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Refurbed Vibroplex Original
Standard
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Reflections on
Projects Past
My K2
is done and sn 4090 now sits happily on my shack bench, situated above
my LDG Autotuner. I am well on my way to re-earning
WAS,
this time CW QRP (49 states worked & 48 confirmed).
A few reflections ... I am
pleased but not
surprised by any stretch of the imagination, as to how good the
Elecraft assembly manuals are. If you read it carefully and
take
your time,
the manual leaves no stone unturned and leaves nothing to
chance.
Every step is laid out in plain English. There are NO
ambiguities
... not one, zip, zilch, nada !!!
Kit sn 4090 was
complete. There were
no parts missing. Everything was as it should have
been. An
especially nice touch that Elecraft performs is to mount the resistors
that you use on a tape in the order that you install them
!
How cool is that?
Personally, I really enjoyed the
winding
and installing the RF Chokes and the toroidal transformers.
The
winding itself is not hard. Getting the enamel off the wire;
and
tinning it for installation can be a real pain if you let it.
An
easy method for preparing toroids can be found by clicking here.
This is the
Emtech site, which sells the ZM-2, a Z match antenna tuner kit for
QRP. On their Website they have a link to a short video that
you
can download/watch to see the "solder blob" method of stripping enamel
off toroid wire. It works great; but can be on the stinky
side
!!! My "hybrid" method was to do an initial scraping off of
the
enamel with a Swiss Army Knife. I made a light pass on each
"quadrant" of the outside surface of the wire. I followed
this up
with the "solder blob" method and got beautifully tinned toroid leads,
each and every single time.
If you're new to the concept of
Elecraft
rigs and want to glean some really good information, hints and other
cool stuff, then I urge you to subscribe to the Elecraft e-mail
reflector. You can do this by checking out the Elecraft Website
and by clicking
on the words "eMail List" which appear in the left hand side
frame. Follow the instructions and you are "in" - no fuss, no
muss !!
A word about
aligning my K2 ................
Some 3 years after building it, I
had decided to send my K2 to a professional to get
some work done on it. Right now, it is performing superbly; but I
wanted
it to be professionally "tweaked" and aligned. I haven't the time to do
it myself. I
feel bad about not doing it myself; but between work, K of C
commitments, taking care of my children when Mom's not home (working),
taking the kids to their various activities (cheer, gymnastics, etc.) -
it's just a bit too much to think about.
The man I chose for the job was Alan Wilcox, W3DVX the proprietor of Wilcox
Engineering.
Alan is a professional with a ton of experience.
He's the
one who I decided could take an excellent radio and make it even
better. He's got the tools and he's got the know-how.
And I
was not disappointed!
To my delight, I found
out that Alan did an outstanding job
putting the final "final touches" on my K2. The frequency is spot on!
Twirl the
dial on 30 Meters to 10.000.00 MHz and WWV is there, right where it
should be! Next was a check of the K2's internal crystal filters. I
went to 40 Meters and picked out a station that was in a cluster of
several close by signals. Changing the filters was a thing of beauty.
The station I had picked stayed put, rock solid and the interfering
stations magically disappeared as I flipped through the K2's filters.
The
KAF2 that I acquired on eBay is now installed and I reset the internal
clock to UTC. The audio
filter sounds fabulous and I can already see where it will be a big
help in the QRP sprints; when everybody and his brother seems to
obstinately occupy about 5 kHz of spectrum instead of spreading out!
And
as if things couldn't get better, the night I got it back, I started
calling CQ down around
7.031.00 MHz and I was answered by TK5JO, Guy in Corsica. A new one for
me! I've never worked Corsica before, either QRP or QRO. This becomes
my 69th DX station worked as I continue on towards QRP DXCC. Oh baby,
what a night!
As I predicted,
an already fabulous rig is now
even better since it has been professionally tweaked and aligned by
someone who knows EXACTLY what they are doing! And with this result, I
can recommend Alan Wilcox, W3DVX and his firm Wilcox Engineering
enthusiastically and whole heartedly!
If you want to
have an
Elecraft radio; but are hesitant for whatever reason to build it on
your own; then Alan is THE man! If you're like me; and you've already
built your own KX1 or K1 or K2, and you know it can stand some
improvement and don't have the time to tackle the job on your own; then
Alan is the man for you! His work is top notch, A-1 and his rates are
reasonable. He is a true gentleman and he'll keep you informed every
step of the way. By all means, do yourself a favor and visit his
Website: http://wilcoxengineering.com/
You will be so
glad that you did!
Reflections
on other projects
The K1 was even easier
to build than the K2; and in fact my K1 was the
first Elecraft rig I had purchased. It was good experience to
gain before tackling the K2. Not only did I end up with a
super
radio; but I got into the swing of things the Elecraft way (which is
not all that much different from the Heathkit way- just better!) I love
my K1 - I love keeping it in the car for portable ops and it is a
superb Field Day rig!
The Rockmite by Dave Benson of Small Wonder Labs was easy to build and
is a hoot to operate. Dave's assembly instructions are
excellent;
but not everything is as spelled out for you in comparison to the
Elecraft manuals. That being said, while you have to use your
grey matter a little bit more - "it ain't rocket science" either as the
old saying goes. If you can solder well and follow
directions;
then you can put any of these kits together with good
results.
The Rockmite puts out a mere 500mW signal; so EVERY contact with one of
these puppies is like working DX. If you've become bored with
Amateur Radio and are looking to regain the excitement of your Novice
days, then I would heartily recommend getting any one of these
kits. Build it yourself and get on the air ..... what could
be
better than that ?????


So what are
the bare essentials
for successful kitbuilding or homebrewing ?
I think the following are
absolutely
necessary:
1) A table or work area where your project can be worked on and then
left alone undisturbed when you're not around. Building a kit
or
homebrewing on the kitchen or dining room table just doesn't cut it !
Check
out this
idea - courtesy of Monty N5ESE - this is a perfect solution
to an
old problem!
2) A VERY GOOD light
source.
I use an inexpensive but nice magnifying lamp I found on eBay for about
eight bucks. It uses a 60 watt light bulb and the magnifier
is
really helpful in reading the impossibly small silkscreening found on
some components.
3) A premium soldering iron. This is your mainstay in kit
building or homebrewing; so buy the best you can afford. I
personally prefer Weller soldering tools. I not only use them
at
home; but I also use them professionally at work.