[Elecraft] K1 Discontinued

[Bill Frantz]

I started with a magnifier on an arm with a circular florescent 
lamp. I still use this device for anything which needs a bit of 
magnification including inspecting thru-hole boards and fixing 
knitting mistakes. I assembled a number of kits with SMT parts 
using this magnifier.

I then got a cheap head-mounted magnifier with a built in LED 
light. It gives more magnification, but I haven't used it in any 
important project yet. It has the advantage of being portable, 
so it can go to field day to makes repairs.

Then I came across a Bausch and Lomb zoom binocular microscope 
with a ring light for $120 at an electronics flea market. After 
checking it out, I quickly paid the seller. It is excellent for 
inspecting SMT parts for good solder connections.

All of these devices can help with construction projects.

73 Bill AE6JV

On 8/31/17 at 11:00 AM, w6jhb at me.com (James Bennett) wrote:

>Guys - I’m about to hit the magic “70” mark and have been 
>using +250 readers for quite a while. I’ve also been a stamp 
>collector since age eight. Bad eyes and stamp collectinig 
>don’t go together very well! The readers are fine for reading 
>(duhhhh) but when it comes to really small, close-up 
>examination of stamps, I got out my checkbook several years ago 
>and purchased a fairly inexpensive (~$350) stereo microscope. 
>Couple years ago I took the plunge and built my first SMT-based 
>QRP rig. In addition to some really small resistors and 
>capacitors, it also had a couple of the 64 and 128 pin IC’s. 
>Using that microscope made it a breeze. I’ve since built 
>several SMT-based kits and find it quite easy with a microscope 
>to see what one is doing. Now, unstable hands are quite another 
>thing… :-(
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