Manager


Manager - NA4M
Manager Notes

Reviews For: LP-PAN / LP-PAN 2

Category: Specialized Amateur Communication Products

eMail Subscription

Registered users are allowed to subscribe to specific review topics and receive eMail notifications when new reviews are posted.
Review Summary For : LP-PAN / LP-PAN 2
Reviews: 47MSRP: 250.
Description:
LP-PAN 2 is a hardware decoder which is optimized for use with a receiver's IF output. When coupled with free customized SDR software, it provides an integrated real time display and more. When used with radios like the Elecraft K3 or Yaesu FTdx5000, it provides the best of both worlds... world class performance linked to world class software. Features include realtime spectrum and waterfall displays, point-and-click graphic tuning for both VFOs, one click band and mode control, automatic K3 IF/DSP offset tracking, dual receiver capability with one receiver, and more. LP-PAN 2 comes with serial port bridging software, which provides simultaneous sharing of the rig and multiple rig control programs such as loggers, CW Skimmer, PSK programs and others. LP-PAN 2 is available for most radios with an IF output jack, as well as some which can be modified to add one.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.telepostinc.com/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00474.7
K3GC Rating: 2011-01-09
LP-PAN awesome - service spectacular Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I just got mine setup this weekend and I am still learning it. It is all that previous reviews have stated and more. I can't wait for the next contest. I expect it will make a big difference in finding those elusive, weak stations. Did I say it is great eye candy.

Now, for the real reason I am writing this review. Larry's service is beyond anything I have ever experienced and in the amateur radio world I have grown accustomed to great service.

Due to a mix up I was initially sent the wrong unit. Larry phoned me about it before I had even discovered the problem. This was on a Thursday night. He built a new LP-PAN that evening and shipped it the next day overnight, Saturday delivery. FANTASTIC. He has also been extremely responsive to questions.

Problems and glitches are an inevitable part of business. It is how they are dealt with that determines the real winners. Larry is the best.

KG4CBJ Rating: 2010-09-07
If ya aint got one get one Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
New call W8GAB. Purchased to add a nice visual touch to a great rig K3. The PL-Pan actually influnced my final decision to own a K3. This in light of what the competition is doing by turning their rigs into "Bass Boats." That is buy an onscreen display module for a grand.

The LP-Pan is a fantastic device so simple yet so effective. Larry has been so helpful in understanding what is going on with all the related software and he in part helped me diagnose that our K3 actually had a KIO board go out. We thought is was the computer or the interface cable. Ours is being run on a HP computer with an onboard sound card. Hope to go to a firewire based interface in the near future, however this one works fine. Larry also told me to listen to the LP through the computer and you get the benefit of the Power SDR's noise reduction. You could spend up to five times the cost of this product and still not do any better.
WZ0O Rating: 2010-05-16
WoW Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have been running the LP-PAN with my K-3 about 2 months. Set up was not the quickest as there was a conflect with the sound card and Vista 64.
Larry to the rescue and now it works great. Using the panafall combo those weak ones just pop right up. Not bad for less then $300.00 for the LP-PAN and the sound card.
VA3RKO Rating: 2010-04-01
TS-950SD with LP-PAN - Awesome Combo!!! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Nothing technical needs to be rehashed.... The addition of the LP-PAN panadapter along with the PowerSDR/IF stage software to my venerable Kenwood TS-950SD was straight forward with the awesome support of Larry Phipps N8LP. Throught email and a quick phone call, the whole process went well. The Panadapter is a well made product that adds a new dimension to my Amateur Radio shack. Great product.
W0WOI Rating: 2010-03-21
Excellent Product and Company Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The LP-PAN is well-built and adds another dimension to operating. Interfacing factory-assembled S/N 815 with my K3 and computer was little problem other than a self-imposed "senior moment'.

An E-mail to N3LP on a Saturday evening (yet) brought a most useful response within 30 minutes and I was on the way to watching grass grow.

Excellent quality product exceeded only by unmatched customer service.
VE9KK Rating: 2010-01-24
Quality product Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I had purchased and assembled the LP 100A and was very impressed with Larry's product. So I took the plunge and ordered the LP Pan. I have read many reviews on this product and just ordered an Elecraft K3 and wanted a pan adapter to go along with it, Larry's seemed to be the obvious choice for me. The kit went together like a breeze in the end it is a very professional looking product you assemble yourself. In the manual Larry does say to read over the information for setup with the PowerSDR very carefully. I did have some hiccups along the way but the email support is perfect and set me on the right path for getting the LP Pan my K3 and the PowerSDR software working flawlessly. There is some setup that has to be done but well worth the the outcome of an excellent pan adapter that works in sync with your radio. I would like to also mention Larry's LP Bridge which is software that allows my K3, N1MM and PowerSDR to live with each other happily ever after. Another great product Larry thanks !!!
KA4KOE Rating: 2009-03-15
My TS-940 Has New Life Too! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
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
KC2RGW Rating: 2009-03-03
TS-940 has new life Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
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.
KB3NAA Rating: 2009-03-02
LP-Pan and kenwood TS-870s Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
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.
NV7E Rating: 2008-12-25
Perfect panadaptor Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
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