K2 for a newbie HAM

[John Jolley]

Folks -

I am very new to amateur radio and have a question - am looking at my first
rig and leaning towards a k2 (would begin without the additional 100W's).  

I do not have much experience with electronics but am (in general) very
handy - is this something that someone with little to no experience can do
if they are careful?  Or is assembling the kit probably not a good way to go
for someone with limited experience.

Any opinions are appreciated in advance -

Thanks!

John Jolley - KD8FKC - Columbus, Ohio

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[Don Wilhelm-4]

John,

Welcome to amateur radio and to the Elecraft reflector!

If you can solder properly and correctly follow written instructions,
you can build a K2 (or most any other Elecraft kit).

If you are not certain about your soldering ability, check out the
soldering tutorial info on the Elecraft website (Builder's Resource page
I believe), try several solder connections and if possible find someone
who knows what a good solder connection is (and will be honest with you)
and ask him/her to critique your work.

No similar help with the 'follow instructions' part <G>, but if you
don't understand parts of the manual, you will find help on this reflector.

73,
Don W3FPR

John Jolley wrote:

> Folks -
>
> I am very new to amateur radio and have a question - am looking at my first
> rig and leaning towards a k2 (would begin without the additional 100W's).  
>
> I do not have much experience with electronics but am (in general) very
> handy - is this something that someone with little to no experience can do
> if they are careful?  Or is assembling the kit probably not a good way to go
> for someone with limited experience.
>
> Any opinions are appreciated in advance -
>
> Thanks!
>
> John Jolley - KD8FKC - Columbus, Ohio
>
> _______________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Post to: [hidden email]
> You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
> Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
>  http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft   
>
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
> Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
>
>

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[Craig Rairdin]

There are a couple important things to do:

1) Get the right equipment. Read the information at the Elecraft site and
get a real soldering station with a variety of tip sizes and an adjustable
temperature control. Get the right solder. Get one of those spring-loaded
solder suckers for fixing your mistakes. The bulb-shaped ones don't work.
(If you can afford a real desoldering station then that's even better, but
it's overkill.)

2) Read everything you can find at the Elecraft site about proper soldering
technique. Order a minikit or two to assemble first -- maybe the dummy load,
which is dirt-simple and is useful for tuning the radio when you're done.

If you have a good soldering iron -- not the fixed-temperature cheap Radio
Shack model -- and you have a good idea what you're doing, you should be OK.

You'll need some kind of magnifying glasses or one of those lights with the
magnifying lense built in. And you'll need something to deal with static --
like a static mat and ground strap all properly grounded.

Good luck and have fun!

Craig
NZ0R
KX1 #1499
K1 #1966
K2/100 #4941
K3/100 coming soon!

-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email]
[mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of John Jolley
Sent: Wednesday, August 08, 2007 4:43 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: [Elecraft] K2 for a newbie HAM


Folks -

I am very new to amateur radio and have a question - am looking at my first
rig and leaning towards a k2 (would begin without the additional 100W's).  

I do not have much experience with electronics but am (in general) very
handy - is this something that someone with little to no experience can do
if they are careful?  Or is assembling the kit probably not a good way to go
for someone with limited experience.

Any opinions are appreciated in advance -

Thanks!

John Jolley - KD8FKC - Columbus, Ohio

_______________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Post to: [hidden email]
You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
 http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft   

Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com

_______________________________________________
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