[Elecraft] K4 Panadaptor Display

Tue Jan 26 12:15:09 EST 2021

I appreciate what Elecraft is trying to do. Making one single radio to meet
every person's wants, not needs, is an impossible task. The K4 is a bells
and whistles radio. The everyday user or for that matter contester does not
need half of the interface ability that the K4 will offer. For me I need a
bomb proof front end for a high RF environment, namely SO2R on a city lot
using the same antenna for 2 radios at the same time with band pass filters
and multiplexers that offer 100db of rejection. To date no SDR only radio
offers what a superhet offers. Until the HD model is implemented, the
K4 is not the radio for me. If I were to be a one radio shack radio user
and not 2 for SO2R, it would be my first choice. For instance, the IC7300
and IC7610, both are fantastic radios. Put another RF source remotely near
them and the ADC is overloaded and the AGC pumps/attacks and you hear
nothing. Both are a massive failure when using SO2R or at Field Day. The
second thing that I need, being in a large city is the ability of the
receiver to deal with intermittent noise problems.  Line noise and the
increased noise floor that highly populated areas hit the front end of a
receiver has to be ameliorated by the receiver. Algorithms for noise
blanking, and digital noise reduction and a tunable passband capability
without ringing and loss of weak signal detection is what is needed. That
is a tall order. Narrowing down the frequency by a superhet front end and
adding band pass filters to help with this will cut the work of the ADC
down due to the decreased spectrum that needs to be converted. Then the
FPGA and DSP sections do not have to process so much data and this should
speed up the response time and will add increased selectivity, hopefully.
But until the HD is implemented this is not going to happen.

What I don't need in a radio:

I don't need 5 receive antenna ports. If I ever have more than one RX
antenna, then it will be on a rotary switch or a button console that I can
quickly rotate through to select the antenna for best reception. Faster and
more contest efficient and way less cumbersome than that which is built
into a radio with multiple button screen pushes. Only 1 Rx port is needed.

I don't need remote ability. For the most part only a fraction of a percent
of all ops use remote applications. The guys at RemoteHam are making a
fortune using this technology. I am not a person that has $3000 to pay for
a weekend of remote contest station operation.

I don't need eye candy offered by high resolution output to a large screen.
When I am running it offers nothing. It is the ability to separate the
signals between the ears and a large screen does diddly for me. For S&P for
the less skilled, yes it may be to some advantage, at least it gives
something nice to look at the noise floor with. The ability of a narrow
bandwidth capable screen for the Pan adaptor, eg, 1 or 2 khz is of far
greater use to me. On a 7 inch screen I can see the weak ones easily. The
micro pan is a nice idea but I would much prefer having half of the full
sized pan to be 1 or 2khz wide and the other half 20 to 50 khz selectable.
I would gang the receivers on the same frequency and use diversity RX and
have a continuous large but easily selectable narrow screen without the
addition of a separate monitor that is never placed ergonomically to the
operating position. That way my eyes, neck and shoulders are looking at the
radio face and I am getting the info that I need without glancing at
another screen that is not eyes straight forward and level to the operating
position.

I don't need a CW decoder. The best one is between your own ears. If I were
serious about digital modes I would not be using an in radio decoder. I
would go with a 24 bit audio device and an outboard computer with multiple
ways to simultaneously decode RTTY. FT8 and for the most part, all other
digital modes are boring to me. I don't use them. PSK 31 for rag chewing is
ok, but rarely do you find that any more, and after about a month, on PSK,
you have already worked every one using that mode. You don't need a great
radio for FT8. As long as the radio can be CAT controled you are good to go.

Each operator has their own needs when it comes to operating. Mine are
contest oriented. Strong bomb proof rx for high RF environment, brick wall
passbands, excellent sensitivity, an agc that does not pump when a 20 over
9 signal is with in 500 hz of your passband, no ringing when filters are
engaged, power line noise reduction at the push of a button, digital noise
reduction for ambient noise,a notch filter that kills hetrodines or is
tunable to get rid of a second cw signal in your passband and a price tag
that I can live with because I need to buy 2 matching radios for SO2R. I
was ready to buy a second K3S when it was discontinued in favor of the
upcoming, and not yet released or developed K4. The K3S with second rx for
diversity has been a wonderful radio for me and thousands of others. It has
proven itself in high RF environments in many M/M M/2, SO2R and
Dxpeditions. The only complaints I had were its noise reduction was lacking
in ability and after about 10 hours the roar/harshness of sound got to me
sometimes.

There are a lot of great radios out there. Putting your finger anywhere in
the top 10 will get you a great radio. It is a matter of operator choice
and how much you are willing to spend. Having had $9879 on deposit to
Elecraft for over a year and not so much as an email form letter thanking
me for my interest free collateral that I extended to them for the usery,
well, it did not leave a very good taste in my mouth. I own the KPA1500. It
is a nice amp. The tuner is great. Easy to operate and interface. I plan to
purchase a KPA500 to match my KAT500 to put in my travel trailer, but as
for the K4, I have moved on. I wish you well Elecraft.

Morgan Bailey NJ8M

BS + MS + $2.98 = COFFEE
Real Life Experience = Priceless, says the man who set his back yard on
fire with a breadboard tuner loading a 160 meter inverted L with 1000
watts. LOL

On Tue, Jan 26, 2021 at 8:32 AM Grant Youngman <ghyoungman at gmail.com> wrote:

> This question was addressed during the recent Zoom presentation/Q&A.  The
> answer is no — except.
>
> Some displays supports multiple video inputs that can be assigned to
> quadrants on the display.  So you could assign the K4 video stream to a
> quadrant (essentially a logical dedicated display), for example,  if your
> display supports that function.
>
> Grant NQ5T
>
> > On Jan 26, 2021, at 7:57 AM, Ray Spreadbury via Elecraft <
> elecraft at mailman.qth.net> wrote:
> >
> >
> > I wonder if it is possible to show the panadaptor(s) display as a
> separate floating window on the external monitor?
> > So that for example you could have your logging program windows open as
> well as a separately floating K4 panadaptor display showing on the same
> monitor.
> > 73 Ray G3XLG
> >
>
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