[Elecraft] Just finished building my K3

[James Sarte]

Dear group,

 

Just finished building my K3!  It took me about 10 hours from start to
finish.  I ran into a few problems, but thankfully nothing major.

 

My K3 is a 100w version with sub receiver and full complement of filters on
both sub and main receivers.  A transverter board and voice recorder module
are also installed.

 

Lessons learned:

 

1.	Don't drink while putting this kit together. without realizing, I
ended up getting pretty drunk during the course of assembly just sipping on
beer.  Mistakes can and will happen when you're tired AND drunk.
2.	Screw drivers and circuit board traces don't mix. see item number 1.
(My screwdriver slipped when I was trying to pry the sub receiver board out
of its metal casing and scratched a few of the small traces.  Fortunately,
no major damage and the circuit remained in tact.  Also, those damn holes on
the sub receiver board don't line up with the metal shield.  This is why I
had to take the thing out in the first place and sand the nubs down with a
dremel.)
3.	Read the assembly manual at least 3 times from cover to cover before
you even start building.  It really helped knowing ahead of time what's
expected.
4.	Have a small pair of diagonal cutters.  Cutting jumper W1 and W2 for
the transverter board was a pain in the ass.  I had to go to the store at
10PM last night to look for cuticle cutters (I should have listened to you
Gary).
5.	Don't work tired!!!  I kept pushing myself to finish last night, and
while I didn't complete it I ended up making mistakes.  I forgot to install
the voice recorder and ended up having to take the front panel off again.
6.	Sleep for 8 hours before resuming assembly if you have to stop
assembly at night.  I went to bed at 4AM and woke up at 9AM to finish.
While I was cleaning up, I pulled the power plug for my PS out of the power
strip.  I wasn't paying attention and my thumb and pointer finger hit the
two power plug terminals WHILE it was still half way into the socket.
Suffice it to say, I didn't need coffee this morning and my skin is still
tingling.  It's no fun getting electrocuted.

 

Anyway, this thing works great now that I have everything calibrated and
installed.  Thanks to all the folks out there that took the time to answer
my questions and help me out.

 

Gary Smith - special thanks to you for the assembly tips and the filters.

 

73,

James KC2UEE

 

 

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