Back to life again

It's time to solder in the new P30 and P35 headers into the K3 then put the rig together hold my breath and plug it in! Now that the old headers are out and the solder pads are cleaned off I now want to fit each header into it's spot and see how they fit. Then I will solder them in and it's very important these headers sit flat on the board. Here is the process I use to solder the headers in, I first only solder the 2 outer most pins. This allows me to reheat the pads if the header is not flat on the board if you solder 4 or more pads at once it's very hard to reheat them if you have to reposition the header. Once I am happy the header is sitting properly on the board I then solder the rest of the pins to the board. I

Soldering end pins

don't solder them one after the other but instead I solder every other pin and then go back and solder the other pins. I do this because the plastic that supports the pins do get hot. I found if you solder one pin after the next the plastic supports have melted on me. Once the top side has been soldered I then turn the board over and solder the bottom solder pads in the same manner. Now that the pins are in I take a break and then come back and take a very close look at the pins. I am looking for proper soldering job,

Imports of checking both sides of board

also there has been no flow of solder from one pad to the next. Finally that I did solder all the pins, I have had this happen in the past were I have missed a pin. This is why I take the break as I have found if I don't I end up seeing what I want and I miss the unsoldered pin because I want to get to the rig put back together and try it. Satisfied with the solder job its time to clean the solder pads and I use a tooth flossing brush with 99% alcohol. This cleans off any residue and the alcohol evaporates. With the new headers installed it's time to put the rig back together and do the smoke test. At this point it's very important to take your time as you put the rig back together. There is the excitement in getting the rig back together and see how it work! This is the time you forget parts, not tighten parts, rush and misalign parts. Great care has to be taken when mating up the new headers. I had all go together well and as you can see from the picture at the top of the post the smoke test went well.

Flossing tool used to clean board

New header lines up with front board.

Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

AmateurLogic.TV Episode 77 is now available for download.

George builds the SkyPi-40 QRP transmitter for RaspberryPi and sets a distance record. Tommy installs the new ThumbDV D-Star dongle. Peter creates the VK3PB Sota Box, a Grid Square GPS unit. Plus your viewer emails and more.

1:05:59

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George Thomas, W5JDX, is co-host of AmateurLogic.TV, an original amateur radio video program hosted by George Thomas (W5JDX), Tommy Martin (N5ZNO), Peter Berrett (VK3PB), and Emile Diodene (KE5QKR). Contact him at [email protected].

Steve G1KQH has tracked down yet another bargain. I think my SMA assembly skills are probably still not up to the task, but you can hardly go wrong at the price which includes free air-mail shipping. Another absolute bargain. I think Steve must have shares in Bangood!!  If not, they ought to make him their UK agent, HI.

Here’s another one (kit), we could get our teeth into:

http://www.banggood.com/DIY-Digital-Oscilloscope-Kit-Electronic-Learning-Kit-p-969762.html

I have that many kits at the moment, I don’t know where to start next? If I come back in another life can we have a 48hour clock pse!

73 Steve
http://www.g1kqh.talktalk.net/

Roger Lapthorn, G3XBM, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Cambridge, England.

Amateur Radio Weekly is curated by Cale Mooth K4HCK. Sign up free to receive ham radio's most relevant news, projects, technology and events by e-mail each week at http://www.hamweekly.com.

• ARRL tells the FCC that ham radio and vehicle radar can co-exist at 76 - 81 GHz
• UK hams get 70.5 to 71.5 MHz for digital experimentation by special permit
• South Africa hams gain full kilowatt power privileges
• NCDXF announces a grant of $50,000 to the VK0EK Heard Island DXpedition
• Radio tracking tiny birds as they fly south over the Atlantic

THIS WEEK'S NEWSCAST
Script
Audio

I’m enjoying experimentation with AREDN. Using off-the-shelf equipment, you can build a mesh IP network running in ham frequency allocations. Getting started is a bit tricky at the moment…I’ve joined the project team to help with some documentation and to do some release testing. Here’s a link to a Getting Started guide I’m working on.

If you’re interested in playing with mesh networks, take a look at the guide and let me know what you think!

Michael Brown, KG9DW, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Illinois, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

It's time for the surgery

Beware of other components

It was time to heat up the soldering iron, hold my breath and begin the surgery! First off you have to get to the P30 and P35 headers. Taking the radio apart is a very important step that close attention is required. Don't take short cuts, for example screws that are removed put them somewhere safe. When handling the rig use an anti static mat and wrist band. Finally when handling covers and boards be aware of fragile components, the last thing you want to do is damage components. Once the rig is apart I identify the components to be changed and made sure they really were P30 and P35. I then look at the parts Elecraft sent to me, last thing you want to do attempt to install an incorrect components. I now looked at the PC board and become familiar other components, wires or anything that I could damage when soldering. I have found in the past when concentrating on a very small section of a PC board you could at the same time place your very hot soldering iron close to sensitive comports and your not even be aware you are doing it. With my project today I had to move a wire that was close to P35 and I have to be aware of 2 components that

Front control head removed

Fume trap and soldering iron ready

are close to the pins on header P30. The first step is to cut the header pins right  the 90 degree bend and I am left with pins protruding from the board. With this completed I am left with pieces of pin sticking though the board that have to be removed. It's now time to setup my soldering station, fume extractor and solder feed station. What I do is hold the pin with my needle noise pliers and heat the solder pad and at the same time pull the pin out of the board. All but two pins came out which considering how many pins had to come out I was pleased with the results. I am left with solder pads to clean out (both top and bottom of board) and work on getting the 2 stuck pins out. The best tool to clean the solder pads is my Hakko 808 desoldering tool, it does a clean and fast job! With all the pads clean it's time to deal with the 2 remaining pins. I decided to trim the pins down close to the board and use the Hakko 808 to suck the pin out once it melted the solder. It worked great and I am now ready to install the new headers.

Trimming the header pins

The two stubborn pins

After using Hakko 808

Old out and new ready

The installation of the two headers is going to be part 3 of the post I have added some extra pic's or the removal of  P30 and P35
. 

Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].