Friday, October 28, 2011

Elecraft K2 - Serial Number 007239 Build

New project!   As if I didn't have enough things to tinker with already...  I had been looking at these Amateur Radio kits for a while now and decided that it would be fun to try to assemble an Elecraft K2 Amateur Radio kit.

I spent some time on the internet looking at all the different Amateur radio kits that were availabe  and decided on the Elecraft K2.

I ordered the K2 and couldn't wait to start.  The K2 arrived on Thursday 27 October, 2011.  Today, Friday October 28, 2011 is the first build day.

Build Time:
3 hr 46 min    Total Build Hours: 3 hr 46 min.

Construction of the K2 starts with the Control Board.

"The Control board is the "brain" of the K2.  It monitors all signals during receive and transmit, and handles display and control functions via the Front Panel Board."  excerpt from the K2 manual

Well, I am off and soldering.  This afternoon I started the initial assembly of the Control Board.  In preparation the manual suggests that all parts are inventoried before starting.  In inventoried the parts for the Control Board and then started assembly.

Initial assembly starts with the fixed resistors, followed by the resistor networks.  Some diodes, inductor, and potentiometer are then added to the board.  Next comes the job of adding all of the fixed capacitors.  A cupcake pan worked really well to organize the capacitors.  A different type of capacitor was put in each cup.  I also added a strip of paper in each cup with the identification number of the capacitor.  This was really helpful when adding the capacitors to the circuit board.

As you can tell from my time, I am not the fastest builder.  I want to take my time and make sure that I have it correct when I finish.

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