Heck, keyers went way back into the late 40's, if I recall correctly.. I played around with a two 12au7 HB tube keyer in 1960. The tubes worked fine but the output keying relay was a real problem. One had to adjust contact spacing and spring tension on the relay to get it to work. It really didn't work very well above 25 wpm. Paddle was a bug with a rubber band on the dit arm and rewired dash contacts. The W9TO keyer came along in the same era. The relay problem was solved by using a sealed mercury whetted relay. It could do 65 WPM. It had an awful sounding sawtooth monitor.. Later I sprung for a single lever ELKEY paddle Kept it about 25 years until the Curtis single IC keyer came along. I built that into my TS-520 and published an article in CQ about the mod. To my knowledge it was the first within rig keyer. Then came a multi IC HB keyboard keyer. That was wonderful. It had a few memories. Then came computers and computer keyboard keying with HB coding and logging on a Radio Shack computer. I finally ended up abandoning keyboard keying in favor of a pico keyer mounted right on the 40 year old single lever paddle.. Pico keyer for ragchewing and fills, computer keying for contests.
Never made the change to a two lever paddle. Doubt I'll ever do it. BTW Iambic A on a single lever keyer also has the extra dit problem. I must use iambic B. It has been interesting. 73 de Brian/K3KO. The key paddle was a bug with the dit arm constrained by a rubber band and the dash paddle rewired to have an independent connection. On 9/21/2010 2:13 AM, Radio Amateur N5GE wrote: > On Mon, 20 Sep 2010 18:16:28 -0700 (PDT), Barry<w...@comcast.net> > wrote: > > I really don't think this topic should be "K3 CW Issues". It seems to > me that it has become a discussion of personal preferences and old war > stories about keyer types and other nostalgia, so I'll join the > fray... > > I don't remember when I started using a keyer, but I'm pretty sure it > was around 1981 and that it was an MFJ keyer. I remember that at that > time I had a friend, N5SW (no longer a ham) who had a keyer named the > "TO Keyer". I had a lot of fun with him calling it the "Too Old" > keyer. Maybe some of you have seen one of those keyers. I'll bet > they're quite a collector's item these days. > > At about the same time I bought my black Bencher paddles that I still > use when mobile. The shack has the newer chrome plated one now. ;o) > > I'have always used the B type iambic keying. Try it you'll like it > once you have mastered it, but as others have said, it takes a little > practice. > > BT 73 ES GUD LUK > DE N5GE, > QCWA LIFE MEMBER 35102, > LICENSED SINCE 1976 AR SK > > n...@n5ge.com > http://www.n5ge.com > > > >> Thank you for the intro Doug :.) >> >> I'll give Mode B a try in the K3. If it isn't to my liking, I'll just hook >> up one of my many external keyers. >> >> Speaking of the HST and Ultimatic (from K2AV's post) I used Ultimatic in the >> competition in the numbers-only run. I was much less prone to errors than >> true Iambic. The only other person I know who uses Ultimatic routinely is >> W5ZL, who also participated in the HST in LZ last year. >> >> Barry W2UP >> > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > > > > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG - www.avg.com > Version: 9.0.851 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/3148 - Release Date: 09/20/10 > 13:04:00 > > ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
