[Elecraft] K1 ser. #1870 is alive and well!

[Alan W.]

Yay!  My K1 (4 band) #1870 is alive and well...

I built it last summer, after buying it at Dayton.  Everything worked 
great, and then 20 meters suddenly failed.  Stone deaf and no output. 
All other bands were fine including 15 meters, which shares circuitry 
with 20 meters.

After 6 months of "living with it" I finally opened the case and checked 
the 22 MHz crystal.  I warmed up the "ungrounded" pin  and lifted the 
crystal away from the circuit board a little.  I put it back together 
enough to test it, and BINGO! 20 meters came to life and now works 
great! Apparently a solder blob was under the crystal at that point, 
grounding the pin to the case and thereby silencing the crystal.

I immediately worked Arkansas and England on 20 meters without a hitch.

The K1 is one of the few QRP rigs that would be comfortable as a day to 
day main station radio - as long as 7 watts is all you need ;^p  Listen 
for me and K1 #1870 on 20 meters!

Alan W. N5LF