Well it is day 4 of the Elecraft K2 build. Today I started on the Front Panel assembly. All of the parts for the front panel come bagged up together.
Front Panel components
The parts were dumped out on the table and sorted prior to assembly.
Front Panel components before sorting
A spacer is used to assure that all of the push button switches are at the same hight. The spacer is also the circuit board that is used for the RF probe.
Using spacer to set switch height before soldering
All the switches have been added to the front panel board and have been soldered. Looking good so far..
Well its day 3 of the build and everything seems to be going OK. Today I finished the "Control" board for the K2.
The day started off installing the connectors on the board. Connectors P1, P2, and P4 are used to connect the control board to the main RF board.
Control Board at the start of the day. Plugs haven't been added at this point.
All Plugs and Connectors installed on the board
After all of the plugs and connectors were installed on the board, it was time to install the integrated circuits (IC's ) on the board. Well guess what? The 2nd IC installed on the board presented a problem. The problem was that the chip number that was specified in the manual was not included with the kit.
Installation of IC's
The first IC, U1 was a NE602. As shown in the photo, the manual indicated that the chip was either a NE602 or a SA602. Well guess what? That chip was not included. I continued on and installed the other chips shown in the manual. When I was finished, the only IC left was a SA612AN. What in the heck is a SA612AN??? I went to the internet and did a search for replacement chips for the NE602. I learned that the NE602 is an old chip. In a forum, someone mentioned that an SA612AN is a newer replacement that will work.
I wish they would tell you this in the manual. Well, up to this point, this is the only problem that I have found in the manual so far. I looked on Elecrafts web site to see if there was an errata sheet for the K2 that showed this but I was unable to find one. I will have to send them an email showing the problem.
CW key shaping modification
Over the years since the K2 transceiver kit has been introduced there have been several modifications to improve the kit. One of these modifications has been the Key Shaping Components. As shown in the photo above, two capacitors have been added to the circuit board on the back side. I had to be careful installing the electrolytic capacitor to make sure I got the polarity correct.
Completed K2 Control Board
The manual calls for a final inspection of the control board when all components have been soldered to the board. Checks are made to see if parts have been installed correctly and in the correct position. Next the solder joints on the back side of the circuit board are checked to see if 1) All components have been soldered. 2) Look for Cold solder joints, and finally 3) Check to see if there are any solder bridges.
The manual provides a list of resistance checks that need to be made. The manual states that you are checking "to ensure that there are no shorts in the most critical control circuits."
As you can see from the photo below, everything checked out.
Instruction Manual showing installation of the electrolytic Capacitors
Its Saturday and Day 2 of the Elecraft K2 build. Today I continued working on the "Control Board". The day started out on pg. 16 installing the electrolytic capacitors as shown in the instructions below. The instructions have been very good up to this point. I had one question yesterday when installing the fixed capacitors wondering if "C44" was going to be installed. I looked ahead in the manual and at the end of construction of the Control Board it mentioned that C44 was not used. It would have been nice to know at the step where the fixed capacitors were installed that C44 was not going to be used.
Installing the first electrolytic capacitor
At this point, special attention has to be paid to the polarity of the electrolytic capacitors so they don't get installed wrong. You might have the right capacitor for the position but still install it wrong.
The instructions up to this point have you load several components on the board before soldering them into position. I decided that after loading 3 or 4 components I would then take a break and solder them and trim the leads. I know that doing it that way is not the quickest but it was easier to solder when there weren't as many component leads in the way. Anyway, this isn't a race to get it done.
After the electrolytic capacitors were installed along with an adjustable capacitor, the transistors were installed.
A trimmer capacitor installed next to crystal X2.
Installing the transistors
Installed transistors
Progress on Control Board, Saturday 29 October, 2011.
Voltage regulators. It is important to get these in the correct position!! After looking at this photo, I am going to touch up the soldering job for the regulators on the top side of the board
Oscillator crystal X1 with ground attached
Main 40 pin processor socket installed
At the end of the day, I finished up on page 18 after finishing the installation of P5 and P6.
Well its Saturday again and the weekend is usually when I cook up a batch of Crock Pot Chili. This recipe is an adaptation from "Williams Crock Pot Chili" in the "McDougall Quick & Easy Cookbook".
Beans used in the Chili Recipe
I start out with 5 cups of uncooked beans. 2 Cups Black Beans, 2 Cups Pinto Beans, and 1 Cup Red Beans.
Beans in the Pressure Cooker.
Add water 3 cups per 1 cup beans
Put them in a Pressure cooker along with 3 cups of water for 1 cup of Dried Beans. 3:1 ratio. So at this point there should be 15 cups of water. I am using the biggest pressure cooker that I have.
Beans Cooking
Once the Pressure cooker has reached presser and steam is coming out, the beans are cooked for 40 minutes.
While the beans are cooking in the pressure cooker it is time to start cutting up the peppers. From left to right we have:
1 Green Bell Pepper
1 Jalapeño Pepper
1 Red Bell Pepper
1 Anaheim Pepper
1 Pasilla Pepper
Fresh Peppers
Peppers chopped in the Crock Pot
The peppers are all chopped up and put in the crock pot. At this point in time, the Crock Pot is on high.
Next I add an Onion, and 6 cloves of Garlic. I chop these up and add them to the crock pot.
Some corn and Petite Diced Tomatoes (medium hotness) are added to the crock pot. I drain and wash the corn hoping to get most of the sodium off of it. Yes, I know, the sodium is also in the corn so washing it probably doesn't help that much....
I also like throwing a few carrots in the chili also. Around 2 cups of chopped carrots. I am the type of cook that will get a base recipe down and then modify it as I go. Once that I find something that I like, I then stick to it.
Chili mix so far before the spices have been added
Chili Recipe spices: Smoked Paprika, Chili Powder, Cumin, Vegetable Broth, and Liquid Smoke
Next I add the spices to the Chili mix:
2 Tbsp Smoked Paprika
1 Tbsp Chili Powder
1 tsp Cumin
2 Tbsp Vegetable broth (powdered)
2 Tbsp Liquid Smoke
It's at this point in the process of making the Chili right after I add the Smoked Paprika that my mouth begins to water.... Yum Yum...
Next I add:
2 Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
2 Tbsp Honey
Chili mix with all spices. Beans haven't been added yet.
And below is the chili after the beans have been rinsed and added to the crock pot. The crock pot is on high and the timer has been set for 8 hours. I don't know if I will cook it that long as I check it as its cooking. Some times it takes longer.
New project! As if I didn't have enough things to tinker with already... I had been looking at these Amateur Radio kits for a while now and decided that it would be fun to try to assemble an Elecraft K2 Amateur Radio kit.
I spent some time on the internet looking at all the different Amateur radio kits that were availabe and decided on the Elecraft K2.
I ordered the K2 and couldn't wait to start. The K2 arrived on Thursday 27 October, 2011. Today, Friday October 28, 2011 is the first build day.
Build Time:
3 hr 46 min Total Build Hours: 3 hr 46 min.
Construction of the K2 starts with the Control Board.
"The Control board is the "brain" of the K2. It monitors all signals during receive and transmit, and handles display and control functions via the Front Panel Board." excerpt from the K2 manual
Well, I am off and soldering. This afternoon I started the initial assembly of the Control Board. In preparation the manual suggests that all parts are inventoried before starting. In inventoried the parts for the Control Board and then started assembly.
Initial assembly starts with the fixed resistors, followed by the resistor networks. Some diodes, inductor, and potentiometer are then added to the board. Next comes the job of adding all of the fixed capacitors. A cupcake pan worked really well to organize the capacitors. A different type of capacitor was put in each cup. I also added a strip of paper in each cup with the identification number of the capacitor. This was really helpful when adding the capacitors to the circuit board.
As you can tell from my time, I am not the fastest builder. I want to take my time and make sure that I have it correct when I finish.
Well one day I was looking at the Map on 360 cities and decided that central Wyoming needed some 360 panorama photos. Usually once a year I take and go on a multi day motorcycle ride with my 2007 Honda ST1300. This motorcycle is good for going long distances in a day.
I left work on Thursday 4 August,2011 at 12:30 and headed home to load up and get on the road. By 2:00 pm I was on the road heading towards Wyoming. I made it to Rawlins, Wyoming by 8:30 that evening.
Friday morning I was up and on the road by 6:30 am. The first spot to visit was the Ames monument. I read about the Ames monument on the RoadsideAmerica website. This site specializes in the odd out of the way tourist attractions.
The Ames brothers monument is a pyramid that was completed in 1882 for the Ames brothers who helped in the financing of the transcontinental railroad. I liked what RoadsideAmerica has to say about the monument.
To get to the monument, you have to drive on dirt roads for a couple of miles. There was a herd of Antelope near the monument.
Several photos later I was back on the motorcycle heading to Rawlins, Wyoming and by this point had put on ~210 miles. Back in Rawlins I took time to fill up the motorcycle, have lunch at subway and then I was off to Independence Rock.
Independence rock is located east of Martins cove, past the Devils gate (Slit in the rock where the sweet-water river passes through the mountain). There is a nice rest area there with a covered wagon on display. This weekend was the opening of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally and the local motorcycle club was setup serving coffee to the motorcycle riders heading there. Independence rock is on the way to Casper, Wyoming and I saw several groups heading to Sturgis.
I ditched the motorcycle gear, and headed towards Independence rock. I saw people climbing all over the rock and decided that I would head to the top of the rock.
There were names scratched all over on the rock. Most of the names on the rock were in the 1900s. On the way down, I ran into where B. Snow signed his name on June 10, 1853. On the way up, I noticed that there were some people over there looking at it. I couldn't believe how fast come of the youth were coming down off of the rock. I was hoping that they wouldn't trip and fall on the way down.
I left Independence rock and headed back towards Devils gate and Martin's cove. I followed the old road back towards Martin's cove and stopped at a grave site for Fredrick Fulkerson. This is one of the oldest identified graves on the Oregon-California trail.
At the entrance of Martin's Cove on the old highway near the parking area, there were three monuments. One of the monuments was to the Pioneers that were buried at Martins cove between 1830 and 1870. The dates that the monuments were erected were also old.
As I headed towards the visitors center, I noticed an area to the east where they had Handcarts parked that the youth use when they have their handcart treks. The LDS church offers handcart treks for the church youth groups. Youth groups spend a week trekking around the area pulling a handcart trying to recreate the experience of the emigrants that journeyed to Utah in the 1800's.
As I was stitching the panorama photo together, I noticed in the shade under one of the handcarts there was a rabbit. If you look to the east in the Handcart photo above, towards Devils Gate, you can see the rabbit under the cart.
I arrived at Martin's cove right at shift change for the missionaries. I wandered around the visitors center area waiting for them to haul me over to the actual cove. Near the visitors center there is a 'Peoples of the Sweetwater museum'. I spent some time looking around this area while waiting for a ride to the actual cove. The Cove is located 2 1/2 miles away and I wasn't ready to hike over there.
Shift change for the missionaries was finally over and I caught a ride up to the cove. The entrance to the cove is 2 1/2 miles away from the visitors center. I didn't want to hike up to the cove because it would mess up my hip. I am running bone on bone right now on my right hip but can manage a mile or two; after that, I pay for it the next day.
Visitors are usually dropped off at this monument and walk just over a half a mile to the end of the cove. The missionaries offered to take me to the end of the cove and drop me off but I told them to let me off here.
I stopped part way into the cove to take another photo. The trail goes up the north west side of the cove and back on the south east side but does not come back to the monument at the entrance.
I finally reached the end of the cove. There are benches where visitors can sit while the missionaries tell about events at the cove. I was lucky to reach the end of the cove when there weren't any groups.
After I left the cove I headed down towards the Sweetwater crossing monuments. On the trails, there are signs talking about each area. Here is a view further on down the trail heading towards the Sweetwater crossing monument. There is a sign talking about the Martin handcart company exiting the cove.
I finally caught a ride down to the Sweetwater crossing monument. There are three statues here depicting the rescue party carrying the emigrants across the Sweetwater river. There also was a youth group at this site. I hurried in and was able to get two shots of the different statues before the group got in the way where I couldn't take any more photos.
I though it was pretty cool to be able to have some youth groups there dressed like the pioneers pulling the handcarts. It makes the photos more interesting..
From the Sweetwater crossing statues, I made my way to the south to where I could catch a ride. Here was another sign explaining what was involved in crossing the Sweetwater river.
Why are there guardrails around the marker? They must have some really wild shuttle drivers knocking them over :) or maybe the youth are sitting on them...
I finally made it over by this Old Wagon where I caught a ride back to the visitors center. The timing for the photo was just right as another handcart group just passed by heading west.
As you can see in the photo above when looking to the north west they must be expecting more wild handcart drivers with all of the guardrails around the information signs. The Pioneers back in 1856 would have liked to have these graveled graded paths with signs along the Oregon trail... And look! They even have restroom facilities to the west. These modern day pioneers sure have it good...
Well, its going on 4:00pm here at Martin's cove, and I have a hotel reservation for tonight in Evanston, Wyoming. Thats another 291 miles to drive along my planned route up along the Sweetwater river towards Lander, Wyoming. I wanted to take some photos of Split Rock Pony express station marker, and the Lander cutoff sign. I have already put on a bunch of miles, its hot, and I am driving west into a headwind and the sun. I wondered should I head the shortest route back to Evanston or continue on? Well, I thought that it would be a while before I am back up this way again, so its off to Lander.
The next stop was the Split Rock Pony Express station stop. From what I read there was a pony express station at Devils Gate, and then another one here at Split Rock. When I arrived at the Pony express station, I was the only one there. When I started taking the photo a bus and a person on a motorcycle drove into the parking lot. I was able to finish up the photo before the group got out of the bus. When I got back to my motorcycle, the other person on the motorcycle parked his right next to mine about a foot away. I was thinking that he had the whole da#n parking lot so why did he park here???
Next stop was the Split Rock Marker. The Split Rock Marker was used for navigation when traveling along the Oregon trail. Travelers coming from the east could see the Split Rock of about a day before arriving at the rock, and for two days after they passed it heading towards the west.
Don't get caught littering in Wyoming! Its a 750.00 fine. Nice place for a sign right next to the marker. Maybe they could have placed it closer to the road....
Later I reached the Lander Cutoff marker on my way to Rock Springs.
When I first saw this marker about 4-5 years ago it was a wooden sign. I thought the cutout on the top of the sign would make a good scroll saw pattern. I transferred it into adobe photoshop and made a pattern out of it. I partially cut it out but ran into problems because the 1/4" oak was to brittle and I had reduced the size of the pattern to 26" across.
From the marker, I still had about 180-190 miles to go to get to Evanston. I arrived at Evanston at 9:00pm and put on 597 miles on the motorcycle for the day.
It's been a long time since I have written in this blog. I was surfing the net tonight and ran across a blog on blogger.com and it reminded me that I have one here! Well, I thought that I should go take a look at it and see when the last time I wrote to it. It was back in 2009 and here it is 2011. Man the time flies by fast.
What have I been up to lately??? well, first, I don't think that there is anyone out there in blogger land that is following this blog but just in case that someone stumbles across it here is a general overview of what I have been up to.
In Jan 2010, I bought a new 2007 Honda St1300 motorcycle and rode it most of the year of 2010. Around September I noticed that I have turned over 10,000 miles on it so I decided that I would put it up for the winter. Today, 3/9/2011, I had the bike inspected and registered and it is the first time that I have rode it since last year.
My mother passed away near the end of June 2010. That was not fun but everyone has to experience that.
In December of 2010 I started getting interested in taking 360 spherical panorama's with my camera because I noticed that they where now showing up as the default layer on Google earth. So far I have 32 360 degree spherical panorama photos on Google Earth. Here is a link to my photographer page on 360cities.net. http://www.360cities.net/profile/cdjonesus
360cities.net website is for 360 spherical panoramas only. I am really having a fun time looking at all of the panoramas at this website using the map view. Not all of the panoramas that are visible on the map view in 360cities.net are visible on Google earth.
It appears that on 360cities.net that the vast majority of photographers are from other parts of the world instead of the United States. The web site founder is from Prague. The United States is way under represented in photos compared to the rest of the world. Europe has ton's more photos than the United States.
Currenltly there are only 6 photographers in the state of Utah. There are plenty of areas around me to take photo of since there is no one else around. I have noticed that a lot of the photos taken in some of the tourist areas in the United States have been taken from foreigners.
Well its getting late and I have to get up for work in the morning. Please stop by the 360cities.net website and view some of my photos so the view counts will go up.
