[Elecraft] Ser#3479

[pfb]

Fellow Newbies,

Just a public note of appreciation for all the K2 elmers who help those of
us just entering the world of ELecraft owners.

I made a major mistake on my SSB option.  For some reason I did not read and
make the changes on the errata shee for this option.  As a reslut I
installed the resistor pack for R3 and R5 in the wrong respective slots and
the capacitor for C38 was wrong.

I did not know this until I got to R7 and R9 when I could not fing the right
color code!  I then realized that I had an extra capacitor lying there.
Reading ahead I did not see any additional capacitor installation listed and
there were no resistors of the color value listed in the manual...........

Finally I figured there had to be something more to this and started
rumaging around the desk and low and behold the errata sheet was under the
mulit meter.  You can all figure out my situation from that.

In my attempts to correct the situation I found myself making the pads and
board messy and it appeared that I was doing some big time damage to this
more delicate PC board.

So I stopped eveything.   It just seemed like I was making a mess.  Two foil
pads from the PC board surface were actually on the removed C38 componet
legs and the round hole on the solder side of that location was starting to
curl.   Beyond that the 2nd pad of R3 looked like I sucked it into the
solder sucker tube!!!!   I was really worried.

Off went an email to tech support.  And I stopped working the board because
it was getting to look pretty bad.

I searched out my Elmer and friend Bob Cerreto WA1FXT (field tester #16) and
his wife Judy KC8BOM (Ser#1337) and made arrangements to stop over to show
them my mistake and ask for help before I totally distroyed the board.  They
had no hesitation in inviting me over telling me to bring the assembly
problem with me

The only thing I can say is that "Judy" saved my butt big time!!!
She is one expert in using a soldering iron and got both the resistor packs
out of the wrong locations that I installed them in and she saved the slot
for C38!

My point being - these Elecraft owners are something else.  If things are
not going right - take a pause - pull back from the task at hand and relax.
Write and email and post on the net even make some phone calls.  I would bet
that anywhere in this counrty that You are not far from one of These
Elecraft owners who would glady stop their busy life for a few minutes to
assist with whatever skills you may need!

My public thanks to Judy and Bob!  And to all those on the board that have
keep me on the straight and narrow!  Including tech support.

Paul
K8QT
Ser #3479