[Elecraft] [T1] Newly assembled T1 inop

[Randy Moore]

Just completed an Elecraft T1 ATU. I built and used one several years ago and wished I hadn’t sold it, so built another one. But it’s not working. When I plug-in the (tested good) 9v battery, the yellow LED blinks 4 times (not mentioned in the manual that I can see), but there’s no response to any other button pushes. I went back through all the tests in the assembly manual and they are AOK. I followed the voltage source through the 6v regulator and that’s ok, although the regulator output reads 5.0v on my DMM. Is that too low?

I will confess something. When I inserted the 28 pin MCU into its socket, no matter how I tried, I could not get it in all the way. I’ve socketed dozens of ICs  and never had this happen before. The instructions insist on getting it in so that the “shoulders” of the pins contact the socket. I was about 1/16” short of that. So I clipped about that much off all the pins and got the pin “shoulders” to contact the socket. I could not have gotten the little control board to fully seat over the MCU without doing this. But I may have ruined the MCU by doing this...

Any help appreciated!

73,
Randy, KS4L