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Important note about the Preamp Kit:
This kit is is provided mainly for K3 owners who want to improve the noise flloor of the panadapter display to allow seeing weaker signals. The addition of a low noise preamp ahead of LP-PAN compensates for the relatively lossy IF buffer amplifier in the K3. This problem is compounded when you add a P3 between the K3 and LP-PAN since the hybrid splitter in the P3 adds another 3dB of loss. This is especially important when the K3 preamp is off. No tests have been run with other brands of radio to determine if the preamp would improve overall noise floor.
Addition of the LP-PAN preamp lowers the displayed noise floor by about 6-8dB over a stock LP-PAN when the K3 preamp is ON and 8-10dB when the K3 preamp is OFF. This assumes that the stock LP-PAN has its gain pot set to maximum gain (the factory default setting).
Lowest noise floor is achieved with the LP-PAN preamp installed and LP-PAN gain pot at maximum, but this will reduce dynamic range by about 10dB. Setting the LP-PAN gain pot to minimum will add a couple dB to the noise floor, but improve dynamic range by 10dB. This is the recommended setting to start with. A front panel attenuator switch was added to prevent possible overload in case the user wants to run LP-PAN at maximum gain. The kit can be installed without drilling a hole in the front panel for the switch if desired. In this case, simply don't install the keycap on the switch. The switch, in the no attenuation position will still fit behind the front panel if the keycap is not installed. Most users will probably find that the attenuation is not needed.
Below is a picture of the assembled preamp board.
To the right is a picture installed in LP-PAN.
Important note about the Preamp Kit:
This kit is is provided mainly for K3 owners who want to improve the noise flloor of the panadapter display to allow seeing weaker signals. The addition of a low noise preamp ahead of LP-PAN compensates for the relatively lossy IF buffer amplifier in the K3. This problem is compounded when you add a P3 between the K3 and LP-PAN since the hybrid splitter in the P3 adds another 3dB of loss. This is especially important when the K3 preamp is off. No tests have been run with other brands of radio to determine if the preamp would improve overall noise floor.
Addition of the LP-PAN preamp lowers the displayed noise floor by about 6-8dB over a stock LP-PAN when the K3 preamp is ON and 8-10dB when the K3 preamp is OFF. This assumes that the stock LP-PAN has its gain pot set to maximum gain (the factory default setting).
Lowest noise floor is achieved with the LP-PAN preamp installed and LP-PAN gain pot at maximum, but this will reduce dynamic range by about 10dB. Setting the LP-PAN gain pot to minimum will add a couple dB to the noise floor, but improve dynamic range by 10dB. This is the recommended setting to start with. A front panel attenuator switch was added to prevent possible overload in case the user wants to run LP-PAN at maximum gain. The kit can be installed without drilling a hole in the front panel for the switch if desired. In this case, simply don't install the keycap on the switch. The switch, in the no attenuation position will still fit behind the front panel if the keycap is not installed. Most users will probably find that the attenuation is not needed.
Below is a picture of the assembled preamp board.
To the right is a picture installed in LP-PAN.
