Jim - There are a lot of static-sensitive devices in your K2 kit. There are mosfets, IC's, transistors, gates of transistors. Some LSI chips, etc. Sensitive diodes. And a few pre-programmed VLSI processors.
I built K2 #5422 2 months ago. I bought a basic anti-static desk pad/mat, with a clip on wrist-strap. As I built the kit, I always made sure I was "grounded" to the pad, and whatever K2 part or device, or circuit board - I was working on - had its "ground" also touching or touched the pad too. In that way ME and whatever I was working on - were at the same potential. As another precaution - when I could, I touched the metal (grounded to house AC) portion of my soldering station. You really cannot rely on your house's AC wiring, to be grounded at either wall plugs, or even very well at the breaker panel. In fact - building and house wiring, can have "grounds" that are several volts above ground or 0 DC volts. Then there's AC, vs DC, vs RF ground. I worked in several microelectronics fab and design groups - and we always had SEM Labs to analyze bad or blown devices. So these static things (discharge), etc. - do happen. Gates of devices get blown, paths in an IC can get blown "open", aging and "metal migration" things happen ..... Another potential concern - is how much humidity does your geographic area, and your home or workshop - have? A lot of humidity - will naturally deplete a lot of static charges, that tend to build up here and there. If you are building your K2 kit in Maine in the winter, vs in Phoenix, in mid summer - makes a big difference in static potential in your location. In electronics fabrication groups - workshops also have anti-static pads on the floor - that workers stand on, under and around their benches. I just figured - on my 4-week K2 build, spending $20 or $30 for an anti-static mat and wrist strap, was well worth the insurance it gave me. The worst thing I did when I built K2 #5422 - was mis-solder a device or two. And I dropped the main LCD display device onto a hard ceramic tile floor. I also soldered a long L-connector with many pins, on the wrong side of the K2's RF Board. But luckily, I also bought a $9.95 solder-sucker, which saved the day for these build problems. Go for it, the K2 is a great kit - I had a lot of fun and excitement, building it over spring 2006. I'm now tweaking the IF and filters alignment. Enjoy, Fred N3CSY __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [email protected] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
