Hi Steve,
If you are considering on whether or not to buy a P3, the answer is very easy - GET IT. It is really a great value and I am surprised they do not charge more for them. I cannot say enough good about the P3. It is the most useful and most used ham radio implement I have ever had. I was a ham for 26 years before I got a nice scope. Working CW, I would keep my filters open and use my ears as a band scope as much as I could, tune up and down the band every few minutes and form a mental vision of what is going on above and below. Now with the P3 it is as if I was blind and now I can see. It gives you a constant three dimensional view of the radio spectrum- Frequency, Time and Amplitude. I have found that the waterfall gives you the best three dimensional visualization while the spectrum scope is useful for comparative measurements and such. The color and crispness and smoothness of the presentation is also excellent. It is comfortable to look at for long periods and easy on the eyes. I do not have the SVGA option so my observations are based on the basic P3 (#177). The information that it gives you is probably useful in many more ways you might now imagine. Identifying and understanding the origins of RF noise, what is it really doing across the whole band? All those strange blips or sounds I would hear but only on my freq, are now much easier to identify and understand. You will soon be learning to identify most individual modes of digital signals, PSK31, Olivia, FieldHell, Thor, Throb etc just by seeing it up or down the band. You will probably learn to identify many things about a SSB signal even before you tune to it, and thus decide if you want to tune to it. Is it a narrow signal with a lot of high end, is it a wider signal and full bodied? Consistent repeat, using compression, heavy processing or no processing. Many other details about CW or other digital signals also can tell you if there is multipath or warble in the signal, coming over the north pole etc. All this even before you tune to the signal. I don't contest but I do DX and hunt for weak signals. The P3 is constantly in use for both. In addition to finding the signals that you want, It is very handy for finding and jumping to holes in the QRM or in QRN. I am surprised that even the most expensive rigs from the Japanese manufactures do not have scopes that even come close to the true usefulness of the P3. They have really missed the boat when it comes to band scopes. My request for Elecraft is that they finish the option to monitor your transmitted signal, and I would like to see a peak hold setting on the spectrum scope that decays after a few seconds rather than having to manually reset it. Thank you Elecraft for a job well done! Dean KG7MZ ********************** Hi, Until recently, I have not been interested in the P3 because I didn't think it would be useful for my way of operating. Now, I think I am missing something quite useful but I need to get educated on it. I am interested in some suggested reading which covers the capabilities and how those capabilities would help me in contesting and dxing. For example, can I see a signal blip, identify it, move my K3 to it, etc. Many more questions but I am sure someone has already documented the advantages. I have two K3's which are ready to accept a P3. Thanks in advance. Steve, K4FJ *********************** ______________________________________________________________ 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 Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
