P3 s/n 74 arrived today, went together nicely and works great. I'm still getting used to it, but as a long-time LP-Pan/PowerSDR-IF user, I was struck by one thing right away.
With PowerSDR-IF point and click tuning with the mouse is enhanced by the fact that after pointing and clicking to change the K3 frequency, one may immediately "fine tune" the signal with the mouse scroll wheel. Especially for CW signals, this becomes second nature, a quick, fluid series of actions - point, click, fine tune up or down to zero-beat the signal (I do it by ear), using only one hand. This is good because I can't always point with perfect accuracy, so am often some tens or hundreds of Hz away from the desired signal. I set the scroll wheel fine tuning rate to either 10 or 50 Hz per step. With the P3, when I move the marker and tap the SELECT knob to QSY to the frequency of some CW signal, rarely end up at zero-beat, often at least 100-200 Hz away, sometimes more. So, in order to zero-beat I must move a hand to the K3 and tune it in or press SPOT. I'd rather finish the job using the hand already on the P3 SELECT knob, it's much easier that way when it's done repeatedly (search and pounce etc). I like panadaptor spans of 30 to 40 kHz, but even with narrower spans I just can't consistently get close enough to zero-beat with a CW signal on the P3 using the marker. What I'd like to propose is a P3 "fine tune" QSY mode (optional, controlled by menu setting), where the act of QSYing by tapping the SELECT knob not only changes the K3 frequency, but also: 1. Clears the marker. 2. Puts the P3 into a mode where turning the select knob one way or the other "fine tunes" the K3 at some rate like 200 Hz per revolution or so (a "fine" rate, maybe adjustable). 3. Then, after any required fine tuning is complete, one more tap of the select knob disables fine tuning, and it's business as usual. The marker is cleared in step 1 because otherwise turning the SELECT knob should continue to move the marker. So the flow goes like this, with the proposed "Fine Tune" QSY mode enabled in menu: 1. Tap MKR A to enable marker. 2. Turn SELECT knob to move marker onto desired signal. 3. Tap SELECT knob to QSY. The marker is cleared. Fine tuning of K3 is enabled. 4. Turn SELECT knob to fine tune (to zero-beat in the CW case, by ear or using CWT indicator) the desired signal. 5. Tap SELECT knob once more to disable fine tuning, returning to normal state. MKR B would get the same treatment. This would be perfectly general, working for all modes, and less tiring when QSYing repeatedly using the marker. Bob NW8L ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
