment: Words failed me! At that point I broke off the conversation. The gap in understanding was simply too wide.

Since then I have purchased a second K3; but I did not purchase another P3. Instead I chose one of SDR-based alternatives which does more, better, at lower cost, and - crucially - continues to evolve. Meanwhile, the P3 falls farther behind. 

73 from Ian GM3SEK


>-----Original Message-----
>From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:elecraft-
>bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Stefan von Baltz, DL1IAO
>Sent: 26 July 2018 09:53
>To: Elecraft at mailman.qth.net
>Subject: [Elecraft] Survey and summary: Elecraft K3/K3S panadapter
>solutions
>
>My teammate and I decided that we wanted to have a panadapter with
>mouse support and point & click functionality for WRTC 2018.
>Unfortunately we did not find the time to build and test alternative
>solutions to the P3 and consequently decided against an Elecraft K3S as
>our radio. However, the K3/K3S still was a very popular radio at WRTC
>so I did a survey on the WRTC-teams mailing list and asked about their
>panadapter solutions.
>
>My questions were:
>1) Did you use the P3 as a panadapter?
>2) If not the P3
> a) which hardware solution did you choose?
>    - e.g. which SDR/splitter etc?
> b) which software solution and how did you integrate the waterfall
>display?
>    - e.g. on a separate PC/monitor or on the same PC/monitor as your
>logging software?
>    - if on the same PC how did you handle the program focus?
> c) would you use the P3 if Elecraft added mouse support for point &
>click?
>
>
>Here is the summary:
>
>I got 20 replies in total.
>
>6 used the Elecraft P3 panadapter.
>
>14 went with another solution and chose the following hardware:
>   Airspy HF+: 8
>   Funcube Pro USB: 2
>   SDRplay RSP1A: 1
>   Winradio: 1
>   Perseus: 1
>   other SDR: 1
>
>I got less detailed answers regarding the use of splitters:
>   commercial splitter: 1
>   passive T-connector: 1
>
>   no details given: 12
>
>The software used was
>   HDSDR: 4
>   N1MM spectrum display: 3
>   Writelog spectrum display: 2
>   SDR-console: 2
>   SDR-radio.com: 1
>
>   no details given: 2
>
>I received very little information on how to integrate the panadapter. 2
>were using HDSDR with the logging PC/monitor and used an
>autohotkey macro to get the focus back to the logging software.
>
>
>11 (5 of P3 group, 6 of second group) would use the P3’s mouse
>functionality if Elecraft added it.
>
>The remaining 8 of the second group indicated that their solution,
>while more elaborate, is smaller, lighter and less expensive than the P3
>and they would therefore stick to it.
>
>
>The replies also indicated that the native P3 users were using scope
>functionality predominantly in a passive way, e.g. watching general
>band activity and signal strengths. Those aiming to use the scope more
>actively were looking for solutions providing a fixed waterfall display
>with mouse support and point & click functionality. This allowed them
>to more effectively do search & pounce, interleave QSOs or click a new
>CQ frequency.
>
>
>73,
>
>Stefan DL1IAO, SA3CWW/SM9A
>
>
>--
>Stefan v. Baltz
>DL1IAO at contesting.com
>http://www.dl1iao.com
>
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