[Elecraft] P3 Goodness and questions

[Fred Jensen]

**K6DGW comments interspersed:

73,
Fred ["Skip"] K6DGW
Sparks NV DM09dn
Washoe County

On 2/20/2020 7:00 AM, AE4PB at carolinaheli.com wrote:
> I recently obtained a P3 and I'm and exceedingly happy! Now that I own it I
> feel bad that I wasted a few years trying other solutions that introduced
> noise and undue complexity into my station.
>
> Just a few notes and questions because the manual is helpful but I don't
> fully understand what I'm reading yet.
>
>   
>
> 1.	When using QSY the P3 unit often slides. How do most of you prevent
> the unit from sliding?
**Double-sided sticky tape on the rubber feet
> 2.	The signal/noise floor jumps a lot and I'm not sure if that's due to
> local interference or something in my setup. Based on reading I likely need
> to noise troubleshoot/filter my station. I don't see an AGC setting for the
> P3. Any suggestions?
**The baseline will move around due to changing ambient noise levels.  I 
run the averaging at max for the spectrum display which makes the 
signals stand out better and reduces the "jumpiness", averaging on 
waterfall is at minimum
> 3.	What serial number requires the mod? My serial is 3251
**Don't know.  I've had mine for 7 or so years and never put any mods in.
> 4.	I need a serial port screw stud - can I buy that from Elecraft when
> I purchase a cable + vga card?
**Maybe, but I'd think they'd not stock parts of parts.  You can just 
buy a connector and take the stud off.
> 5.	Is there a quick setup cheat-sheet anyone has for the P3?
**FN1: Span 4; FN2: Span 50; FN3: Span 200; FN4: Peak
**FN5: Span 20; FN6: Span 100; FN7: Span 25; FN8: Freeze
**Spectrum avg: Max
**Waterfall avg: Min
**Waterfall disp: Monochrome
**Display: Fixed Tune

**I use the monochrome waterfall primarily because I have no color 
vision, however guest ops have noted that you can see weaker signals on 
it. YMMV