Hi Brian, et al: Perhaps the experience of someone who has actually taken a P3 on a DX operation might be of some interest.
I returned early February from a month and a half trip to Southern Africa. While not a dxpedition per se, the trip did include a single- handed, but serious, operation from a moderately rare DXCC entity (7P8, the Kingdom of Lesotho). I would like to comment on two issues that have arisen in this thread: is the P3 a useful aid to the operator running the DX station?; and how difficult is it to take it along, space-wise? In essence, is it worth it? This trip balanced visiting family (parent's 60th wedding anniversary), business (research), vacation (a 4x4 safari through Botswana and Zimbabwe), and ham radio (as ZS1WN, and 7P8JW). The stay in 7P8 (the landlocked mountain kingdom of Lesotho) lasted a week and I was able to make more than 3,500 contacts from 7P8 alone. Travel parameters were such that I only took along what would fit within the normal international baggage allowance. After necessary stuff like clothes (for warm and cold; including a suit, jackets & ties), and a computer--I was able to take TWO complete high performance HF stations (K3/P3; K2-100/KAT100) in CARRY-ON luggage (thank you, Elecraft!). My first checked piece was a padded golf bag, which contained: a 5 band Spiderbeam yagi (14 wire elements on a 33' boom); 33' aluminum telescoping mast; and a 40' fiberglass mast for an inverted L for the low bands; together with all the required guying ropes, stakes, etc. The rest of my personal belongings (and some other radio stuff!) went in a second allowed checked bag. My carry-on aluminum-sided case (el cheapo from Home Depot) was originally used for trips with the K2/100 + KAT100, and had space left over for the power supply (Astron SS30), headset, cables etc. However, I found that the K3 and P3 were an exact fit for the case. So, I downsized the PS (to a very small/light Powerwerx 30 amp switcher), put it in the golf bag, and took the K3/P3 in the case. Since I did not want to use the K3 mobile or on safari, I managed to slip the K2/KAT100 and a second PS (Gamma Research HPS-1a, even smaller and lighter), and some of the other stuff into the computer bag along with the Macbook Pro! [Yes, you have to take the ham radio side of things, at least, semi- seriously to be willing to do this! But, no, I had no trouble at all with security at any airport (trip included 8 flights), and paid no excess baggage allowance at all. Yes, I was fortunate that South African Airways allowed an additional 20 pounds for the golf bag, i.e. 70 instead of the normal 50 per bag, but I checked this out ahead of time. The K3/P3 case was right on the carry-on weight limit, and the computer bag was over weight, but nobody checked it. If they did, my backup plan was my dear wife (who was putting up with me lugging all this stuff around rather well!, and had room to spare in her carry-on bag), but as it turned out this was not necessary.] Am I glad that I took all this stuff? Absolutely. I used the K2/100 and KAT100 to very good effect while operating mobile/portable. I was able to consistently work LONG PATH (some 14,500 miles, over the Indian Ocean, Australia, and the Pacific) into the western USA on 40m SSB, from the coast near Cape Town. This is running 100w off the rental car's battery, with a magentic mounted Hustler mobile antenna! [Secret: getting within a quarter wave length of the salt water, and a clear shot over the ocean.] I used the K3/P3 combo while operating from 7P8. I could have used the K2 but I believe the K3 helped me make significantly more contacts. I have the second RX, ATU, DVR [and 2m transverter] in my K3 (which has 6 roofing filters between the 2 receivers). I found the P3 to be useful in the following ways: 1. To instantly get a sense if a band is open by quickly switching to it and getting a look at activity over a 200 khz span. You have to try this to realize how much better it is than spinning the dial. Having the waterfall display on, increased this benefit significantly. 2. Finding the right place to start calling. It is amazing how much more helpful seeing the spectrum as a whole is to simply listening up and down. You have no idea how much you miss when you do not have the time dimension included. 3. "Watching" what is happening on my transmit frequency, so that I can devote my full attention to getting the callsigns pulled out of the pileup, without the distraction of "listening" to my TX freq. as well. 4. Helping to "discipline" the pileup by first seeing/noticing, and then ignoring, bad behavior. [Of course, sometimes you must work the offenders to make them go away]. It is interesting how you can tell who is calling without hearing you; tail-ending; loading up right on the pileup and then calling you. 5. Helps find stations calling you in the pileup window (particularly on CW when the pileup thins down a bit). I narrowed the P3 span down to the listening span. 6. When the pileup is very large, it enables you to quickly tune to the stronger stations first (the ones you are most likely to be able to copy). Finally, it is essential to understand that what I am describing goes well beyond the capabilities of the build-in "spectrum scopes" in other radios. Could I have done without the P3? Of course. For that matter I could have done without the K3 or K2, or the beam, or . . . where would it end? [I once took a K1 on a trip to Norway. Did I have fun? Yes. Did I work pileups? No.] The trip was wonderful, and everything worked perfectly . . . except my computer. The hard-drive crashed upon arrival in SA. Fortunately, I had backed up everything (but it was 6000 miles away at home). The computer was useless. THANK YOU Elecraft for NOT making my radio dependent on the computer to operate! Yes, I logged all 3,500 contacts the old fashioned way-- by hand! I am now struggling with the QSLing side of things. Would I do it all over again? In a heartbeat--including taking the P3 along. 73 John, N6JW alsopb wrote: > > You're going to do this while running a pileup 1000 callers deep? > > DXpeditions exist to make QSO's, not watch TV. > > If a DXpedition is having trouble making QSO's, a P3 isn't the answer. > Improving their antenna(s) and being aware of propagation most likely is. > > 73 DE Brian/K3KO > -- View this message in context: http://elecraft.365791.n2.nabble.com/P3-and-SSTV-tp6302501p6307813.html Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com. ______________________________________________________________ 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
