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P3 - spikes that never move

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N0AZZ

Re: P3 - spikes that never move

Same here Bill.

Fred/N0AZZ

-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email]
[mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Bill Clarke
Sent: Friday, March 01, 2013 5:06 AM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] P3 - spikes that never move

As a replacement for the faulty Elecraft cable I am using a real Mil-Spec
cable. When I receive the replacement cable from Elecraft I will compare it
to the Mil-Spec cable for quality before using it. I'll let you know what I
think of it and how well it works.

I never gave a thought to the cable being the culprit - after all, the cable
was supplied by Elecraft. To me that meant it was of high quality.
Disappointing!

All that said, however, I can now say the P3 is working perfectly and the
weakest of signals can be seen. I went for months using it as it was
- not really knowing any better.

Bill W2BLC

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gm3sek

Re: P3 - spikes that never move

In reply to this post by Bill Clarke

>
>I never gave a thought to the cable being the culprit - after all, the
>cable was supplied by Elecraft. To me that meant it was of high quality.
>Disappointing!
>

To be fair, I am sure that nobody is more disappointed than Elecraft
themselves.

73 from Ian GM3SEK

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k6dgw

Re: P3 - spikes that never move

In reply to this post by hhoyt

Elecraft didn't make the cable, they bought it, or more likely 1,000 or more of them.

73,

Fred K6DGW

Bill Clarke <[hidden email]> wrote:

>As a replacement for the faulty Elecraft cable I am using a real
>Mil-Spec cable. When I receive the replacement cable from Elecraft I
>will compare it to the Mil-Spec cable for quality before using it. I'll
>let you know what I think of it and how well it works.
>
>I never gave a thought to the cable being the culprit - after all, the
>cable was supplied by Elecraft. To me that meant it was of high quality.
>Disappointing!
>
>All that said, however, I can now say the P3 is working perfectly and
>the weakest of signals can be seen. I went for months using it as it was
>- not really knowing any better.
>
>Bill W2BLC
>
>______________________________________________________________
>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
>
>

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Eric Swartz - WA6HHQ

Re: P3 - spikes that never move

Administrator

We changed to a better quality BNC jumper cable for the P3 to K3-IF
connection approximately Nov 1st of 2012. P3s shipped after that should
have the newer cable.

If you hare having problems with an earlier cable, contact our parts or
support guys ([hidden email], [hidden email]) and we'll fix
you up with a replacement.

Of course even more expensive double shielded cables etc can reduce
leakage into the P3 If even more. But those are usually only helpful if
there are extremely strong local interfering signals (nearby switching
power supplies, monitors etc.)

73,

Eric
elecraft.com

On 3/1/2013 6:16 AM, Fred C. Jensen wrote:

> Elecraft didn't make the cable, they bought it, or more likely 1,000 or more of them.
>
> 73,
>
> Fred K6DGW
>
> Bill Clarke <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
>> As a replacement for the faulty Elecraft cable I am using a real
>> Mil-Spec cable. When I receive the replacement cable from Elecraft I
>> will compare it to the Mil-Spec cable for quality before using it. I'll
>> let you know what I think of it and how well it works.
>>
>>

ke9uw

Re: P3 - spikes that never move

This issue came up a long while ago. At that time, having some issues with RF in the shack too, (dipole runs right over the house somewhat) I went to all LMR 240 low loss, double shielded coax. Things are pretty quiet now.

Sent from my iPad
Chuck, KE9UW
(Jack for BMW motorcycles)

On Mar 1, 2013, at 1:36 PM, "Eric Swartz - WA6HHQ, Elecraft" <[hidden email]> wrote:

> We changed to a better quality BNC jumper cable for the P3 to K3-IF connection approximately Nov 1st of 2012. P3s shipped after that should have the newer cable.
>
> If you hare having problems with an earlier cable, contact our parts or support guys ([hidden email], [hidden email]) and we'll fix you up with a replacement.
>
> Of course even more expensive double shielded cables etc can reduce leakage into the P3 If even more. But those are usually only helpful if there are extremely strong local interfering signals (nearby switching power supplies, monitors etc.)
>
> 73,
>
> Eric
> elecraft.com
>
> On 3/1/2013 6:16 AM, Fred C. Jensen wrote:
>> Elecraft didn't make the cable, they bought it, or more likely 1,000 or more of them.
>>
>> 73,
>>
>> Fred K6DGW
>>
>> Bill Clarke <[hidden email]> wrote:
>>
>>> As a replacement for the faulty Elecraft cable I am using a real
>>> Mil-Spec cable. When I receive the replacement cable from Elecraft I
>>> will compare it to the Mil-Spec cable for quality before using it. I'll
>>> let you know what I think of it and how well it works.
>>>
>>>
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> 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

Chuck, KE9UW

Tony Lewis

Re: P3 - spikes that never move

In reply to this post by hhoyt

I have three spikes on my P3, however they do move - very slowly they will creep along the display. When I have P3 set to maximum span 200kHz, they repeat themselves.
They are there at switch on, but seem to slowly disappear over 10-15 minutes. I have changed IF cable, but that did nothing.
Any ideas?

Regards

Anthony Lewis
VK2AVN
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k6dgw

Re: P3 - spikes that never move

Anthony,

Been out of town, didn't see a reply to you when I got home and
downloaded 500+ emails. :-)

What P3 mode are you using? There is an identified problem with the
K3-->P3 IF cable. In Fixed Tune mode [where the ends of the span remain
fixed and the VFO cursor moves as you tune], the bad IF cable will put
weak signals approximately 14.5 KHz above and below the cursor. They
move with the cursor hence you can never tune to them.

Signals that slowly move by themselves are almost always external to the
K3/P3. Our world is filled with a nearly countable infinity of RF
noisemakers these days. CFL light bulbs are notorious and could account
for the slow disappearance as they warm up.

If your signals disappear when you remove the antenna, that's a pretty
good indication that they're external to your radio.

73,

Fred K6DGW
- Northern California Contest Club
- CU in the 2013 Cal QSO Party 5-6 Oct 2013
- www.cqp.org

On 3/3/2013 11:08 AM, Anthony Lewis wrote:
> I have three spikes on my P3, however they do move - very slowly they will creep along the display. When I have P3 set to maximum span 200kHz, they repeat themselves.
> They are there at switch on, but seem to slowly disappear over 10-15 minutes. I have changed IF cable, but that did nothing.
> Any ideas?

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Bill K9YEQ

Re: P3 - spikes that never move

You might not know it yet, but some LED bulbs are bad RFI devices as well,
esp., the cheap ones. My entire office and workshop are LED lighted and I
have removed the junk devices. I paid too much for some that are inferior.
The US bulbs seem to be the best choice. Not only is the construction
better IMO, but I don't see the radiation issues either. PC's and power
warts are always on the watch list. I am amazed by the noise output of
older HDD. Nasty stuff. I am now using SSD's and the best HDD for
storage... still issues with noise on some bands. Shielded power cables
have less issues in general, but that is also based on quality. Shielding
means nothing unless properly terminated on both ends and the quality of the
shielding and termination as well (look at the Coax we use to learn much
about shielding... another science in its own right).

73,
Bill
K9YEQ

-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email]
[mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Fred Jensen
Sent: Thursday, March 07, 2013 6:04 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] P3 - spikes that never move

Anthony,

Been out of town, didn't see a reply to you when I got home and downloaded
500+ emails. :-)

What P3 mode are you using? There is an identified problem with the
K3-->P3 IF cable. In Fixed Tune mode [where the ends of the span remain
fixed and the VFO cursor moves as you tune], the bad IF cable will put weak
signals approximately 14.5 KHz above and below the cursor. They move with
the cursor hence you can never tune to them.

Signals that slowly move by themselves are almost always external to the
K3/P3. Our world is filled with a nearly countable infinity of RF
noisemakers these days. CFL light bulbs are notorious and could account for
the slow disappearance as they warm up.

If your signals disappear when you remove the antenna, that's a pretty good
indication that they're external to your radio.

73,

Fred K6DGW
- Northern California Contest Club
- CU in the 2013 Cal QSO Party 5-6 Oct 2013
- www.cqp.org

On 3/3/2013 11:08 AM, Anthony Lewis wrote:
> I have three spikes on my P3, however they do move - very slowly they will
creep along the display. When I have P3 set to maximum span 200kHz, they
repeat themselves.
> They are there at switch on, but seem to slowly disappear over 10-15
minutes. I have changed IF cable, but that did nothing.
> Any ideas?

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______________________________________________________________
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