[Elecraft] FW: Building Advice Wanted

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

Bob W1SRB wrote:
> 	My K2 kit is in the mail and is expected to arrive next week. I 
> ordered the K2, KSB2 and K160RX, so I'll be building those right away. 
> Eventually I plan to add the KDSP2 and KPA100. It appears that all of 
> these add-ons require some modifications to the basic K2. What should 
> I do, or not do, when building the K2 to make it easier and to avoid 
> problems when I need to modify it for the add-ons? All advise and 
> suggestions are welcome.

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The K2 was designed to be modular and to be added to as you see fit. To add
modules, there are a few jumpers to cut or remove, in one case a cap to
remove (that moves signal across the place where a module would be if you
had it installed), etc, and you install the appropriate jacks to accept the
new module.

For me it was absolutely a non-issue and a no-brainer to add the modules one
at a time.

That said, there are at least some builders who found it onerous to remove
the screws in some places and remove jumpers in others. Some guys developed
a set of special plugs that you can put into the sockets for the add-on
modules to jumper the proper circuits until you add the module. They call
them "rework eliminators". Others here can give you the scoop on them. 

The biggest value in those I would think would be for troubleshooting to
allow you to pull modules and see if a problem goes away, but that's not
been an issue for me (no troubleshooting yet on ol' 1289 now going on six
years old!). 

That said, it's an excellent idea to build the basic K2 and do all the
testing and alignment, then add the modules one at a time, doing all the
tests and checks for each one, one at a time, as you go. That way if you do
make a mistake you will find it the moment you add the new module, and
you'll know where to look. 

Ron AC7AC