[Elecraft] Question on K1 build - internal or external tuner?

[Mike Morrow]

> Good luck with it Stan! I just finished mine a few weeks ago...

After all these years since the K1 appeared in 2000, there are still a
few things that could make life better for a K1 purchaser:

1.  The K1 should ALWAYS be provided with the LCD backlight.  The manual
    should be written to incorporate it as standard.  There's really
    NO good excuse for providing the K1 without LCD backlight.
2.  The K1 should ALWAYS be provided with C78 and RFC8, parts normally
    provided with an 80m KFL1-2 parts kit.  One should never have to
    modify a basic K1 at some later date when an 80m filter board is
    installed just because it was desired to save including these two
    very very inexpensive parts in the original kit.  In addition, the
    K1 manual should list the value of these parts in the parts table:  
        C78      10 uF   E530045
        RFC8    100 uH   E690004
    There's really NO good excuse for not providing the K1 without
    RF-C78 and RF-RFC8.
3.  The K1 manual should suggest only tacking in RF board C22 in the
    pads below the PCB, rather than a full through-hole installation,
    if the KNB1 noise blanker is likely to be installed later.  That
    makes the removal of C22 much easier, and much less likely to
    be neglected, when the KNB1 is installed.
4.  AGC capacitor RF board C31 is 2.2 uF.  That makes the AGC on the
    K1 extremely slow, something very few CW operators find appropriate.
    Many K1 owners have found 1 uF or smaller to be a great improvement.
    The K1 should adopt C31 at 1 uF, rather than 2.2 uF.  Minus that,
    a K1 builder should just tack-solder C31 under the RF PCB until
    he determines if the 2.2 uF value needs to be lowered.  The KNB1
    equivalent capacitor C10 seems far less objectionable at 2.2 uF,
    so that could remain unchanged.
5.  The standard K1 should include the four-band KFL1-4 as the default
    filter board, with the two-band KFL1-2 being an option.  The KFL1-4
    has better band-pass and low-pass filtering than the KFL1-2, which
    is reason enough for it being standard.
6.  There should be some foam tape provided for placement at the four
    corners of the front panel board on the side facing to the back of
    the K1.  This eliminates flexing of the front panel board as the
    buttons are pushed, and also prevents a rattling noise that can
    occur at high AF volumes as the corners of the front panel board
    vibrate against the aluminum screw blocks near each corner.
7.  A four-band KFL1-4 should be made available for 17/15/12/10 meters,
    especially since the solar activity cycle now makes that very
    advantageous.

After this, the K1 becomes perfect.  :-)

73,
Mike / KK5F