[Elecraft] My in-progress K1 is ALIVE!!!

["Hjalmar Duklæt"]

Hi Paul.
Congratulations!! This reminds me of when I put mine together some two years ago. I also trimmed the caps by ear. Plugged in my dipole and found a German station on 20m. Called him and he replied with a report of 579. Just after that I worked Senegal, Africa. I was totally hooked and my K1 has been my main radio since then until I got my KX3 last June.
Good luck, Paul. You will have a lot of fun in the time to come.
73 de Hal
LA4XX

On 13-01-30, Paul Roche  <rochep at comcast.net> wrote:
> Nobody at my house cares about radio stuff, so I have to share this with
> somebody!!
> 
> I am putting together my K1 and have gotten to the point where I install L1
> to perform the "VFO Range Test". Of course I just HAD to plug in an antenna
> to see if this thing can hear, so I push the ON/OFF button and ... ... ...
> 
> IT'S ALIVE!!!! How exciting, I just listened to 40 CW all night, did VFO
> range tests, and went to bed. I peaked all the trimmers "by ear" by
> transmitting 2 watts from my big rig (into a dummy load); there must be a
> more scientific way to do this. But so far so good. At 5 watts I think what
> will keep me back is NOT that last dB I lose from bad tweeking of the caps!
> 
> My only snags:
> 
> 1. I did not have a DMM and assumed my analog Radio Shack meter would do.
> The RatShack meter gave me crazy readings, went to Amazon and got an Equus
> 3320 Autorange DMM for $21 and BINGO, all readings were right on.
> 
> 2. I could not get VFO frequency up to 3.090 by simple spreading of turns in
> L1, I had to remove L1 and remove a turn. BUT I had already flush-cut the
> leads when I put it in. It was a BITCH to get L1 installed again and that
> one short lead in the hole deep enough for soldering. Since removing L1 is a
> distinct possibility for future builders, maybe a note to NOT flush-cut the
> leads until you are SURE L1 is right.
> 
> Otherwise, HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY.
> 
> Paul K3STX
> 
> 
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