Lyle,
Can you include FAQ TOC entries for our "mini-white-papers"? Let's see
-- I think I've posted four or five already, starting with the K3
announcement and the modular kit philosophy. There's also the
panadapter posting and the "not just a PC peripheral" posting. These
will make fun reading, I predict, for people *NOT* yet on our reflector
;)
I'd like you to do a mini-white-paper on the DSP and PC audio I/O, etc
(including binarual audio, stereo speakers, you get the idea). The goal
is to tell people why we did certain things, get their buy-in, and have
educated disciples to spread the word.
Now, what will the title of you mini-white-paper be?
tnx
W
Begin forwarded message:
From: wayne burdick <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: April 28, 2007 11:25:51 AM PDT
To: Elecraft Reflector <elecraft@mailman.qth.net>
Subject: K3 and its future external panadapter
Sometime in the future (give us at least six months!) we'll be
offering a very high-performance panadapter for the K3. Let's call it
a "P3" for now. The P3 will work with any radio that has an I.F. tap,
but it will be styled to match the K3. We're thinking 2/3rds of the
K3's width, but the same height and depth. It may have a speaker
and/or 20 A power supply. Your input on this would be very welcome.
Early on in the K3 design process, we decided not to include an
*internal* panadapter. Here's our reasoning:
- A panadapter takes up a *lot* of front-panel real-estate. So, if
you want to
keep the radio at compact desktop size, you have to displace a lot
of controls.
The displaced controls end up buried in menus or "soft keys,"
making basic
radio operation much more difficult. The K3 has a menu for things
rarely used,
but since there's no huge display, we were able to put every
often-used control
at your fingertips, optimally placed with respect to the LCD. A
good example
is our filter passband graphic, which is centered directly above
the DSP controls.
- An internal panadapter adds a lot of cost. Many customers, we felt,
would
rather have such cost be optional. If you want a panadapter, you'll
be able
get our P3 and set it beside the rig. Then, if you want to grab
your K3 and head
for the hills, you can optionally leave the panadapter on the desk
(along with
its speaker and power supply).
- Internal panadapters often have severe performance compromises.
There's at least one
very new radio on the market with a panadapter that takes over the
rig during sweeps.
Many of them are sluggish or have user-interface issues due to lack
of panel space.
Our external panadapter will be an entirely independent unit, so it
will not interfere
with radio use at all, either operationally or due to overloading
of controls.
That said, it will be highly integrated with, and controlled by,
the K3 (or
attached computer).
- We may use a display technology that offers faster rewrite speeds
than you can get
in an inexpensive graphic LCD such as the type most often used for
internal panadapters.
With the panadapter in a separate enclosure, we'll be able to use
very fast logic,
and possibly an exotic display such as an OLED (organic LED),
without incurring
any RFI problems.
73,
Wayne
---
http://www.elecraft.com
---
http://www.elecraft.com
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