[Elecraft] KBS2 Capacitor Height

[Don Wilhelm]

Fernando,

The 1/8 inch or less is the spacing from the board to the bottom of the
capacitor, and that can be achieved without straightening the capacitor
leads.

A bit of history - initially the recommendation was to straighten the
capacitor leads so the capacitors could be mounted very close to the board.
This was intended to reduce chances of stray pickup by the capacitor leads.
Later (after several builders found out they had ignored the note to
straighten) it was discovered that little (if any) real benefit was derived
by straightening the leads, so Elecraft dropped the recommendation.
Many of the photos were taken during the time when it was the norm to
straighten the leads.

You may still straighten the leads and mount the capacitors as close to the
board as possible if you choose - no harm in doing that (unless you damage a
capacitor in the process).  If you do chose to straighten the leads, do so
without placing strain on the capacitor body - that is to just unbend the
wire without placing stress at the junction of the capacitor body and the
lead.

73,
Don W3FPR


----- Original Message -----

> Hello to all.
> I have a question that was asked awhile back concerning the capacitor
> height on the SSB board.
...
> The Picture of the KSB2 SSB Adapter on the Elecraft page to these eyes
> seems that all capacitors are nicely snug on the board, particularly
> around the xtals.
> Strengthening those little blue thingys legs is problematic for these
> forcefully hands.
>
>