| N1UW |
Rating:     |
2014-03-16 | |
| Almost Perfect |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
I have used the P3 with my K3 for almost a year and with HRD 6.1 for several months. I find no filtering or command conflicts with the K3, the P3 and HRD. They all play together flawlessly. Whatever problems earlier reviewers may have had with this combination, I cannot duplicate them now.
Immediately before I owned the K3, I owned an Icom IC-7600 and before that a Flex 5000. The panadapters on the 7600 and all other bigger-box radios are a joke so there is so sense comparing them in this review. The panadapter in the Flex 5000 was incomparable. The main benefit of the 5000 panadapter over the P3 was the point-and-shoot feature.
Having said that, I can say that going from a radio with a real-time panadapter to one without is like losing one's eyesight on the air. The difference between efficiently seeing what is happening on a band and moving from station to station compared to blindly twiddling the dial around looking for signals is staggering.
For a number of reasons I switched to the K3 and bought the P3 without hesitation. It does not have the point-and-shoot operation with a mouse that I miss but that is likely to change soon. (Hopefully at Dayton 2014.) It may not have the band edge-to-edge capability that the 5000 has but, really, if I am working CW on the low end of 20M, I really don't care what is happening at 14.345 MHz. It really does well what I am focused on at any given time.
Although it does not have the point-and-shoot capability that I miss (yet), it does have an interesting ability to listen to one QSO while tuning around the band with VFO B as indicated by a second marker on the display. It is cool to move the magenta marker down to another signal and sample it with the push of a button and either stay there or immediately move back to VFO A without disturbing any settings.
This is extraordinarily helpful in pile-ups and/or split frequency dx operations where you can discreetly move your transmit VFO to a currently transmitting station (you can see he is the only "blip" where there were many before) while still listening to the target (DX) station. If you have to decide to spend your money on a second receiver or the P3...buy the P3.
I am old and my eyesight is not what is used to be. I bought the P3 with the SVGA adapter and, whatever your age or whatever your eyesight is, I strongly urge that you get the SVGA adapter with the P3. It is a killer combination.
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|
| M0TRN |
Rating:      |
2014-02-23 | |
| A great DX tool for the K3 |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Bought the P3 + SVGA having read the reviews here and knowing about its limitations compared to a SDR+computer panadapter solution, in terms of FFT speed and flexibility. But, as I had expected, having a dedicated tool paid off.
It's very well integrated with the K3, the controls are simple and quick to use once you learn them, and the sensitivity of the panadapter display is simply great - I can see signals I can't hear.
The FFT update speed on very narrow spans on the SVGA isn't ultra fast, but everything shows up and it doesn't cause any problems for me.
It's an incredible help in a pile-up, and also when searching a quiet band for signals. I couldn't live without this now, I used to have a hoembrew solution with a SoftRock IF, 192 kHz sound card, Linux PC, and Quisk, but I have to say I very rarely bothered to fire it up in practice. Now I always have panadapter display and I use it constantly.
The unit looks great next to my K3 and KPA500. I use an old 14" 1024x768 TFT monitor as well, which is more than adequate.
Highly recommended. |
|
| K6JEY |
Rating:      |
2013-10-17 | |
| Great Panadaptor |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
When you think about getting a P3, I think you need to decide on whether you need an SDR radio on the IF port or the P3. I have had both for about a year. They both do different things on purpose. As a DX'er, I wouldn't be without a P3. It makes split operation a breeze and gives you an advantage a second receiver alone doesn't give you. The limited control of the P3 is there on purpose- to keep you out of trouble. It is maximized to give you the information you need for DXing. I have used the VGA card, but prefer the original when I am contesting. I use N1MM logger and the total combination is excellent. For what it is designed it is excellent. I have no hesitation in recommending it.
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Earlier 5-star review posted by K6JEY on 2012-03-31
I added the VGA adapter to the P3 and played with several monitors. I settled on an automobile headrest LCD/TFT, VGA/composite monitor that is 10" diagonal. It is perfect. It was all about image scale. The 14" monitor was too big to see comfortably and the 22" TV was better across the room. the 10" can be put close to the radio and the wide screen is totally filled in. Doug K6JEY
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Earlier 5-star review posted by K6JEY on 2011-09-24
I have used a variety of spectrum analyzers, SDR receivers and Panadaptors, including a real Panadaptor and the Hallicrafters SP 44. The P3 was easily wired and put on the air with a Yaesu VR5000. It was very handy and worked very well with it. I was satisfied that it would be a help on EME S&P activity.
I then bought the K3 and added it on. Wow. Having the added features with the K3 makes it a spectacular addition. Having both of the receivers work on the display gives me a visual sense of where I am on the band. The image scale of the display matches works with the K3 in that I am not squinting at the P3 display or shielding my eyes. Finally, like the K3, the functions you need the most are easiest to use. If not, you can assign any function to the buttons on the bottom. So far averaging is the only one I have added. The P3 is also self-contained and makes one less computer to fuss with.
Worth the $600, even if I already have an SDR IQ? yes. The P3 is an extension of the K3, and the SDR IQ is a lab receiver. I've kept both. |
|
| K9TWO |
Rating:      |
2013-04-30 | |
| Fantastic |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Bought my P3 to use with my Yaesu FTDX-3000. That rig has a panadapter but much to small.
The P3 works great. No it's not like a 21 inch monitor, but I did not want one that big. I have limited desk space because I have a lot of rigs and I need room to play with them. Plug and play.
Set the IF frequency on the menu, plugged a patch cord from the P3 to my FTDX and away it went. It also works much better than my Icom 7600
panadapter.
I have been reading some chatter on the sensitivity of the P3 vs other gear and I would like to say it will display signals one inch tall that can be barely heard. I connected my IFR-1200S service monitor to the FTDX-3000, injected a .15 uv signal and observed an inch tall signal. I think anyone that believes it has poor sensitivity may have theirs set up wrong.
It will not do everything it does with the K3, but I am not using it with a K3. I don't care about all the fancy point and click stuff so it's just fine with me. Great addition to the FTDX-3000. Of course it takes some time learning how to operate it and what you are looking at.
I had no problems because I work with a commercial spectrum analyzer for a living.
73 K9TWO |
|
| Done |
Rating:      |
2013-04-09 | |
| QSY! |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
After a year with the K3 decided to buy this great "option" for my radio. After looking at the panadapters built in to other rigs, other than the new Kenwood- they all appeared to be eye candy, as others have described- having the waterfall split screen in real time detecting signals right down to the K3's noise floor is a large advantage detecting those weak dx signals.
I find I most like the qsy function, zipping around the band with one push on the knob.
I think I would like 400khz of display, but not complaining.
Not haveing to tie up my PC with I/O boxes, and software- leaving extra cpu power for other important fuctions is great to have. If the power goes out I can run the P3 on DC along with the K3.
Well worth the money- nice job Elecraft.
Earl
AB9TX
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|
| KF1C |
Rating:      |
2013-04-04 | |
| P3 review |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| Don't listen to the 1 or 2 out of 5'vers. They are obviously spoiled and no doubt have 12x12 radio rooms filled with gear. Its perfect for what its intended purpose is (finding dx) . I have no idea why you would buy one of these for another purpose. Integrates to the K3 perfectly.Its the perfect pan adapter for the majority of us with 1 desk to fill up. |
|
| W6LAX |
Rating:      |
2012-12-29 | |
| Has become center of my station |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I bought the P3 on impulse while I was ordering the K3 kit about a year ago; I immediately experienced “buyer’s remorse” for having spent a couple of hundred bucks on what I assumed would be a not very useful piece of “eye candy”.
However, the P3 quickly and surprisingly became a central part of my operating. Now I can see my way through pile-ups - for example, easily spotting where the last station called as well as open spots between signals. The result is that I am breaking pile-ups more quickly, and more often not going QRO. It allows me to spot scattered stations on the band, quickly pouncing on CQ’s, and it makes tuning RTTY much easier.
For me, the size of the P3 is just right, although I know many people are sold on the external monitor options.
The P3 turned out to be a great purchase.
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|
| NO9E |
Rating:      |
2012-12-15 | |
| Useful and reliable |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I used SDR-IQ as a panadapter. Pretty good with amazing NB but too many software crashes. So unsuitable for contests.
P3 never crashes and does not need computer for operations. Fast changes via buttons and knobs.
P3 became indispensable for me in contesting. First to identify and adjust the run frequency. Second for spotting weak signals. With 2 KHz span in CW, one can see more than one can hear.
The only feature that I am missing from SDR-IQ is NB. |
|
| W1NEJ |
Rating:      |
2012-11-26 | |
| New Firmware Reinvents P3 |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
This review is for the P3 with the P3SVGA option when used with a K3 transceiver.
The most recent firmware makes a lot of the (few) negative reviews below incorrect, and adds data capabilities.
I really like the ability to operate RTTY/PSK31 directly from the P3. I would rather have this feature than bringing out all the radio's functions to the external monitor because it allows for a simple and compact set-up.
You divide the external monitor only to display the transmit and receive windows for RTTY/PSK31, and can operate those modes without a computer or any other external equipment. You can configure the size of these windows. No need for a Rigblaster, etc.
The small monitor on the P3 continues to just display the pan adapter / waterfall.
You can set up 50 memory locations for CW, RTTY, or PSK31 that are stored in the P3SVGA's non-volatile memory
You can also set up macros on the P3 to control the K3. Again, these are stored in the P3SVGA's non-volatile memory.
The waterfall display on the external monitor can be adjusted to suit the band conditions, noise, etc. You see the changes you make immediately without leaving the menu.
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|
| KK5JY |
Rating:  |
2012-10-01 | |
| Try Again, Elecraft |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
The P3 in concept is a really neat device. It provides a nice visual tuning tool that is a natural extension to the K3. The SVGA port allows you to project the P3 visuals to a display of your choosing.
However, the execution of the P3 is poor.
First and foremost, it is underpowered. Changing some simple options can have drastic effects on the displayed frame rate, without significantly changing what is on the screen. Adding the SVGA board slowed my unit even further, even with the SVGA port disabled. My P3 draws just over 1.0A steady state. I would much rather it pull two or three amps, if that meant that it could have a processing core that can do everything in real time. An update rate of 1.0 to 2.0 fps is just not acceptable in a "state of the art" device.
Elecraft says the slow frame rate is "normal." Nonsense, I say.
Using the P3 with HRD has even more problems. My K3 communicates fine with HRD, but when I insert the P3 between the K3 and HRD (the officially-supported configuration), the P3 causes commands to be corrupted. After numerous exchanges with Elecraft, the best they could do was to blame my serial port, despite the fact that it works fine with the K3. Later, Elecraft released a patch to the K3 that helped prevent corrupt commands from executing. It’s a usable workaround, but doesn’t fix the problem. If HRD is sending too much data for the P3, so be it – it is the device’s responsibility to filter through the data and not forward or form corrupt commands to the K3. On that subject, how can 38,400bps be too much for a modern device? See my comments above about the device being underpowered.
The QSY function is unreliable. After positioning the cursor, I can press the QSY button several times before it will actually move the K3 VFO. Elecraft hasn’t found a fix for this, except to blame HRD.
The SVGA board can’t handle full 1080p monitors, despite this being a "supported" resolution. When I contacted Elecraft about it, they simply confirmed that there was a bug with that resolution. After several months, there is still no fix available.
The P3 generates birdies into itself that cannot be tuned away. There are certain bands where I get peaks that are always a certain number of kHz from the center frequency, regardless of the frequency. These peaks are often several S-units strong.
Speaking of tuning, the P3 software can’t properly display a "slide" of the spectrum information while doing a tuning operation that causes the display to move right or left while tuning (i.e., "track" tuning). The result of doing so is that a great deal of noise is displayed in the spectrum until you stop tuning. This is really annoying when you are trying to track a specific signal. You have to tune, stop, wait for the spectrum to stabilize, then tune again, stop, wait, etc.
"Peak" display is useless because it doesn't decay -- at all. You have to reset it by hand to have it start working on a new "peak" curve.
The display is a full-color display. Why can I not choose custom colors for the various elements being displayed?
When using the P3 + SVGA with an external display, you cannot independently change the spectrum/waterfall size split on the external display. You can make either the P3 or the external display what you want, but not both.
For the $1000 it costs for a P3 + SVGA, I could have bought a complete PC with a high-end soundcard, attached a monitor and a simple I/Q adapter, and had a much better panadapter.
Elecraft really needs to reboot this design with all new hardware, so that the P3 can actually do all the things that they claim. |
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