[Elecraft] K3 mods

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

Hello Steven! 

Congratulations on tackling the mods! I'm sorry one gave you trouble. 

Installations like that are easily done by what I call "tack-soldering".
That's how the board in the photos was modified. 

1) Shape and trim the resistor leads so they touch the solder pads when the
resistor is held in place. 

2) Wet the tip of your soldering iron with a little solder and, while
holding the resistor in place with your free hand, touch the soldering iron
to one pad and lead. That will melt the solder on the pad and the solder on
the iron will mix with it to "tack" the lead in place, holding the part.
Don't worry about a perfect joint; it only needs to be good enough to hold
the resistor temporarily.

3) Now solder the other lead properly.

4) Come back to the first one you "tacked" in place, heat and add a little
solder if necessary for a perfect joint. 

Like most things, it takes longer to read than to do, Hi! 

I often tin ends of the resistor first so there's solder there ready to bond
to the pad when I tack it on with the iron. 

Ron AC7AC 


-----Original Message-----

Yesterday I overcame my fears :-) and successfully performed the  
following mods on my K3 (S/N 1672):

K3 AF Mod (Line out & speaker)
IF Output Buffer Gain Mod
K3 Extreme Signal RX Protection Mod

But, I was not able to perform the K3 AF Output Mod (two 470 ohm  
resistors on the KIO3 board). I found it impossible to hold the  
resistor in place will soldering to the connector pins. Does anyone  
have any suggestions on techniques for installing these resistors?

Steve N9SZ