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KX3 --> Want P3-Like Display on a Mac

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Jim Bennett

KX3 --> Want P3-Like Display on a Mac

Sorry if this has been on the reflector before but the searches I've done didn't really home in on what I am looking for.

I've owned my K3 for nearly four years. Adding the P3 to it made operating so much more enjoyable, for a variety of reasons that I need not get into here. I recently got a KX3 as a Christmas present from the XYL and have been busy integrating it into my desktop environment. I've got it on a coax switch so that I can share not only my various antennas, but also my dummy load and the KAT500 and KPA500 if I so desire.

Operating the KX3 is lots of fun, barefoot or QRO. But, I miss the panoramic band display I see when I use the K3/P3. What is out there that I might be able to use with the KX3 and it's RX IQ? I'm using an iMac with OS X 10.7.5 for my operating system. I do have VMWare Fusion, but would rather not have to run a Windows application on the emulator - native mode applications are my desire. Is there software that can use the RX IQ, possibly into a USB port, that will give me the band display that I'm used to with the P3? Spending a bazillion dollars on it is out of the question, so I'm hoping that there is an inexpensive solution.

Thanks, Jim / W6JHB
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Don Wilhelm-4

Re: KX3 --> Want P3-Like Display on a Mac

Jim,

On the panoramic display question, I recall last year at Dayton the KX3
I/Q outputs were driving an iMic to an iPad. I believe the software
came from Pignology, but I did not pay that much attention to the
details, so you may have to do some searching.

So the answer is, yes, a panadapter display from the KX3 is possible,
but unfortunately I do not have details.

NaP3 can also give a panadapter display, but I have not yet tried it.

Most any panadapter application that will accept I/Q output could be
used in theory - the other side of the coin is 'does that application
directly support the KX3'. That would be in regard to the rig control
and display of center frequency type questions. Most any panadapter
application can display the spectrum around the VFO center frequency,
but may not display the exact frequency the KX3 is tuned to if no other
communications with the radio are present to determine the center
frequency, the VFO A and VFO B settings, etc.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 2/10/2014 4:52 PM, Jim Bennett wrote:
> Operating the KX3 is lots of fun, barefoot or QRO. But, I miss the panoramic band display I see when I use the K3/P3. What is out there that I might be able to use with the KX3 and it's RX IQ? I'm using an iMac with OS X 10.7.5 for my operating system. I do have VMWare Fusion, but would rather not have to run a Windows application on the emulator - native mode applications are my desire. Is there software that can use the RX IQ, possibly into a USB port, that will give me the band display that I'm used to with the P3? Spending a bazillion dollars on it is out of the question, so I'm hoping that there is an inexpensive solution.
>
>

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vk2rq

Re: KX3 --> Want P3-Like Display on a Mac

If you want to run something "natively" on the Mac, I would suggest quisk:
http://james.ahlstrom.name/quisk/

I haven't tried it yet myself, but it appears to allow some level of integration with the KX3 by means of hamlib.

In order to build it and get it working, you'll need to install some additional libraries -- I'd suggest to use MacPorts for this:
https://www.macports.org

If you are not comfortable building software on your Mac, then the only other "native" option I know of is the DL2SDR program:
http://dl2sdr.homepage.t-online.de/

73, Matt VK2RQ

On 11 Feb 2014, at 10:05 am, Don Wilhelm <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Jim,
>
> On the panoramic display question, I recall last year at Dayton the KX3 I/Q outputs were driving an iMic to an iPad. I believe the software came from Pignology, but I did not pay that much attention to the details, so you may have to do some searching.
>
> So the answer is, yes, a panadapter display from the KX3 is possible, but unfortunately I do not have details.
>
> NaP3 can also give a panadapter display, but I have not yet tried it.
>
> Most any panadapter application that will accept I/Q output could be used in theory - the other side of the coin is 'does that application directly support the KX3'. That would be in regard to the rig control and display of center frequency type questions. Most any panadapter application can display the spectrum around the VFO center frequency, but may not display the exact frequency the KX3 is tuned to if no other communications with the radio are present to determine the center frequency, the VFO A and VFO B settings, etc.
>
> 73,
> Don W3FPR
>
> On 2/10/2014 4:52 PM, Jim Bennett wrote:
>> Operating the KX3 is lots of fun, barefoot or QRO. But, I miss the panoramic band display I see when I use the K3/P3. What is out there that I might be able to use with the KX3 and it's RX IQ? I'm using an iMac with OS X 10.7.5 for my operating system. I do have VMWare Fusion, but would rather not have to run a Windows application on the emulator - native mode applications are my desire. Is there software that can use the RX IQ, possibly into a USB port, that will give me the band display that I'm used to with the P3? Spending a bazillion dollars on it is out of the question, so I'm hoping that there is an inexpensive solution.
>>
>>
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
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>
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Jim Bennett

Re: KX3 --> Want P3-Like Display on a Mac

Hi Matt,

Thanks for the info. After I thought about it a bit, running an application on Win/XP under Fusion wouldn't be all that bad. My iMac is pretty powerful and has no problem grinding up anything I toss at it. The "problem" I've seen is that nearly every application I come across tries to be the be-all, do-all rig controller. All I want is a simple spectrum display, like the P3 gives me. I have no desire to try controlling the KX3 from the computer. I use MacLoggerDX - it has some rudimentary rig control features but I don't use any of them. My fondness for the P3 is (1) being able to see where band activity is and (2) where there is a "hole" when trying to work a DX station running split.

So - any other suggestions? Isn't it feasible to simply take the I/Q output from the KX3 and run it via a USB port into the mac and have a software application use that data to present a spectrum display? Or am I being naive on what data is contained in that I/Q stream?

Jim / W6JHB

On Feb 10, 2014, at 3:39 PM, Matt VK2RQ wrote:

> If you want to run something "natively" on the Mac, I would suggest quisk:
> http://james.ahlstrom.name/quisk/
>
> I haven't tried it yet myself, but it appears to allow some level of integration with the KX3 by means of hamlib.
>
> In order to build it and get it working, you'll need to install some additional libraries -- I'd suggest to use MacPorts for this:
> https://www.macports.org
>
> If you are not comfortable building software on your Mac, then the only other "native" option I know of is the DL2SDR program:
> http://dl2sdr.homepage.t-online.de/
>
> 73, Matt VK2RQ
>
>
> On 11 Feb 2014, at 10:05 am, Don Wilhelm <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
>> Jim,
>>
>> On the panoramic display question, I recall last year at Dayton the KX3 I/Q outputs were driving an iMic to an iPad. I believe the software came from Pignology, but I did not pay that much attention to the details, so you may have to do some searching.
>>
>> So the answer is, yes, a panadapter display from the KX3 is possible, but unfortunately I do not have details.
>>
>> NaP3 can also give a panadapter display, but I have not yet tried it.
>>
>> Most any panadapter application that will accept I/Q output could be used in theory - the other side of the coin is 'does that application directly support the KX3'. That would be in regard to the rig control and display of center frequency type questions. Most any panadapter application can display the spectrum around the VFO center frequency, but may not display the exact frequency the KX3 is tuned to if no other communications with the radio are present to determine the center frequency, the VFO A and VFO B settings, etc.
>>
>> 73,
>> Don W3FPR
>>
>> On 2/10/2014 4:52 PM, Jim Bennett wrote:
>>> Operating the KX3 is lots of fun, barefoot or QRO. But, I miss the panoramic band display I see when I use the K3/P3. What is out there that I might be able to use with the KX3 and it's RX IQ? I'm using an iMac with OS X 10.7.5 for my operating system. I do have VMWare Fusion, but would rather not have to run a Windows application on the emulator - native mode applications are my desire. Is there software that can use the RX IQ, possibly into a USB port, that will give me the band display that I'm used to with the P3? Spending a bazillion dollars on it is out of the question, so I'm hoping that there is an inexpensive solution.
>>>
>>>
>>
>> ______________________________________________________________
>> Elecraft mailing list
>> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
>> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
>> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>>
>> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
>> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html

vk2rq

Re: KX3 --> Want P3-Like Display on a Mac

If you are happy to run Windows XP under VMWare, then NaP3 will give you a good experience.

I briefly had a closer look at Quisk -- the problem is that is depends on ALSA sound libraries, and since macports doesn't support this, a little bit of hacking is required to remove this dependency and rely solely on the portaudio libraries. There would also some (trivial) changes required to remove dependencies on the linux parallel port driver. Not sure if someone has already gone through this exercise yet or not. Otherwise, you would need some basic coding skills to make it work.

The I/Q output needs to be fed into a soundcard with stereo capability -- this soundcard could be a USB soundcard such as the Soundblaster X-Fi. Most of the PC SDR applications can then use this to display a waterfall. The I/Q streams don't contain digital data or anything fancy like that, rather they are simple analogue signals. This is why you need a soundcard or other A/D convterter to digitise the signal in order to for the SDR application to process it. It is convenient to have some basic integration with the radio (ie. via the KXUSB or KXSER cable) so that the application can read the VFO frequency from the radio and display appropriate frequency labels on the spectrum/waterfall display, but this is a nice-to-have.

73, Matt VK2RQ

On 11 Feb 2014, at 1:32 pm, Jim Bennett <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Hi Matt,
>
> Thanks for the info. After I thought about it a bit, running an application on Win/XP under Fusion wouldn't be all that bad. My iMac is pretty powerful and has no problem grinding up anything I toss at it. The "problem" I've seen is that nearly every application I come across tries to be the be-all, do-all rig controller. All I want is a simple spectrum display, like the P3 gives me. I have no desire to try controlling the KX3 from the computer. I use MacLoggerDX - it has some rudimentary rig control features but I don't use any of them. My fondness for the P3 is (1) being able to see where band activity is and (2) where there is a "hole" when trying to work a DX station running split.
>
> So - any other suggestions? Isn't it feasible to simply take the I/Q output from the KX3 and run it via a USB port into the mac and have a software application use that data to present a spectrum display? Or am I being naive on what data is contained in that I/Q stream?
>
> Jim / W6JHB
>
> On Feb 10, 2014, at 3:39 PM, Matt VK2RQ wrote:
>
>> If you want to run something "natively" on the Mac, I would suggest quisk:
>> http://james.ahlstrom.name/quisk/
>>
>> I haven't tried it yet myself, but it appears to allow some level of integration with the KX3 by means of hamlib.
>>
>> In order to build it and get it working, you'll need to install some additional libraries -- I'd suggest to use MacPorts for this:
>> https://www.macports.org
>>
>> If you are not comfortable building software on your Mac, then the only other "native" option I know of is the DL2SDR program:
>> http://dl2sdr.homepage.t-online.de/
>>
>> 73, Matt VK2RQ
>>
>>
>> On 11 Feb 2014, at 10:05 am, Don Wilhelm <[hidden email]> wrote:
>>
>>> Jim,
>>>
>>> On the panoramic display question, I recall last year at Dayton the KX3 I/Q outputs were driving an iMic to an iPad. I believe the software came from Pignology, but I did not pay that much attention to the details, so you may have to do some searching.
>>>
>>> So the answer is, yes, a panadapter display from the KX3 is possible, but unfortunately I do not have details.
>>>
>>> NaP3 can also give a panadapter display, but I have not yet tried it.
>>>
>>> Most any panadapter application that will accept I/Q output could be used in theory - the other side of the coin is 'does that application directly support the KX3'. That would be in regard to the rig control and display of center frequency type questions. Most any panadapter application can display the spectrum around the VFO center frequency, but may not display the exact frequency the KX3 is tuned to if no other communications with the radio are present to determine the center frequency, the VFO A and VFO B settings, etc.
>>>
>>> 73,
>>> Don W3FPR
>>>
>>> On 2/10/2014 4:52 PM, Jim Bennett wrote:
>>>> Operating the KX3 is lots of fun, barefoot or QRO. But, I miss the panoramic band display I see when I use the K3/P3. What is out there that I might be able to use with the KX3 and it's RX IQ? I'm using an iMac with OS X 10.7.5 for my operating system. I do have VMWare Fusion, but would rather not have to run a Windows application on the emulator - native mode applications are my desire. Is there software that can use the RX IQ, possibly into a USB port, that will give me the band display that I'm used to with the P3? Spending a bazillion dollars on it is out of the question, so I'm hoping that there is an inexpensive solution.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>> ______________________________________________________________
>>> Elecraft mailing list
>>> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
>>> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
>>> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>>>
>>> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
>>> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>>
>> ______________________________________________________________
>> Elecraft mailing list
>> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
>> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
>> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>>
>> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
>> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>

Jim Bennett

Re: KX3 --> Want P3-Like Display on a Mac

Looked around a bit more and perhaps NaP3 may be the way to go. I need to do a bit more research on this. Also looks like maybe LP-Bridge or LPB2 may be needed if I want the KX3 to get to multiple applications. Not sure on that one. I use the Mac version of the KX3 Utility and my logging program is MacLoggerDX (also a Mac app), so LPB2 may have no benefit for me, unless I can find a way for the virtual ports to be split between Win/XP and OS X.

One other thing that I'm concerned about is this "soundcard" issue. Not sure how to handle such things on an iMac. But I'll figger it out! :-)

Jim / W6JHB

On Feb 10, 2014, at 9:59 PM, Matt VK2RQ wrote:

> If you are happy to run Windows XP under VMWare, then NaP3 will give you a good experience.
>
> I briefly had a closer look at Quisk -- the problem is that is depends on ALSA sound libraries, and since macports doesn't support this, a little bit of hacking is required to remove this dependency and rely solely on the portaudio libraries. There would also some (trivial) changes required to remove dependencies on the linux parallel port driver. Not sure if someone has already gone through this exercise yet or not. Otherwise, you would need some basic coding skills to make it work.
>
> The I/Q output needs to be fed into a soundcard with stereo capability -- this soundcard could be a USB soundcard such as the Soundblaster X-Fi. Most of the PC SDR applications can then use this to display a waterfall. The I/Q streams don't contain digital data or anything fancy like that, rather they are simple analogue signals. This is why you need a soundcard or other A/D convterter to digitise the signal in order to for the SDR application to process it. It is convenient to have some basic integration with the radio (ie. via the KXUSB or KXSER cable) so that the application can read the VFO frequency from the radio and display appropriate frequency labels on the spectrum/waterfall display, but this is a nice-to-have.
>
> 73, Matt VK2RQ
>

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