[Elecraft] K1 LCD Backlight Now Available from Elecraft

[wayne burdick]

Elecraft K1 owners who sometimes operate under low light conditions can 
now add backlighting to the rig's display. A kit containing all needed 
parts is available, priced at $19.95 (model K1BKLTKIT). Here's what the 
K1 looks like with the backlight installed:

      www.elecraft.com/K1/K1_backlight_detail.jpg

We've found this to be a nice addition to rig, especially for camping 
trips and late-night Field Day operations.

The backlight kit includes a replacement LCD (transflective), 
rectangular backlight LED (same color as the K2's), diffuser, and two 
current-setting resistors for your choice of 6 or 10 mA backlight 
current. The kit can be used with any K1. If you haven't yet built your 
K1, you'll end up an extra LCD, which you can keep as a spare.

If your K1 is already built, you'll need to remove the existing LCD in 
order to install the backlight. Since we supply a new LCD with the kit, 
the old LCD can be removed by clipping its pins, then heating and 
removing them one at a time. This is quite easy to do, thanks to the 
well-illustrated instruction sheet written by Tom Hammond, N0SS.

ON/OFF Control

The backlight draws only 6 to 10 mA, but you can add on/off control if 
desired. One possibility is to use a switch mounted on the left side 
panel. However, since most K1 owners never turn off AGC, it may be 
preferable to use the AGC menu entry to control the backlight. To do 
this: (1) cut the RF board trace running from pin 8 of J6 to C31; (2) 
add a jumper on the bottom of the RF board from J6 pin 8 to P1 pin 18; 
(3) use another jumper to connect the cathode (K) lead of the backlight 
LED to pin 18 of J1 on the front panel board.

73,
Wayne
N6KR


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http://www.elecraft.com