Mark makes an excellent point but a special anti-static pad is not required for a simple procedure like this. However, simply unplugging and replacing the FP does not require touching anything inside the K3, so there's no danger.
If you need to touch the pins on the connectors or anything inside the K3, a good workable option to the anti-static mat is to simply touch a ground frequently while working. IF you don't already have one, a good pad and a wrist strap to keep you "discharged" is a great addition to your tool kit. One of the Elecraft engineers undertook an analysis to the mats on the market and discovered that some are less than useful. Here's his recommendations as published in many of the Elecraft manuals: An anti-static mat must bleed off any charge that comes in contact with it at a rate slow enough to avoid a shock or short circuit hazard but fast enough to ensure dangerous charges cannot accumulate. Typically, a mat will have a resistance of up to 1 Gigaohm (109 ohms). Testing a mat requires specialized equipment, so we recommend that you choose an anti-static mat that comes with published resistance specifications and clean it as recommended by the manufacturer. Testing has shown that many inexpensive mats that do not specify their resistance have resistance values much too high to provide adequate protection, even after they were cleaned and treated with special anti-static mat solutions. Suitable anti-static table mats are available from many sources including: . U-line (Model 12743 specified at 107 ohms) . Desco (Model 66164, specified at 106 to 108 ohms) . 3MTM Portable Service Kit (Model 8505 or 8507, specified at 106 to 109 ohms) 73, Ron AC7AC ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
