[Elecraft] KX3 2m Install

[Bruce Nourish]

Yes, sorry, C180, not C120. Not that I'm complaining, its absence made
assembly easier.

Re: TO-220. If you look at Fig 24 (bottom of p28) in the instructions,
you'll see TO-220 "leaning back" inwards from the side of the case, loosely
held by the nylon screw. My TO-220 looked like that before I inserted the
module -- so far so good.

When I inserted the module, the transistor heat sink went into the gap
between the top of TO-220 and the case. I wiggled it a bit until the hole
in the heat sink, and the top hole of TO-220 approximately lined up. I was
able to screw in the metal Phillips screw fine, so the heat sink should
have a good connection to the case. But TO-220 was still "leaning back",
meaning that the bottom hole of TO-220 was still at an angle. I tried
unscrewing both screws, but the heatsink had wedged TO-220 firmly at that
angle.

Bruce

On Mon, Apr 25, 2016 at 8:17 PM Ron D'Eau Claire <ron at cobi.biz> wrote:

> Hi Bruce:
>
> Are talking about C180 near J4? I'll check into it. It won't be the first
> time the engineers made a change and didn't realize it impacted the
> assembly
> instructions (I'm 600 miles from Watsonville, but only milliseconds by
> voice
> and e-mail. Still that can be "light years" at times, Hi!)
>
> I'm not sure what could put the TO-220 screw at an angle. The TO-220 heat
> sink simply slips in between the retainer, which is then pulled tightly
> against the TO-220 heat sink and the side of the case. That's the critical
> part - good mechanical and thermal contact between the TO-220 heat sink and
> the side of the case.
>
> Have you tried loosening both screws and then re-tightening them? What
> comes
> to mind is that in tightening the top screw, the retainer might have turned
> slightly, misaligning the bottom screw in the hole. With everything in
> place. Loosen both screws a bit, then retighten the bottom (nylon) screw to
> hold the retainer, then tighten the top screw and see if things line up
> better.
>
> I'd appreciate hearing if that works either at my address on this message
> or
> ron at elecraft.com.
>
> 73. Ron AC7AC
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Elecraft [mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of
> Bruce
> Nourish
> Sent: Monday, April 25, 2016 5:37 PM
> To: Elecraft Reflector
> Subject: [Elecraft] KX3 2m Install
>
> Hi folks,
>
> Last night I installed and configured a KX3 2m module following the current
> instructions on the website (Rev C). My KX3 is a recent factory build.
> Everything seems to be working fine; I haven't actually tried it on-air yet
> (need to finish my 2m Moxon), but at least I didn't blow my rig up.
>
> I encountered one difference with the instructions: When installing the LO
> coax on J4, I could not find any capacitor C120 to avoid. My KX3 simply
> doesn't have C120 or R81 on that PCB. Has something changed in recent KX3s?
>
> The only hard part was the final installation, specifically clamping the
> heatsink lug properly with retainer TO-220. It seems like the clamping
> arrangement unavoidably puts the nylon bottom screw at a weird angle. I
> double-checked the orientation of TO-220 and redid these steps over several
> times, and couldn't figure out any other way to make it work. Is this
> right?
> If so, a clarification in the instructions would help.
>
> Bruce
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