P3 question - few signals show on the waterfall

[KEN-3]

I have a new P3 here connected to a K3.  I can hear signals that do not
show at all on the waterfall, and barely on the upper part of the
screen.  And signals that show on the P3 display do not show on the
attached VGA display.

I've gone over the Elecraft documentation and Fred Cady's booklet on the
P3 and I do not see any sensitivity adjustment for the display.   There
is the level calibrate but if I move that to extremes, it throws off the
K3 and P3 showing the same signal strength.  I don't think that is the
right adjustment for what I want.

Thanks
Ken WA8JXM
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[Eric Swartz - WA6HHQ]

Have you tried adjusting the REF Level? This is a per band base level for the
display that directly impacts the minimum signal level displayed.

There also is a SVGA Menu item called 'Bias' that adjusts the sensitivity on the
SVGA waterfall to compensate for different monitors etc.

73,

Eric
/elecraft.com/

On 12/4/2015 9:55 AM, Ken wrote:

> I have a new P3 here connected to a K3.  I can hear signals that do not show
> at all on the waterfall, and barely on the upper part of the screen.  And
> signals that show on the P3 display do not show on the attached VGA display.
>
> I've gone over the Elecraft documentation and Fred Cady's booklet on the P3
> and I do not see any sensitivity adjustment for the display.   There is the
> level calibrate but if I move that to extremes, it throws off the K3 and P3
> showing the same signal strength.  I don't think that is the right adjustment
> for what I want.
>
> Thanks
> Ken WA8JXM
> ______________________________________________________________
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>

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[Jim Brown-10]

On Fri,12/4/2015 9:55 AM, Ken wrote:
> I've gone over the Elecraft documentation and Fred Cady's booklet on
> the P3 and I do not see any sensitivity adjustment for the display.  
> There is the level calibrate but if I move that to extremes, it throws
> off the K3 and P3 showing the same signal strength.

Lots of settings, all done by selecting the setting with short push or
long push of the right-hand buttons and setting values with the knob.
For day-to-day operation, I have the display scaling set for 24 dB full
screen and set the bottom of the display so that there's a small bit of
"grass" visible. It is also a VERY good idea to set display averaging to
a pretty long value (top button). I use the maximum setting. What this
does is cause random noise to average to zero (because it's random) and
add the signals (because they are the same on every sweep).

For contests or DX pileups, when there are many strong signals, I adjust
the display scaling as high as 42 dB (but never higher).

73, Jim K9YC


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[tomb18]

Hi,
That's very typical.  The P3 or LPPAN for that matter will not always show
real weak signals.  The waterfall as opposed to the spectrum can be more
useful here.  Also, averaging,set high will help dig out the signals.
73 Tom

-----Original Message-----
From: Ken
Sent: Friday, December 04, 2015 12:55 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: [Elecraft] P3 question - few signals show on the waterfall

I have a new P3 here connected to a K3.  I can hear signals that do not
show at all on the waterfall, and barely on the upper part of the
screen.  And signals that show on the P3 display do not show on the
attached VGA display.

I've gone over the Elecraft documentation and Fred Cady's booklet on the
P3 and I do not see any sensitivity adjustment for the display.   There
is the level calibrate but if I move that to extremes, it throws off the
K3 and P3 showing the same signal strength.  I don't think that is the
right adjustment for what I want.

Thanks
Ken WA8JXM
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[Cady, Fred-2]

Also, don't worry overmuch about trying to make the signal levels on the K3 and P3 agree.  Read Alan's explanation in the P3 manual under Spectrum Display.  After all, they are two different instruments.  The K3 tells you the signal strength either before or after preamplification/attenuation and the P3 gives you the relative signal strengths of the signals across the band, derived from the IF, and compensated for the k3 preamp/attenuation.  
Cheers and 73,
Fred KE7X

See www.ke7x.com for all KE7X Elecraft books.


________________________________________
From: Elecraft <[hidden email]> on behalf of Tom <[hidden email]>
Sent: Friday, December 4, 2015 1:43 PM
To: Ken; [hidden email]
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] P3 question - few signals show on the waterfall

Hi,
That's very typical.  The P3 or LPPAN for that matter will not always show
real weak signals.  The waterfall as opposed to the spectrum can be more
useful here.  Also, averaging,set high will help dig out the signals.
73 Tom

-----Original Message-----
From: Ken
Sent: Friday, December 04, 2015 12:55 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: [Elecraft] P3 question - few signals show on the waterfall

I have a new P3 here connected to a K3.  I can hear signals that do not
show at all on the waterfall, and barely on the upper part of the
screen.  And signals that show on the P3 display do not show on the
attached VGA display.

I've gone over the Elecraft documentation and Fred Cady's booklet on the
P3 and I do not see any sensitivity adjustment for the display.   There
is the level calibrate but if I move that to extremes, it throws off the
K3 and P3 showing the same signal strength.  I don't think that is the
right adjustment for what I want.

Thanks
Ken WA8JXM
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[k6dgw]

The P3 has a monochrome WF display mode [in the menu] which will usually
show weaker signals than the color display.  I don't know if it works
with the SVGA, don't have one.

73,

Fred K6DGW
- Northern California Contest Club
- CU in the Cal QSO Party 1-2 Oct 2016
- www.cqp.org

On 12/4/2015 12:43 PM, Tom wrote:
> Hi,
> That's very typical.  The P3 or LPPAN for that matter will not always
> show real weak signals.  The waterfall as opposed to the spectrum can be
> more useful here.  Also, averaging,set high will help dig out the signals.
> 73 Tom

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[KEN-3]

Thanks to all who replied, the various suggestions have been helpful and
the display is better although still not like my other rig.

73, Ken WA8JXM
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