Sunday, May 13, 2018

Kit building time.

When the bands are slow it's time to build a kit! I have had this RF probe kit from  Pacific Antenna that has been gathering dust and just this past weekend I decided to put it together. It's a very simple and easy kit to build and can prove to be a useful tool as well. The circuit board was simply a cap, diode and resistor. It sure was nice to get the soldering iron out and again! This mini kit is nothing
Almost done
compared to the Elecraft k2's I have built in the past. It did get me thinking that when I retire in a year and a half and if the kits are still available another K2 kit would be a nice way to pass the time in retirement. This kit went very fast but I did take my time with it as I really enjoyed getting back into the kit building again. I did find with this kit the provided jacks that are used to plug into your multimeter were not a solder type but held the test leads in via a screw. In the past I have had issues with these loosening off. I went to my trusty "this and that" pile and found two solder type and subbed those in. I have yet to use the RF probe but it was a fun little project.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice job Mike! If your looking for someone to build a K2 for, I’ll volunteer! Hope is is well, nice to see you blogging again.

VE9KK said...

Good evening Mike, I'm good to build the K2 I just want to retire first and this way the time is on my side. I have built 2 already and really enjoyed them. I just hope Elecraft will have them available for some time.
73,
Mike

Anonymous said...

Yep, that is the real question. In a day of SDR and waterfalls will we see the end of radios like a K2? I sure hope not! I’d also like to have an LNR mountain topper too if you can add that to my list? 72, Mike

VE9KK said...

Yes Mike the digital age comes with good and bad. The LNR mountain topper seems like a very nice rig!
72,
Mike