Hi Jim, Unfortunately, you probably can't check to make sure the mat is actually an ESD mat, since it's resistance will be too high for your DMM to measure. It will just show as an open circuit on a DMM.
There are ways to measure the resistance by letting the sheet discharge a capacitor and measuring the discharge rate, but I'm guessing you wouldn't be interested in doing that, especially since getting reliable measurements is a bit tricky. That said, I wouldn't worry about harming your K3, so long as you wear your wrist strap. If your mat was advertised as an ESD mat, it most likely is just that. And even if it is not, you should be fine. if you ground your wrist strap and ground the chassis of the K3 while you're assembling it. 73, Jim W8ZR _____ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Thursday, December 18, 2008 1:21 PM To: Reflector Subject: [Elecraft] ESD Question! Good afternoon All. They say an un-asked question is the only "dumb" question. Well, here goes! I'm an appliance operator and my technical skills are kinda shallow. I do have a DMM and know how to use it. I'm in the planning stage of building my dream transceiver: aka an Elecraft K3. After reading through the assembly manual [thanks to its availability on the Internet], it's very clear that I should not try such a project without an ESD Wrist Strap and ESD Mat. I have these in my possession as we speak. They were purchased from a commercial company advertising them as ESD items. That leads me to my question. How can I be assured that this Mat IS grounding a PCB [or anything else] during the "build" process? I checked the resistance of the Wrist Strap and sure enough there is a 1M Ohm resistor in there. I cannot figure a way to check the Mat's grounding. It's "alligator clip" is attached to my station's woven metal Ground Strap system. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks and Best 73. Jim......... WA4NTM
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