I've had a couple of Pro IIIs in the past, and preferred them to the K3s I've owned. I operate primarily CW with some RTTY and almost no SSB.  The main activity is DXing, with a lot of contesting in the past.  The Icom 781 got me hooked on panadaptors years ago, and I later switched to the Pro III.  When the K3 came out and Elecraft promised the P3 by the end of that year, I sold the Pro III and bought the K3.  When Elecraft failed to deliver on the P3 promise (it was about a year late), I dumped the K3 and went back to a Pro III.  Later when the P3 became a reality, I went back to a K3 with a P3.  After that, I tried the FTDX-5000 with LP-Pan and associated software, and finally ended up with the Tentec Orion II with an SDR-IQ for the panadaptor function. I later switched to LP-Pan and NaP3 for the panadaptor.  I tell you all this so you understand that I've tried just about every panadaptor solution that's been available.  My quest was for a superior panadaptor paired with a very good transceiver.  For the panadaptor, I think the LP-Pan/NaP3 combination is the best by far.  The one drawback is that it requires a transceiver with a low first IF such as the FTDX-5000 or the Orion II. 

While the K3 appears to be the cult choice today and is well supported, even the Pro III is better designed from an operational standpoint.  One shortcoming of the Pro III is the susceptibility to IMD problems when operating in a contest with a very crowded band full of high-power stations.  At my QTH, only 20 and 160M show the problem during CW contests. When IMD shows itself in those instances, one easy way to deal with it is to simply insert some attenuation into the receive antenna line - never had to use more than 12 dB and that really isn't significant in the situation I mentioned.  If it bothers you to do that, then the Inrad roofing filter solves that problem - but - that's all it does.  It won't allow you to hear things you wouldn't hear without it and there's no magic involved - it reduces IMD, period.  If anyone tries to convince you otherwise, just ask them for the specific things it improves and an explanation of the electronic theory behind their claims. 

If you insist on a K3, then try the LP-Pan/NaP3 approach before spending the money on the P3.  That approach has all the key features of the P3, but with a larger screen (your PC screen), lower cost, superior resolution and excellent control of the key parameters effecting the scope display characteristics. 

Since you said you operate some CW, I'd strongly advise to stay away from the FTDX3000 until you know for certain that there are no problems with the transmit side on CW (as there were in the FTDX-5000).  For whatever reason, Yaesu has a record of CW transmit problems from the key clicks of the FT-1000 series to the clipped dits of the FTDX-5000 and that type of problem just doesn't exist in rigs like the K3 and Orion II. 

If I were you, I'd hang onto the Pro III so that when you dump the new rig in disgust, you'll have a good reliable rig to fall back on. 

73, Floyd - K8AC

I suggest you take a look at the IQPro DDS VFO from AA0ZZ.  It uses an AD9854, but Craig compares that to the AD9850 in his documentation.  The documentation and source code are free and the code is all very well documented assembler language.  From your mention of the 5 - 5.5 MHz VFO, I wonder if you're doing that for a piece of Drake gear?  If so, please contact me via email at: k8ac@k8ac.net for lots more info.

73, Floyd - K8AC

Not an uncommon problem.  I suggest you look carefully at your grounding scheme and make sure that you have all of the pieces of gear grounded to a common point in the station and that includes your PC and whatever interface you're using.  With the usual lightning storms we get here in the Southeast (I'm in NC), nearby strikes can induce enough voltage in the various lines entering your station that it's easy to end up with a large potential difference between units if they're not properly grounded.  It's also not uncommon for guys to overlook grounding their PC cabinet to the station ground in the shack.  In the older Icom gear, the CPU was protected from surges on the CIV line by a 15 cent transistor which was relatively easy to replace.  Maybe it's more complicated in the Pro 3.

73, Floyd - K8AC

It seems that learning the code and copying at higher speeds has been made more complicated today that it needs to be.  I learned before there were any "methods" and didn't have the advantage of military code training.  The technique used by my friends and I back in the 1950s and early 1960s is still available today, and for free.  We listened to W1AW code practice every night it was on and after drilling at or just above the speed we could copy, we continued to listen as the code speed increased far beyond what we could copy.  When you do that for a while, you begin to recognize words or letter combinations even though you may not be able to copy individual letters at that speed.  After considerable listening at the higher speeds and maybe copying only a very little bit of what was sent, when you go back to the target speed (13 or 20 WPM?) it sounds much slower than it did before and copy is much easier.  You can do the same thing most days by listening to the high speed guys on 40 CW whom I assume are using keyboards to send CW.  While the speeds are up in the 50 wpm plus range, when I listen for an extended period I begin to pick up words and phrases that I couldn't decode when I first started listening.  Such speeds far exceed my capability to write down what was copied of course, so the copy is all in the head.  I've always admired the guys who had military training and could copy 30 wpm on a MANUAL typewriter without error.

73, Floyd - K8AC

A typical HF amplifier goes between the transceiver and tuner, and contains a relay that switches between transmit and receive.  In transmit mode, the transceiver is connected to the amplifier input and the antenna (or tuner) to the amplifier output.  In receive mode, the transceiver is connected directly to the antenna by the relay in the amplifier.  The amplifier relay is controlled by a relay keying line in the transceiver and that line is grounded when the transceiver goes to transmit mode (there might be a short delay in generating output in the transceiver to give the amplifier relay time to switch).  In some amps, the switching is done via PIN diodes instead of relays.

To my knowledge there are no full duplex HF radios in the ham universe.  For transceivers that have a separate receive antenna port, the intention is that port is connected to a special receive antenna.  In that case, it's usually necessary to provide for grounding and/or opening that connection when the transceiver is transmitting on the transmit antenna to prevent damage to the receiver front end.  In this type of operation, the same transceiver contact that activates the amplifier relay on transmit would also be used to key the receive antenna port protection.  There could be a timing issue with that and there are ways to handle that.  By the way, an HF amp for 1500W output would typically be a single stage.  1500 W output amps that I've seen can be driven to full output by from 40 to 100 watts depending upon the tube used and other factors. 

73, Floyd - K8AC

Good for you, Jim!  That brings back memories of my first beam, a three element 10 meter job made out of steel electrical conduit and rotated with - a pipe wrench.

73, Floyd - K8AC

You didn't say which bands you operate, but if it's just 10-25-20, then I'd agree with the others on a trapped tri-bander.  But, if you also operate 17 and 12 meters, a Hex beam might be the best choice.  In my experience, quads are more unwieldy than yagis to install and maintain.  I used a 5 band hex beam for several years and that proved very durable through hurricanes and icing.  It was considerably lighter than a comparable yagi or quad and is more neighbor-friendly.  I also have a 3 el SteppIR that's been in the air for 7 years now and the green epoxy paint on the element tubes has deteriorated badly here in the high temperature and UV environment.  Also, my director will no longer extend far enough in 180 mode on 20M to assume the length required as a reflector.  Likely there's an obstruction near the end of the tube and I'd bet on a mud-dauber plug.  I suspect the original foam element tip plugs are gone or deteriorated.  Good luck with the changeover.  I'll probably be doing the same thing very soon.

73, K8AC

If your hot water pipes are grounded, it's probably purely incidental with the connection occurring at metal sink faucets.  Not what you want or need.  These days, it would be unusual to find metal cold water pipes that actually go into the ground.  Any and all cables coming from outside the house should be connected to ground at a single point, ideally where the electrical, phone and cable TV lines come into the house.  If that's impossible, at least run a heavy copper wire connection from a single point radio cable ground panel to the electrical panel ground rod.  There's tons of info on how to do station lightning protection grounding and that's what you want to search for.  It's been covered many times here on the Elmer's forum - try the search here.  Also, check out the Polyphaser website for more info on the subject.  It's only necessary if you want to protect yourself, your gear and your home from lightning damage.

73, K8AC

Forgive me for bringing this up, but Rob's receiver ranking chart has the entries sorted on just a single column - Narrow spaced dynamic range.  For serious contesters, that can be one of the most important things but for others, maybe not.  If you were to sort the table on the 100 KHz Blocking column, a 34 year old rig bubbles to the top.  For newcomers, unless you have the gravitas to finish in the top 50 scorers in any contest or contest classification, you're wasting money buying a rig solely because of its position in the chart.  You'd gain more by improving your operating skills and antennas as opposed to buying the rig at the top of the chart. 

73, K8AC

I'll give you some info on the TR7, but I suggest you go to the Drake Yahoo group where you'll get detailed help in getting it straightened out.  First of all, stop screwing around with AM mode.  Use CW mode for tuning your tuner.  The output power is controlled by the Carrier pot on the front panel and you should be able to adjust the power output from ZERO to full power over the range of that pot. For full output, run the Carrier pot clockwise until the ALC LED just comes on.   A TR7 that hasn't been properly pampered can be a real pain to keep running properly and there are a number of possible causes for the loss of power problem.  For example, the power switch on the front panel AF pot is a major point of failure for power loss and most TR7s fail there eventually.  There's an overcurrent adjustment in the power supply that may be misadjusted causing the supply to cut out before the desired current point is reached.  If the TR7 is working properly, you should be able to close the key in CW mode with at least 50W out and run for hours that way.  But, unless a knowledgeable person has worked on it recently, I can guarantee you that it is NOT working properly.  None of the contact pins for the cards are plated with anything that resists oxidation and the first thing to do with any TR7 is to pull the cards one at a time and use De-Oxit on all the card pins.  Your TR7 has been around since the late 1970s and who knows how many "golden screwdrivers" have been used on it over the years.  Any and all adjustments could have been messed up over that time.  And - it may well be that the finals are gone, or, were replaced at some point and the job not properly done (and the original finals haven't been available for many years.  It sounds as if you don't have a separate dummy load, so you might just try connecting a 100W incandescent bulb as a dummy and see if you're getting any output that way.  The TR7 will be able to fully illuminate a 100W bulb without cutting back the output power, but then, a mis-adjusted SWR circuit in  the TR7 could prevent that.

73 and good luck - Floyd , K8AC

I'm always puzzled over the infatuation with dipole or yagi antennas created with Hamsticks.  Why would you do that?  If you can get away with putting up the 30' mast, install an inverted vee cut for 20M at the top of the mast and feed it with 300 ohm TV feedline if you can still find it, or use the window-type ladder line if not.  Feed it with a balanced tuner or an imbalanced tuner with a ferrite balun at the output of the tuner.  You'll be amazed at how well it will work compared to the Hamsticks.  You can make the antenna out of very small gauge wire and it will be practically invisible. 

73, K8AC

Here's another idea: you can build a nice 3 el 10M yagi out of stuff sold at Home Depot or Lowes.  My first beam, built in the early 1960s, used steel electrical conduit for elements and heavier conduit as the boom.  Worked a ton of DX with that antenna, turned by a TV rotor. 

73, K8AC

Just looked at the SX-28 schematic.   All you need is to tap the signal from the second IF stage - the 6SK7.  I'd couple the signal out of the plate (top of T3) with a cap - maybe .01 of the appropriate voltage and see how that works. 

73, Floyd - K8AC

You can probably just split the cable with no problem.  What I'd do is to put a silicon diode in series with each device PTT line to provide isolation between the two devices.

I used a 480 quite a bit over a couple of years, mainly to take along on vacations, but sometimes as a remotely operated rig.  With the optional CW filter, it worked just fine and most of my operation was on CW with it.  Overall, it's a well designed rig and easy to operate. 

73, Floyd - K8AC