Hours 2:00:00 Total Build Time: 14:51:00 Nov 4, 2011
Day 7 of building the Elecraft K2 transceiver. The build today started on page 27 of the manual with the positioning and installation of the backlight assembly. The first problem that I ran into is that I could not remember which polarity the Cathode and Anode were. Sure I had electronics 30 years ago, but I have been working with computers (not with the hardware) for the last 20 years. The manual did not mention the polarity of D2 and D3, and the PC board just had a + by one of the holes on each side. Well its off to the internet to figure this one out.....
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| LCD Display backlight |
Ok time to use the spacers to position the LCD backlight assembly. The manual said to use some spacers. Where were they? I looked all over the place to find them. I looked through all of the bags trying to find them. I finally figured out that the LED backlight spacers were part of the Switch spacing tool. On the third step on page 23 it talked about breaking the material away only at the four indicated points. I missed that step. Mystery was solved.
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| Spacers used to position LCD Display backlight |
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| Front Panel board with LCD Display installed |
I ordered the SSB voice option with the radio. At this point in the assembly of the Font Panel circuit board, the instructions called for adding the additional parts for the SSB option. These parts consisted of 5 capacitors, a resistor, a resistor pack, transistor, and a plug which are all visible below in-between the 4 potentiometers.
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| SSB Option parts installed |
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| LCD Display |
Dang it! I melted part of one of the pushbuttons while soldering in one of the corners of the LCD display. I soldered the for corners of the display and then went back and re-heated each of the corners pressing down on the LCD display. This was done to make sure that the display laid flat against the backlight.
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| Melted corner of button cap with soldering iron |
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| Top view of LCD display pins |
Next was a visual inspection of the parts (polarity) and IC orientation to make sure they were installed correctly. The solder joints on the bottom side of the board were checked for cold solder joints and bridges. Everything looks good at this point.
Well we are finally looking like we are getting somewhere. Below is a shot of the front panel with the green filter for the S meter and the clear LCD bezel.
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| Elecraft K2 Front panel |
Again at this point in the assembly process, there were 60 different resistance checks to perform. The checks passed with no shorts or un-usual readings. Good!
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