Fwd: [Elecraft] Grounding mic connector body on K2 front panel board

[Ted Turk]

> Dear All,
>
> Having read and thought about this one since building in Feb last year 
> I 'attacked' the problem over the last two days.  A survey with the 
> left side panel removed showed access was a bit tight and the run to 
> the grounding loop a bit long.  So stripped the front panel right down 
> to the bare board.  There is quite a ground land on the top side of 
> the PCB around the Mic socket.  I acquired a fibreglass pencil from 
> Maplin and cleaned away a small area of solder resist in the outside 
> corner triangle of the PCB where "J2" is screen printed.  This tinned 
> easily.  An adjacent area of mic socket body was also tinned and then 
> a short length of stripped thick toroid wire was bent to shape and 
> soldered in.  Another way to shorten the grounding link would be to 
> use a solder tag to one of the protective short stand-offs next to the 
> Mic socket.
>
> The K2/100 twin is still working this morning!!
>
> I suppose, if this or a similar mod proves satisfactory, at the next 
> PCB update, a through-plated hole and small pad could be created in 
> this corner to provide a more secure attachment?
>
> 73,
>
> Ted G7BQM
> K2#4732
>
> On 8 Feb 2006, at 16:20, <rt_clay at bellsouth.net> wrote:
>
>>> The mod is not difficult - remove the front panel and separate the 
>>> board
>>> from the dress panel.  Then wrap a bare wire around the threads of 
>>> the mic
>>> connector, twist it tight, and run one end over to the ground loop 
>>> on the
>>> left end of the board - solder the wire to the mic connector body 
>>> (requires
>>> a LOT of heat - dwell with the iron until the connector body itself 
>>> melts
>>> the solder) and solder the other end to the ground loop.  Reassemble 
>>> the
>>> front panel - Done.
>>>
>>> The original write-up by Wayne N6KR should be somewhere in the 
>>> archives, I
>>> believe back in 2000 or 2001.
>>
>> I just did the mod on my K2's in an effort to remove RFI from the 
>> audio. It is
>> much easier to just remove the left side panel. That gets you enough 
>> access
>> to the mic connector and the ground loop without the trouble of 
>> pulling the whole
>> front panel apart. I did not wrap the wire all the way around the 
>> connector, just
>> soldering it seemed secure enough.
>>
>> Torsten
>> N4OGW
>