chomping at the bit
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It's done I just ordered a K2 counting the minutes until it arrives.
Yeeee Haaaaa 72/ "rc" kc5wa -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.322 / Virus Database: 266.11.12 - Release Date: 5/17/2005 _______________________________________________ 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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RC - Welcome to the club! Savor every single minute building your K2, then
enjoy a great rig for years to come. Have fun (Kinda feels like being an expectant dad, doesn't it!). 72/73 Tom ,WB2QDG K2 S/N 1103 ----- Original Message ----- From: " "RC" KC5WA" <[hidden email]> To: <[hidden email]> Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2005 9:23 PM Subject: [Elecraft] chomping at the bit > It's done I just ordered a K2 counting the minutes until it arrives. > Yeeee Haaaaa > 72/ "rc" kc5wa > > > -- > No virus found in this outgoing message. > Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. > Version: 7.0.322 / Virus Database: 266.11.12 - Release Date: 5/17/2005 > > _______________________________________________ > 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 _______________________________________________ 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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In reply to this post by kc5wa
Take lots of pictures shoot a video of the assembly make a power point
presentation and send it to your friends when you get the rig done after all you only build your first k2 once. see ya 73's N1IB David Schornak K2 03027 www.n1ib.com www.n1ib.com/blog/ www.n1ib.com/leather/ arf don't forget me Mis Ginger -----Original Message----- From: elecraft-bounces+dschornak=[hidden email] [mailto:elecraft-bounces+dschornak=[hidden email]] On Behalf Of "RC" KC5WA Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2005 9:24 PM To: [hidden email] Subject: [Elecraft] chomping at the bit It's done I just ordered a K2 counting the minutes until it arrives. Yeeee Haaaaa 72/ "rc" kc5wa -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.322 / Virus Database: 266.11.12 - Release Date: 5/17/2005 _______________________________________________ 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 _______________________________________________ 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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In reply to this post by kc5wa
Good going! I had a peek at ur web site and am *very* (extremely) envious
of your multipig+ ! I want to build one of those real bad. FWIW I am building my second K2 and have gotten as far as the second alignment stage.. I am having too much fun listening to 40 meter CW to start work on it again.. Maybe this weekend... I was convinced that since I had already built a K2 (five years ago) that I would build a super K2 this time.. Well so far so good BUT I did run into a few Gottcha's, so I thought I would share them with you so you could avoid them. 1: When preparing the display, them manual goes into this discussion about removing the film backing on the display *if* it is present. I actually peeled a small corner of "film" away from the back of the display before I realized that this was NOT the film the manual was talking about. No harm done as it turned out ..but I ordered a spare display just to be safe. 2: Almost of the transistors end up having to have their leads shaped in order to fit the holes.. The center lead gets bent back. As I pressed the transistors down into the holes, I would get them down REAL close to the board to keep the leads as short as possible. All was fine until I got to the RF board and accidentally pressed one of them down too far.. to make a long story short, The center lead stressed out and nearly snapped off the transistor. Of course when that happens you can not see it.. It took two days of fooling around to find that. To quote Gary Surrency "I see a lot of kits with the transistors pressed down too close to the PCB. This is not necessary, as a little lead length of 1/8" to 1/4" does not matter and it often causes a short." 3: The BFO... R116 is a tiny 5.8 Meg resistor that I think is just there to physically hold the L33 toroid down. You will see this on page 58 of the manual. Here is the deal.. The wires in L33 are so fragile that I think that the hard pressure of R116 can be enough to short them out... so take care.. I was under the impression that the only danger was during the soldering since the manual warns that while soldering R116 be aware that the heat can migrate up its leads and if they are pressing hard against L33 they will short out the coil. So probably the best practice is to at least solder the R116 before pressing down into L33. Then don't over do it. L33 is a prewound toroid with very fragile wire. 4: The BFO... On page 52 of the manual you will see some under the board mods that need to be performed.. Gary apparently sees a lot of problems crop up in this area.. Here is what he told me: "...use care to not damage the choke (RFC15) when installing it. ...This submini choke is often broken during installation." He says about another part in the same area (part of the same mod): "... (C88) should also be connected across U4 pins 12-13, using *very* short leads.".. bottom line here is to use a lot of caution during this mod. >From my first K2 I built five years ago, I ran into another Gotcha.. Back then I did not have a Hakko 808 desoldering gun.. So I was devastated when this happened. There are a bunch of headers in the K2 the three boards connect into. They MUST be trued.. meaning at exact right angles with the board as shown in the illustrations.. It is easy to end up with a header that is slightly crooked. If that happens, The boards will not seat properly. One more little gotcha that I learned the hard way back then was about the procedure shown between pages 29-30 about the "GREEN PLASTIC BARGRAPH FILTER". The green plastic filter is placed over the back of the hole that exposes the Bargraph to the front panel. Interestingly the green plastic filter is just a bit too large in that it will also cover the back of a small screw hole. In my first kit I just did what the instructions said, not worrying about the back side of the screw hole. But then when it came time to put the screw in I ended up stripping that screw hole just trying to seat the screw to look like the others.. (these are VERY tiny screws).. It may have been operator error but just to be on the safe side, on this kit I took scissors and cut the green plastic filter down just enough so that it would not cover that screw hole.. PLUS I took great care not to over tighten the screws.. Some hams have told me that they use super glue on the threads of those screws to make sure they never will fall out.. I have not done this.. My old K2 lost two of them. There are a LOT of parts that get put on the bottom of the RF board. The manual warns you to pre-trim them first .. nuff said. Looking at ur workshop via your web photos, it looks like you have a nice shop. I found out that (for me) one tool makes a HUGE difference in the construction of the K2 (oddly enough) is a Hakko 808 desoldering tool. Three good reasons for this. 1: The Hakko 808 makes the tinning of torroid leads a breeze. Every toroid turns out perfect.. and I mean beautiful perfect. 2: Some of the add on modules will instruct you to desolder things in order to install the module. It is easy to damage the board using solder wick etc. 3: It is nice (handy) to true up or remove multipin parts if needed. You probably are all set with solder info.. but five years ago I wasn't and here is what I learned. Solder.. BIG DEAL here.. Don't use exotic solders.. I did some research at at Hakko and Kester web sites and concluded that the traditional Kester SN63PB37 "66/44" .031" rosin core was my choice. The reason I like it is that the core holds a good amount of active flux and the 37/44 blend has no "plastic" range while it is cooling.. meaning that it is either fluid or solid.. when it hits a certain temperature, it is solid. I bought a reel of it and it has been wonderful. Beautiful shiny joints.. Easy to solder with. What more could I ask for? I used a Weller WTCP on my first K2. No problems but for this one I upgraded to a Hakko SM-202 .. What the heck, this is quality time for me.. might as well use quality tools ;). I found out from the N0SS solder pdf that the small chisel tip rules. I now use a 1.2 mm chisel tip. Ken Lotts aa7jc -----Original Message----- From: elecraft-bounces+ken=[hidden email] [mailto:elecraft-bounces+ken=[hidden email]]On Behalf Of "RC" KC5WA Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2005 6:24 PM To: [hidden email] Subject: [Elecraft] chomping at the bit It's done I just ordered a K2 counting the minutes until it arrives. Yeeee Haaaaa 72/ "rc" kc5wa _______________________________________________ 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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