[Elecraft] K3 - HAGCMDKT mod kit

[David and Dianne on Comcast]

Hi Everyone,

I own K3 #371 and have entirely delighted with it and the Elecraft 
experience to date.

But I do have a small nit to pick with the HACG mod and some comments 
posted earlier today.

After doing a lot of pre-modification research on my #371, I determined 
that the mod had been done, only partially, before it was shipped to 
me.  The R33 and R40 were still in place and not removed or jumpered as 
the mod instructed. They both appeared to be 1K ohm SMD resistors. 

Before proceeding further with the mod, an inquiry to K3 Support at 
Elecraft instructed me that my board only had a 'portion' of this mod 
performed and that R33 and R40 should definitely be removed or shorted. 
When I discussed my situation with several of you privately no one was 
sure why my K3 had only a portion of the mod performed before its shipping.

So away I go last weekend and proceed remove the two SMD resistors and 
replace them with jumpers per the HAGC instructions.

Now, today, I read Eric's post indicating that this was indeed a 
'factory mod' and the removal of the R33 and R40 is optional, ok either way.

Here's my issue.

In removing the SMD devices (which I undertook as suggested by first 
cutting them in half with miniature dikes to avoid the necessity of 
using too much heat to the pads on the pc board) I very briefly applied 
heat from a 20 watt iron and solderwick for a fraction of a second to 
remove the remnants of the devices.  Not only did the remnants come off 
but so did one of the solder pads from the pc board. So much for my 
introduction to SMD de-soldering.

While these boards are indeed elegant in design and construction, they 
are apparently quite fragile and do not lend themselves to ANY excesses 
in heat. Frankly I was unpleasantly surprised. 

So I had to scrape off the solder resist back along the trace and solder 
the jumper back on the trace away from the now missing pad. All's well 
and the K3 runs fine BUT my once elegant pc board now is a bit butchered 
around where R40 once resided.

Now today I read that this step in the mod was not needed to be done. I 
only wish I had known that before I started this adventure.

So should R33 and R40 be left in place or removed?  I do not understand 
how it does or does not make a difference either way.  IMO that should 
have  been addressed in the HAGC mod instructions.

Had I read today's post earlier I would never have undertaken this mod. 
I wish I had received the entire story from K3Support earlier on.

Really not a big deal but it irked me a bit.

Morale of my story is proceed very carefully in undertaking soldering on 
these boards.  They can be unforgiving.

BTW the 'CW rise time mod' was not performed on my unit. That was done 
with no problem. I used the through hole capacitor on this one.

In closing how's my K3 you ask?  IMO the finest transceiver I have ever 
used. Bar none.

73 de N1LQ-Dave