Yerg, but Eham's still down. I'll write an even better one when the
site's back up, it'll be the bestest review in the whole wide world!
Or something. I have to admit, when I first heard the name Elecraft,
I imagined a cartoon of a bunch of elephants sitting around a table
building stuff..... ought to draw it someday. 73 de Alex NS6Y
On May 26, 2006, at 8:43 AM, wayne burdick wrote:
Thanks, Alex :)
This would make a great T1 review on eHam (better written than
most) when they come back up, someday.... the URL for T1 reviews is:
http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/4956
73,
Wayne
N6KR
On May 26, 2006, at 1:36 AM, Alexandra Carter wrote:
It never forgets! That it's a tuner! The AT-897 from LDG often
forgot it was a tuner and thought it was a rock. I returned it and
ordered a T1 kit, and what a neat lil' tuner!
Works tickety-boo as I think they say in Oz, and while the
"operator interface" is 3 LEDs and 2 buttons, it's both easy to
work with and tells you a lot. Tells me a lot. Tells one a lot. It
does tune right down to a very low SWR, brrt brrt brrrrrt and
there you are. I took it to the park today with my 897 and a bunch
of wire and got 12 feet of that wire up in a tree (took 3 throws)
and laid out a counterpoise... here and there.... and talked to
Minnesota on 20W.
Don't feel ashamed if you choose to order it already built, they
sure earn that $50 or so difference at the factory, this is harder
than any of the mini-kits or rig accessories I've built, although
there's less to it than to a KX1 or K1. You get to wind about 10
or so toroids, really no problem, and when you're done toroids
will be familiar territory for you. The smallest value one is
wound left-handed for a change, meanwhile I'm left-handed and have
learned to wind toroids right-handed because that's the standard.
With an 800 degree iron the BNC conns are easy to solder, for the
rest a 700-degree pointy tip iron is just right. One row of relays
has .1uF SMD caps between their legs so you have to solder a bit
carefully. The control board needs to have its components trimmed
close so have good flush cutters and solder "the Elecraft way"
without leaving a big blobby fillet. It was greatly satisfying to
see everything clearing the CPU very nicely when it all went
together. When inserting the CPU get those legs at a nice perfect
90 degrees and make sure it all lines up when you install it in
the socket, because it's going into a bit of a tight spot. It
doesn't hurt to look at it from a few different angles to make
sure the legs are all going in, as you squeeze it down bit by bit.
That's a very high quality socket Elecraft uses so once it's in
there right It's going to stay right. I'd say go slow and do it
right, I did it in 2 evenings, someone else told me theirs took a
bit longer, it's possible to put one together in one sitting I
guess .
With my 897 on battery power I'm limited to 20W and this is a 20W
"max" tuner, so it works out just right. Everything is very
logically laid out so I feel if I ever zorch something I can
easily order the parts and fix it.
Great, great little tuner! 73 de Alex NS6Y
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