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 <[email protected]> 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 > > > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:[email protected] <[email protected]> > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > > ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
