Elecraft K2 Owner's Manual - Manual (Page 10)

E
LECRAFT ® 9
There are six steps in the K2 assembly process:
1. Control Board assembly
2. Front Panel Board assembly
3. RF Board assembly and test, part I (control circuits)
4. RF Board assembly and test, part II (receiver and synthesizer)
5. RF Board assembly and test, part III (transmitter)
6. Final assembly
This assembly sequence is important because later steps build on the
previous ones. For example, in step 3 you’ll put the modules together
for the first time, allowing you to try out the K2’s built-in frequency
counter. The counter will then be used in step 4 to align and test the
receiver and synthesizer on 40 meters. In step 5 all the pieces will
come together when you complete the transmitter and filters, then
align the K2 on all bands. The last few details—speaker, tilt stand,
etc.—will be wrapped up in step 6.
Unpacking and Inventory
When you open the kit you should find the following items:
 six chassis pieces (Figure 3-1)
 three printed circuit boards (Figure 3-2)
 FRONT PANEL board components bag
 CONTROL board components bag
 RF board components in two bags
 MISCELLANEOUS components bag (includes hardware)
 WIRE bag
 4-ohm Speaker, 5 small knobs, and large tuning knob
 plastic tube containing the latching relays
 an envelope containing the LCD bezel, green LED bargraph filter,
serial number label, thermal insulators, and other items
Inventory
We strongly recommend that you do an inventory of parts before
beginning to assemble the kit. It is not necessary to inventory the
resistors, which are supplied attached to tape in assembly order.
Even if you don’t do an inventory, it is helpful to familiarize yourself
with the parts list, Appendix A. Additional information on identifying
capacitor, chokes, and resistors is provided below.
Identifying Capacitors
Small-value fixed capacitors are usually marked with one, two, or
three digits and no decimal point. If one or two digits are used, that is
always the value in picofarads (pF). If there are three digits, the third
digit is a multiplier. For example, a capacitor marked "151" would be
150 pF (15 with a multiplier of 10
1 ). Similarly, "330" would be 33 pF,
and "102" would be 1000 pF (or .001 µF). In rare cases a capacitor
manufacturer may use "0" as a decimal placeholder. For example,
"820" might mean 820 pF rather than the usual 82 pF. Such exceptions
are usually covered in the parts lists. To be safe, measure the values of
all capacitors below 1000 pF (most DMMs include capacitance
measurement capability).
Fixed capacitors with values of 1000 pF or higher generally use a
decimal point in the value, such as .001 or .02. This is the value in
microfarads (µF). Capacitors also may have a suffix after the value,
such as ".001J." In some cases the suffixes or other supplemental
markings may be useful in identifying capacitors.
Hard-to-identify capacitor values:
3.3 pF: These capacitors may have pillow-shaped, dark-green bodies
about 1/8" (3 mm) square, with a black mark on the top. The "3.3"
label may be difficult to read without a magnifying glass.
150 pF: These are correctly marked "151" on one side, but the other
side may be marked #21 ASD, where "#21" looks like "821."