[Elecraft] K1 lost power out

[Thor, N9IK]

Hmmm.  I sent this yesterday, but it didn't get there, so here's another 
shot....
=========================================================

Well.  After several days - several very frustrating days - I think the 
problem with the K1 is fixed.  Whew!

First a great big thank you to Gary, Scott and Richard at Elecraft for 
their patience, tolerance, patience, and oh yeah, did I say patience?  I 
was feeling extremely stupid about not being able to track down the 
problem, reading schematics wrong, not having test equipment, etc.  I was 
ready to just pack the radio up and send it in for repair.  Well, they all 
talked me out of that, and they were right.  Having finally "gotten" what 
they all were telling me, I feel I've learned a bit about how the K1 works, 
about following schematics a little better, and about my own skill (or lack 
of) as a builder.

I've read in many an email here on the Elecraft forum, and in every one of 
Gary's emails.... here, I'll quote him:

"I find 90-95% of all kit problems just by looking closely at the PCB. I
see parts missing, installed backwards or in the wrong place, or just
poor connections. Poorly tinned toroid leads (PTTL) are the #1 cause of
kit problems, so be SURE that is not the trouble. Reheat all connections
and remove and retin the toroids and their leads if necessary. I do not
want to see you have to send your kit in, when the only problems turn
out to be PTTL or poor connections that a hot soldering iron would
correct."

Well, I'm a believer now.  I must have looked over both the RF board and 
Filter board half a dozen times, reheating solder points if they even had a 
hint of dullness.  This morning after resoldering T1 on the RF board I had 
everything working except the 20-meter band; no receive, no power 
output.  The other bands were OK finally, but not that darned 20-meter 
band.  To make a long story short (well, not as long, anyway), I ended up 
resoldering a couple of toroids on the filter board, and also resoldering 
the variable caps C3 & C4 in the Premix Band-Pass Filter, and CC and CD in 
the RF Band-Pass Filter.  Eureka!  It worked!

Then, I plugged in the power, attached the antenna feed line, plugged in my 
paddles, turned it on, and.... well, I heard W1AW pretty clear, but not 
much of anything else.  #$#%!  %^&#**!  Ooops!  Turn the antenna switch 
back from "Dummy Load" (Sometimes I take that term personally!) to 
antenna.  Voila!  signals, lots of 'em.  Called CQ a bunch of times.  No 
response.  Answered someone else's CQ, no response.  Pulled out a little 
more hair.  Finally, I answered W7PFZ's CQ and he came right back to 
me!  BUT.... either he moved, or the K1 shifted frequency on me; I had him 
perfectly zero beat when I called him, but when he came back his signal had 
shifted quite a bit.  I let it alone, and tried to carry on a qso, but 
started to lose power 
intermittently.  #$%!%%^&*^#@%^*^$#%&*^$%^,  (breathe) 
$^*)#@%^)((#)%^)$(#(#_%_^%_^.  Shut it down, and on a hunch, pulled T1 
completely out of the RF board, re-tinned it and put it back in.  That 
seems too have done the trick.

There.  I got it off my chest.  I feel better now.  No, really.  Really I 
do.  I don't feel dumb at all.  Nope, not me.

Thanks for your' patience and sorry for using all the band width.