Once again I have money burning a hole in my pocket and I want to add a pan-adapter. Any guidance is appreciated. If you have whatever that is required please contact me if you can take PayPal.
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What is the best PAN-ADAPTER to buy?
- Thread starter Tallman
- Start date
With what rig? Some have IF out, some don't. If they don't you have to wire it in to make it work. I have heard LP-Pan is a good one, but it's expensive. If you are just dabbling, the SDR Dongles can work as a panadapter. The NooElec works pretty well. I bought a Soft66RTL off of Ebay that does HF and VHF/UHF. There is also a Funcube Dongle Pro+ that has good reviews. I wasn't sure I wanted to get into SDR, so went with some of the cheap dongles to play. Honestly haven't had time to mess with it much, but what I did see was really cool.
73,
Brett
73,
Brett
I'm probably not your best guy for advice on this, since I've only fiddled with SDR and the panadapter just a little bit. You might be able to use the Icom 746 second receive antenna with an SDR dongle, and run that to your computer for a panadapter. I don't see the Yaesu working without tapping into the IF of the rig, which is harder to do. Maybe someone else can give you the details on how to do it with the 746, but neither of your rigs has an IF out, which is how the panadapters work. The SDR dongle is kind of a workaround, but I think it will work. Do a Google search and see what you come up with. There are a lot of sites out there that should at least get you started.
73,
Brett
73,
Brett
The SDR dongles are a cheap way to play with the basics and will probably get you interested in finding signals around your hometown. For a true Panadapter experience on HF, where you can click to tune to various stations, you need a rig that has either an IF output or a I/Q output. Neither of those rigs have that, so you would need to modify them (which might be a dicey prospect). If you're serious about adding panadapter capabilities to your station, you might consider selling both rigs and put the money toward a rig that has the necessary outputs (unless that money burning a hole in your pocket can support the rig on its own).
If you get a rig with IF out, you will still need something to convert the IF signal to I/Q, which is what your PC soundcard needs for input. the LP-Pan is one such device that can do that. A rig with direct I/Q output (like the Elecraft KX3) can output the signal directly into your soundcard. Note that your soundcard MUST have a stereo mic-in or line-in and should have a bandwidth as wide as possible (192khz is desirable). The wide bandwidth allows you to see more of the band you're working. A USB soundcard like the Diamond USB HD works great and won't break the bank.
Hope that helps pointing you in the right direction.
If you get a rig with IF out, you will still need something to convert the IF signal to I/Q, which is what your PC soundcard needs for input. the LP-Pan is one such device that can do that. A rig with direct I/Q output (like the Elecraft KX3) can output the signal directly into your soundcard. Note that your soundcard MUST have a stereo mic-in or line-in and should have a bandwidth as wide as possible (192khz is desirable). The wide bandwidth allows you to see more of the band you're working. A USB soundcard like the Diamond USB HD works great and won't break the bank.
Hope that helps pointing you in the right direction.