[Elecraft] K2 RF board, NPO capacitors

[Eric Swartz - WA6HHQ, Elecraft]

Hi David,

The blue resin dipped caps actually -are- the NP0 type. :-)  Caps can 
appear in a variety of forms and colors and they do not directly 
correlate to the type. (Also, the 68 pF cap you think is missing may be 
marked either as "680" (68 times ten to the zero = 68pf)  or as just 
"68", depending upon the manufacturer.  680 pF will be marked as "681".  
(Note: NP0 and C0G caps are effectively the same for our usage.)
.
I just checked with Scott in our parts department and he doesn't recall 
seeing your email. (We save all emails and replies.) Did you send it to 
parts at elecraft.com? If so, you would have received an automated receipt 
reply immediately.

In general email:
parts at elecraft.com   -  for missing parts, identification questions and 
spare parts orders.

support at elecraft.com   - for problems debugging and operating your 
Elecraft kit.

sales at elecraft.com   - for orders, shipment status and follow up if you 
have not received a reply from parts or support after 2-3 business days.

As a general note, we frequently get emails sent to us late Friday or 
over the weekend. Its not unusual for someone to email us again even 
later that night or on Saturday or Sunday asking why we haven't replied. 
I guess everyone thinks we never sleep at Elecraft central. ;-)  That's 
probably our fault since we frequently get a little obsessive and check 
email over the weekend and late at night. Also, don't forget that we are 
in California and mat be in a different time zone from you. (And for 
international customers our holidays may be different than yours.)

When we get into work on Monday it can take a day for us to reply to all 
of the parts and support email backlog from over the weekend. We do put 
extra support staff on email Mondays, but since many builders build on 
the weekend, or open their kit for the first time, that is one of our 
highest email volume periods.

And always, if all else fails, or if it is urgent, please call us at 
831-662-8345 Mon-Fri and/or email sales at elecraft.com if you are having 
trouble reaching parts at elecraft.com or support at elecraft.com .

73, Eric   WA6HHQ
Elecraft

P.S. Many of our missing parts requests are actually due to customer 
mis-identification of a part, of  from customer mis-placement of a part. 
Its not unusual for us to get a follow up email saying "never mind!" 
right after we send out the spare part. :-)  Don't forget to fully 
inventory your kit! :-)
-------

David Lankshear wrote:
> Hi all, hope someone can offer some advice on this.
>
> I'm building K2 #5551 and was concerned that most of the RF board 
> capacitors
> listed as NPO appeared to be ordinary blue resin-dipped ones.
>
> I mailed Elecraft tech support a few days ago to enquire if the caps
> supplied were NPO (zero temperature coefficient dielectric) or whether 
> that
> spec was still required. Guess I must have done something wrong because I
> got no reply, so can anyone who's "been there, done that" kindly advise,
> please?
>
> I need to order a missing 68pF NPO from Farnell and if necessary, could
> re-order all the NPO caps, just to be sure.
>
> Grateful thanks in advance for any assistance.