Hi Dave,
The Perseus certainly seems impressive. As a second receiver it would cost only
$151 more than the KRX3, if the latter is stuffed with all the filters I have
now added to my K3. I will be very interested in your experience with it in the
CQ WW CW. Please report the average and peak number of strength of the
strongest signals at your location, across the whole HF spectrum, if that is
practical.
When you say "click and go" I assume the Perseus software is tuning the K3. Are
you saying that *no* adjustment is needed to get the right pitch for SSB or CW?
I have the kits for SoftRock Lite and the isolation amplifier sitting here,
just waiting to be put together, so I will definitely give that a go first. I
too don't much like the idea of getting an outboard soundcard, so if the
soundcard is the weakest link (in desktop and/or laptop) I don't know if I will
take that step or go to something not requiring a soundcard. There is no doubt
that a receiver for the full HF range is worth more than just a panadapter. One
slight count against the Perseus might be that it requires a power connection.
Is it tolerant enough as to voltages to be run from either the typical home
station 13.8V supply, or a car battery being discharged to 11 V or so?
73,
Erik K7TV
----- Original Message -----
From: G4AON (via Nabble)
To: K7TV
Sent: Friday, November 14, 2008 11:07 AM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 panadapter choices
Erik (and Julian)
I'm posting only on Nabble as the Mailman Reflector seems to be broken at my
end today...
I was looking for a low cost panadapter for my K3 and kept finding issues,
there was the IF leakage/spurious injection issue, "low sensitivity" when using
the K3 IF out, "my soundcard isn't good enough" so I might need an outboard
soundcard, will 192 KHz span be enough? And so I kept having doubts. A friend
recently bought a Perseus that he found outperformed his TS480. The Perseus at
that time covered an 800 KHz span and was a direct connection to USB2 and was
available for next day delivery from a UK source... Span is now up to 1600 KHz.
Having a high specification panoramic receiver has been an eye opener for me,
maybe next weekend the CQ WW CW contest will cause the Perseus to struggle
compared to the K3 but we will see, it's certainly holding it's own so far. The
screen resolution is good enough to "click and go" on pretty much all CW and
SSB signals at 100 KHz resolution without needing fine tuning, wider spans
usually need a tweak but this could easily improve if/when the screen display
is increased in size from it's present 1024 pixels wide.
I don't connect my Perseus to the K3 IF, it connects in parallel via a
ferrite splitter using the RX RF IN/OUT sockets on the KXV3.
For my money the Perseus makes a good 2nd receiver, certainly it compares
favourably on cost against the K3 second receiver (with a 2.8 KHz and 400 Hz
filter installed) when you include shipping and tax.
I haven't used any of the low cost alternatives, but the Perseus certainly
impresses me.
73 Dave, G4AON
K3/100 #80
--------------------------
K7TV wrote:
Researching my options for a K3 panadapter (Softrock, LP-PAN, SDR-IQ,
Perseus, Mercury...) I want to thank Paul W9AC for sharing his experience with
the SDR-IQ on the list:
"When observing signal strength on the display, there's ample resolution
for
signal comparisons. SDR-IQ is powered from the PC's USB port, so only two
connections are made (I.F. and USB). SpectraVue supports the K3 and using
the "point 'n click" feature has been great. Click on the display and the
K3 instantly moves to that frequency. The only shortcoming I've found is
that SpectraVue needs to poll the K3's mode offset data so that changing
modes does not require an offset change in SpectraVue. Not sure if that's
handled automatically when using LP-PAN and PowerSDR."
I would be very interested to read similar detail about the other possible
hardware and software choices. An overview table showing which spectrum
analysis software packages work with which hardware choices would be very
helpful.
As long as a the hardware is used for spectrum display (not as a receiver
to be listened to) it seems to me that hardware in the low to middle price
range is good enough. The issue then is the software choice first and then
finding hardware compatible with the software. When choosing software I would
really like to know if there is any package available today that already
adjusts for the mode offset, or is planned to do so in the near future. A wide
and narrow spectrum display window may also be a positive feature in comparing
one software package to another, especially if one is going to run other
software at the same time.
If one contemplates actually listening to the outboard SDR, it seems that
more money does buy better performance, although probably none of the
reasonable hardware choices will be as good in some contests as the second
receiver option of the K3, which has roofing filters. On the other hand, it
would hardly be practical for an assistant operator to reach the K3 controls to
make use of the second receiver, while the computer controlling an outboard SDR
could easily be used by an assistant operator. (Of course depending on the
contest, this may or may not be legal for a given entry class.) Maybe the
second RX in a K3 could be run from a computer while the rig is otherwise run
from the front panel? Maybe two computers (one per operator) could be used to
control the K3 with second RX. I don't have experience with the various rig
control software available, so I hope someone can enlighten me.
73,
Erik K7TV
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