[Elecraft] T1 tuner from elephant-craft

[Alexandra Carter]

It never forgets! That it's a tuner! The AT-897 from LDG often forgot  
it was a tuner and thought it was a rock. I returned it and ordered a  
T1 kit, and what a neat lil' tuner!

Works tickety-boo as I think they say in Oz, and while the "operator  
interface" is 3 LEDs and 2 buttons, it's both easy to work with and  
tells you a lot. Tells me a lot. Tells one a lot. It does tune right  
down to a very low SWR, brrt brrt brrrrrt and there you are. I took  
it to the park today with my 897 and a bunch of wire and got 12 feet  
of that wire up in a tree (took 3 throws) and laid out a  
counterpoise... here and there.... and talked to Minnesota on 20W.

Don't feel ashamed if you choose to order it already built, they sure  
earn that $50 or so difference at the factory, this is harder than  
any of the mini-kits or rig accessories I've built, although there's  
less to it than to a KX1 or K1. You get to wind about 10 or so  
toroids, really no problem, and when you're done toroids will be  
familiar territory for you. The smallest value one is wound left- 
handed for a change, meanwhile I'm left-handed and have learned to  
wind toroids right-handed because that's the standard.

With an 800 degree iron the BNC conns are easy to solder, for the  
rest a 700-degree pointy tip iron is just right. One row of relays  
has .1uF SMD caps between their legs so you have to solder a bit  
carefully. The control board needs to have its components trimmed  
close so have good flush cutters and solder "the Elecraft way"  
without leaving a big blobby fillet. It was greatly satisfying to see  
everything clearing the CPU very nicely when it all went together.  
When inserting the CPU get those legs at a nice perfect 90 degrees  
and make sure it all lines up when you install it in the socket,  
because it's going into a bit of a tight spot. It doesn't hurt to  
look at it from a few different angles to make sure the legs are all  
going in, as you squeeze it down bit by bit. That's a very high  
quality socket Elecraft uses so once it's in there right It's going  
to stay right. I'd say go slow and do it right, I did it in 2  
evenings, someone else told me theirs took a bit longer, it's  
possible to put one together in one sitting I guess .

With my 897 on battery power I'm limited to 20W and this is a 20W  
"max" tuner, so it works out just right. Everything is very logically  
laid out so I feel if I ever zorch something I can easily order the  
parts and fix it.

Great, great little tuner! 73 de Alex NS6Y