[Elecraft] K2 - getting ready to build

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

Ken, KA0W wrote:

I should be right behind you with the K2 construction. I wasn't going to do
a K2, but have become brainwashed enough that I finally had to order the box
of parts.

If you hear any noise to the south of you it will be just me grumping after
I screwed something up because I have no patience when building. 

-------------------------------------------------
Ha, ha!!! Let's hope they are growls of pleasure, not pain! 

Take a D-E-E-E-P breath and do the build ONE step at a time, and double
check your parts placement before soldering! 

I built my K2 in 2000. It's worked like a champ in spite of being one of the
test machines for many of the "improvements" to the K2 gene pool over the
years.

Following this reflector since 2000, I've noticed one complaint begin to
turn up among a few owners: intermittent problems!

In every case that I've followed, the intermittent turned out to be a lead
that was never soldered. Elecraft uses high quality boards with
plated-through holes. A bare, unsoldered lead can hang in one of those holes
for years before enough oxidation builds up or it becomes loose enough to
start losing conductivity. 

So I suggest keeping the three following things in mind as you build:

1) All parts have a tendency to jump from one place to another without
warning. After you put R3 in the spot for R3, when you reach for the
soldering iron you may discover that while you looked away it: a) jumped to
another location or b) changed to a different value. Parts tend to do this
more easily as the hours wear on.. 

2) An unsoldered part remains unsoldered until you solder it, even if it's
years later.

3) Intermittents are the worst sort of trouble to locate.

Ron AC7AC