[Elecraft] update on my KX1 progress

[David F. Reed]

After being stuck at stage 2 for some time, and pulling my hairs out one 
at a time, Jim Younce, K4ZM rescued me (in a big way) - Thanks Jim! - 
and I recently completed the Stage 3 assembly.

I would love to report success, but the war is not over... a couple of 
items stand in the way.

   1. Completing the alignment:

      I have incorrectly assessed the difficulty of alignment; in that I
      am having trouble locating a few tools adequate to the task; the
      "tuning wands" I am finding here are either too large a diameter
      (won't fit down in there), or not insulated (and either short to
      the plated through holes, or couple my body capacitance (not
      insubstantial by the way), or are made of stuff too soft for the
      task of torquing those pesky trimmers... and to make matters more
      frustrating, the pesky trimmers have a high static friction, so
      that when you do turn them, they twist far more degrees than
      intended...

      So folks, share your secrets of source of said tuning tools...

   2. My 20 M. output is about 2 watts; 40 is about 3.5 watts. Yes, R4
      is fully clockwise. supply voltage is at 13.8 Volts.

      I am suspecting the windings on some toroids, or other form of
      joy...  Hints?

Looking forward to successful completion and some first QSOs to report...

73 de W5SV, Dave

-- 
David F. Reed  - W5SV -     cell: 512 585-1057