Hi, Marty: It sounds like you've gotten some pretty impolite off-reflector answers.
In my experience, people who need to speak privately often have little worthwhile to say and they fear being criticized themselves. That's why they reply privately. To me, it's like someone at the local Ham club meeting grabbing a fellow who asks a question and dragging him outside to berate him in private for being stupid and then telling him what to do out of hearing of the others. Thank you for speaking up publicly. The only way to stop that behavior is to confront it, then hit the delete key. (Wonderful invention, that delete key, but it can take practice not let rudeness dwell on your thoughts. I try to remember that, frequently, the rudeness is unintentional, like someone stepping on my toe at a club meeting, even if they don't apologize.) I've been involved in writing some of the Elecraft assembly manuals, including the KX1 manual. We've discussed the issue of solder a number of times. Because the choice is rather personal, most builders have plenty of opportunities to need solder in the future, and some solder chemistries are avoided in some parts of the world, it's been decided to leave getting solder up to the builder. The Kester mentioned in the KX1 manual is *a* recommended type. That's why the text says "...or equivalent". There's more about solder recommendations on the following page under "Soldering and Desoldering". We'd rather identify something that you *must* avoid rather than be too specific about what to use so, whenever possible, you can use what you have on hand. When it comes to soldering, the smaller components and smaller circuit traces on many boards, such as the KX1 uses, mean that using the larger solder most of us have acquired over the years is very, very difficult. It's far too easy to get too much solder on the joint producing blobby soldering and bridges to adjacent pads. That's why the smaller diameter solder and small size soldering tip are strongly recommended. Small parts and small circuit traces are here to stay, so an investment in a spool of small diameter solder and proper iron should serve you for many years to come. Elecraft tries to avoid procedures that require truly specialized tools. We list the tools you'll need, trying to stay with what most builders will have in their basic kit. Where a special tool is needed - a special alignment tool or wrench with particular dimensions such as used in the K2 kit, for example - it *is* included in the kit. The KX1 does not require any such tools. If you have what's on the tool list in the manual, you should be in excellent shape to assemble the kit. And if you have any questions planning for the build, building the kit, testing and aligning the finished unit or using it on the air, please ask them here on the reflector. You can be sure to get some good advice publicly on the reflector. That's the beauty of the system: there's always a peer review of every post by all the others. If I make a mistake, others will jump in and correct it. If those folks correcting you had done it publicly, you wouldn't have gotten a bunch of such "corrections"! Answering off the reflector simply wastes time and bandwidth! Bottom line: Elecraft wants every builder to be successful and have fun. That's why this reflector is here. Welcome aboard! And even if you don't have any issues or questions to bring to the reflector, be sure to come back to talk about your experiences with your KX1! Ron AC7AC -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Marty Young Sent: Monday, July 30, 2007 2:31 PM To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: [Elecraft] Fwd: Just ordered a KX1, and have a question Please allow me to make a correction before I get any more email... I meant 0.031 dia solder, not 0.31, slip of the decimal point. To those who disagree with my arbitrary selection of Kester "44" 0.031, it is what Elecraft recommends, and that really wasn't the point of my post. After the opinions and corrections I have received, people take this pretty personally. Maybe now I understand why Elecraft doesn't include solder with their kits :-) 73 Marty / W4MY --- Marty Young <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2007 13:17:06 -0700 (PDT) > From: Marty Young <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Just ordered a KX1, and have a question > To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net > > Hello All: > > I ordered a KX1 and it was shipped Priority Mail on > 7/23 and have not received it yet. Danged post > office! In doing my preliminary research and > preparation I have a question: > > Soldering is important, I think we all agree. The > selection of the correct type and size is critical > to > success. Why isn't a hank of 0.31 dia Kester "44" > included with the kit? > > I know, this would increase cost. But I would > gladly > pay an additional $3 for a kit to avoid having to > buy > a $25 roll of Kester. (and only use 1% of it) > Anybody > remember Heathkit? They were the premier kit maker > of > their day. Solder was included. Remember the nut > starter tool? (I may still even have one!) Not to > mention a plastic IF can tweeker. It was a nice > touch > from the top maker of kits. Its why we all remember > them fondly and sorta miss 'em. > > I'm not trying to be cheap. Just a practical > suggestion. I'm not saying Elecraft should supply > flush cutters, common tools, and "spoon" feed us. > > Just that solder selection is pretty danged > important. > And isn't it like a component? It stays on the pcb > just like all the other parts? > > For what its worth. 73 Marty / W4MY > > > > ____________________________________________________________________________ ________ > Park yourself in front of a world of choices in > alternative vehicles. Visit the Yahoo! Auto Green > Center. > http://autos.yahoo.com/green_center/ > ____________________________________________________________________________ ________ Fussy? Opinionated? Impossible to please? Perfect. Join Yahoo!'s user panel and lay it on us. http://surveylink.yahoo.com/gmrs/yahoo_panel_invite.asp?a=7 _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net 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 _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net 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
