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| Reviews Summary for LP-PAN |
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Reviews: 11
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Average rating: 5.0/5
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MSRP: $175 Kit, $225 Assembled.
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Description: LP-PAN is a software defined panadapter which is optimized for the Elecraft K3. It provides the best of both worlds. the world class performance of the K3, linked to the best SDR application, PowerSDR. Features include realtime spectrum or waterfall display, point-and-click graphic tuning, one click band and mode control, automatic K3 IF/DSP offset tracking, dual receiver capability (w/o the need for KRX3), and more. LP-PAN comes with LP-Bridge software, which provides simultaneous sharing of the K3 and multiple rig control programs such as loggers, CW Skimmer, PSK programs and others. LP-PAN is also available for older Kenwoods and TenTec Orion
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More info: http://www.telepostinc.com/
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KA4KOE
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Rating: 5/5
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Mar 15, 2009 07:41
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My TS-940 Has New Life Too!
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I am completely blown away by the capabilties the LP-PAN unit has added to my venerable Kenwood TS-940S. There is not much to add to the results stated in these revieww, but needless to say, I won't be using the inboard speaker much. The unfiltered IF from the 940' sounds FABULOUS fed through the computer's sound system. And, you get a well thought out SDR as well.
Users of the Kenwood TS-940S will need to get the interface board from Piexx and install it. This is not an easy task, as the many plugs and edge connectors demand that the brave ham take his time, lest he cause more problems, as I did....ahem.
The LP-PAN unit, in conjunction with PowerSDR/IF and Ham Radio Deluxe, is well worth what Larry asks for it. Buy the ready-made unit only if you are not good at kit building and comfortable working around electronics with static-sensitive components that go BYE BYE if you're not careful.
However, all that being said, you MUST have a good sound card in your confuser (PC), and you MUST read the manual to set the LP-PAN panadapter up for proper operation. This is not a plug and play unit. You should be comfortable working with soundc ard drivers. Stock computer main on-board sound cards MAY work, as mine does, but it may not work well. My Pentium Dual Core 2.2 GHz P4 has the on-board sound card, but as some experience, you may have artifacts in the display, as I do.
Good job Larry! Thanks for a neat product. I always liked the panadapter in my Icom 756PRO which I sold to get my '940, but I never did like the poor receiver in that radil.
73
Philip Neidlinger, PE
KA4KOE
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KC2RGW
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Rating: 5/5
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Mar 3, 2009 13:02
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TS-940 has new life
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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No bench numbers here, test equipment blah blah, I just plugged it in and fired it all up.
I bought a TS-940 at a fair price intentionally to make a "Franken Flex" out of it.
With the LP-PAN I now have full control over my RX with filtering options only the very latest rigs are capable of and actually ...beyond.
I'm using it with the PowerSDR-IF Stage and also Winrad so far. The filtering is much nicer than the filters on the 940 and the noise reduction and other options available are fantastic too.
One point that QST completely trampled past and many other reviewers of the hybrid panadapter IF setups overlook is the quality of using this system for the actual receiver and not just as a visual panadapter.
The whole reason I did this was to use it as the actual receiver with my 940 and the audio with all the DSP NR and infinitely variable width and shift with filtering is _amazing_. No comparison to using the rig itself.
I have a BHI ANEM DSP for AF DSP which is remarkable in itself, but with SDR software running, for the first time I don't even need to use the BHI.
How QST could even 'review' this setup and never even try using the audio for receive is beyond me. It was a huge disservice to this piece and the benefits of using PowerSDR or Winrad for that matter.
If a reviewer didn't understand how to channel the output audio properly....what kind of review was it? They missed half the picture easily.
The LP-PAN is a well made piece of hardware that completely transforms old gear extending another decade of usefulness to it. If you have a Kenwood TS-450/830/870/940/950 kicking around already and you aren't afraid of some fiddling around with new concepts and a bit of cable making...you will be amazed at the payoff.
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KB3NAA
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Rating: 5/5
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Mar 2, 2009 05:08
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LP-Pan and kenwood TS-870s
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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I purchased the LP-PAN after talking with a friend who owns a K3 and added it in his shack. Looking at the site it certainly did support the 8.83 MHz IF freq of the kenwood radios. I wondered though how good the experience would be. In the end there was enough information to suggest that it would be worthwhile. Make certain that you let Larry know you're intended operation, it makes a difference.
All I can say is wow. I thought this would be a neat accessory - but it is quickly becoming my favorite way to operate. I use it of course to watch the band (192 KHz with emu-0202 sound card) but also find it useful for just about anything I want to know about the signals I'm receiving.
I had one or two minor issues on set up - I found a power supply that was noisy in the shack. I also found support to be prompt and thorough.
Thanks Larry - Great product.
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NV7E
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Rating: 5/5
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Dec 25, 2008 09:29
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Perfect panadaptor
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I have the Flex 5000A which I originally ordered because the initial slow delivery of the Elecraft K3 unit I had also ordered. I received my Flex transceiver first. After you use the Flex with the PowerSDR program and its great panadaptor display for even a little while, using any other radio gives you the impression that you are operating blind. The K3 is a fantastic radio, but I missed the panadaptor. When Elecraft first announced the K3 it planned to add a panadaptor as an accessory, but it has yet to appear.
Larry, N8LP has now introduced a panadaptor system for the K3 in the form of the LP-PAN. I got his LP-100 wattmeter before and love it. I ordered the LP-PAN assembled from the fifth production run. It is a little black box which you use with a high-end sound card to access the PowerSDR program. I got an EMU-0202 USB outboard sound card on eBay to use with the LP-PAN. That sound card is much better than the one you normally find in a PC. It is designed mainly for professional musicians. It can handle a higher bandwidth than most sound cards. It meshes well with the demanding requirements of PowerSDR. With the sound card, the whole LP-PAN setup costs about $350.
The version of PowerSDR for the LP-PAN is not the same you use with the Flex 5000A. It is a specialized version by WU2X called PowerSDR/IF, mainly used with the SoftRock devices, which are popular for people who want to play with software defined radio. You download the WU2X program free. It works with a free program from N8LP called LP-Bridge. After getting the correct connecting cables together, I was able to get the LP-PAN going in fairly short order following the instructions from the N8LP website.
The panadaptor display using the LP-PAN setup looks just like the one with the regular PowerSDR version for the Flex 5000A, but operating the K3 with the LP-PAN is not completely the same as using PowerSDR with the Flex 5000A. The difference is that the LP-PAN system provides mainly just a panadaptor, not a complete operating platform as for the FlexRadio transceivers. About half of the controls on the WU2X version of PowerSDR do not function. The buttons for bands and modes do work and you get readouts of the same frequencies as displayed on the K3. The panadaptor itself works the same as with the regular PowerSDR for the FlexRadio products. You can whip from one end of a band to the other with your mouse and fine-tune with your mouse wheel. Once you realize the differences of the LP-PAN system versus the FlexRadio system, you remember that all the knobs, buttons filters, etc., on the K3 itself still work fine, but now you also have the perfect panadaptor you always dreamed of.
The K3 is a great rig, which the LP-PAN makes even greater. I am very pleased with the LP-PAN and recommend it highly to people I like.
ZS6SIG
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N4XD
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Rating: 5/5
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Dec 23, 2008 10:37
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Excellent Product and Support
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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As others have said, excellent product and superior support.
Details:
Bought kit and it arrived in a matter of days. Longest part of assembly was reading the color code on the 1/8W resistors. Needed a magnifying glass for that and to ease assembly. Kit is relatively easy. A fine tipped grounded soldering iron and an anti static mat are needed.
To use the pan adapter you must also run Power SDR as modified by WU2X. That allows the software to take an IF input (I use mine with the K3. Larry has options for the Orion and other radios with IF outputs).
The software is not difficult to set up but it does involve several steps. While not what I'd call "plug and play" certainly manageable by anyone who has ever loaded a Windows program. Make a few changes to various pages and you are up and ready to go.
Larry lists several tested sound cards. I'm using one that is not on the list but works well. The only hitch I ran into, and was helped out of by Larry, was my sound card doesn't offer separate left and right channel inputs but rather one stereo input. Need to use a splitter to split out both channels individually. I had several what I thought were splitter cables but what they did was just duplicate the stereo output on both connectors. One even had the pigtails color coded red and white which to me means separate channels.
Larry diagnosed the problem when I wrote him an email about not being able to null out the image on the display. Once I solved this cable problem was able to completely null out any image (ghost signal).
With this combination of hardware and software the radio will control the software or visa versa: you change frequency on the radio and the software follows. Point and click on a peak in the pan adapter and the radio will follow. change modes: same thing. An excellent tool and well worth the minor $$ invested.
N4XD
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W4GIW
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Rating: 5/5
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Dec 20, 2008 10:04
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Great addittion to K3
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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An outstanding product. It produces the best panadapter that I have ever seen. Its use with the K3 gives you all the receive benifits of an SDR radio like Flex but you still have a radio with all the knobs that works great without a computer when you want to use it that way.
The backup support for the LP-Pan is outstanding and Larry N8LP always is available for assistance. When used with his Bridge software program which is free, the attachement of Lp-Pan to the K3 is seamless.
If you have any interest in SDR radio I urge you to visit www.telepostinc.com and look at what Larry has to offer.
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N4GW
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 24, 2008 09:11
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Excellent
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I am running a Kenwood TS-850S/AT and an Apple iMac as my computer. I set the iMac up with Boot camp and booted up under Windows XP. Hooked up the LP-PAN and the EMU 0202 to the radio and computer. Downloaded and installed the software. Being a Kenwood, I installed HRD instead of LP-Bridge. It took about half a day and one email to Larry to install and configure PowerSDR and get rid of the images. The instructions were for the K3 so I had to do some trial and error work on the offsets for the 850, but it was faily simple to configure
I am very impressed with the peformance of the unit. I love having two receivers in PowerSDR, and click to tune right to a signal is
very handy. The the DSP NR works great and the audio ius very pleasant to listen too
It is a good feeling to have a $700 radio do most of what a FLEX radio can do. You can't beat that. My HATS off to Larry for such a fine product.
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VE7TK
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 14, 2008 20:22
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SUPERB
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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This is my second N8LP kit (I also have the LP-100 Digital Vector RF Wattmeter) and I am still amazed! It was an easy to build kit and Larry offers fantastic support!
Extracting the 9MHz IF out of the Orion (the write-up is on my website) is fairly straight forward and Larry has kindly assembled a 9 MHz version of his panadapter kit for Ten-Tec Orion owners.
I am using the panadapter with my Orion, N4PY software, LP-Bridge, an E-Mu 0202 sound card and PowerSDR. The combination is amazing giving a panadapter with a bandwidth of up to 192 kHz which can also be used concurrently with CWSkimmer.
Unlike older panadapters that were stand alone devices (often Heathkit green in colour) this panadapter integrates with my rig control and logging software and displays on my computer monitor. One less big box to find a home for in an already crowded shack.
As others have already noted, this is a fun, useful and reasonably priced accessory. The point and click frequency change along with the adaptability and continual improvement of all the software will keep this device current for a long time.
Thanks again Larry for a great little box!
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KD8CGH
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 14, 2008 07:10
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Great Product
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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I am using the LP-PAN with my K3. The pcmcia sound card in my old laptop limits the spectrum bandwidth to 48 kHz. Even with that limitation, the panadapter is tremendously useful.
Larry's LP-Bridge software ties PowerSDR and Ham Radio Deluxe seamlessly. The point and click tuning and second receiver are great additional features to the K3.
By adding the panadapter function through LP-PAN I can still use my K3 as a portable standalone transceiver at times, as well as assimilate it into the Borg other times.
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N4PY
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 10, 2008 19:22
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Fantastic Panadapter
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I have been using this with my Orion and N4PY Orion software. This panadapter works better than anything I have ever seen before. The detail in the displayed band is unbelievable. And you can just click on a signal and the radio is instantly there. It even works in a split DX pileup to help find the station the DX is working.
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