John, I fully understand and feel your approach is sound. I didn't mean to imply otherwise. Wouldn't it be great if this were the cause and the problem could then be perhaps easily addressed? It would certainly be very useful to know one way or the other.
I have not understood, though, why my keys, which are types that seem to be relatively commonly owned in the ham community, only cause this disruption of keying in the 5000 and not in other rigs. Perhaps the other rigs have a higher contact voltage/current that might explain that. I also don't understand why more users have not noted this problem, or perhaps there are some that have that are not discussing it or some who are using keys that don't demonstrate it. Unfortunately, you may have caught me at a time when I have developed a very strong sensation that the folks at Flex seem to be ignoring this problem while it seems to represent to me a basic flaw in an otherwise potentially good system. It seems to be one that should in my humble opinion be addressed before some other problems since it is a very basic function of a ham radio to key CW properly. In retrospect, my venting led me to bring in some other possibly unrelated flaws I have noted and I apologize for doing that in this thread. And I suppose I am venting my frustration and concern because after spending an inordinate amount of time worrying and fiddling with this defective keying coupled with the other flaws, I am having to set the radio aside for now, while I wait for an undetermined time for fixes to occur, and because I am not getting much value out of it, and because I have a growing realization that I have apparently bought an experimental radio rather than one that is polished enough to enjoy using on a daily basis. John, thanks for your ideas. 73, Jay ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Brosnahan -- W0UN" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Jay Sewell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Art Gartner" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: <flexradio@flex-radio.biz> Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2008 6:50 PM Subject: Re: [Flexradio] K8RA P4 Paddle with Flex5000 > At 25-06-08 12:57, Jay Sewell wrote: >>Hi John and Art. >> >>I've read your description of the problem, Art, and I have read the ideas >>presented by John. I would like to comment on this situation based on my >>own experience. My Flex5000A was new in March. >> >>I would like to know the experience of others in this regard >> >>I understand the logic of what John is presenting. The things you discuss >>may well be a factor to some degree with this problem with keying, but my >>observations seem to indicate this isn't the problem, or at least not the >>whole problem. > > > Hi, Jay-- > > I was more interested in offering a test to better understand the issues > rather than offering any sort of long-term solution. > > Since one of Art's paddles has occasional problems and one does not it > would be informative to see if the issue is just a matter of contact > resistance due to oxidation. If the contact cleaner solves the problem, > even only on the short term, it would suggest that some keys have higher > contact resistance or are more susceptible to contact oxidation than > others and a more permanent fix for this specific issue should be pursued > such as higher contact voltage/current to help get through the molecular > lever oxidation. > > If in fact this does not solve the problem on the short term, then there > clearly other factors are at work and need to be addressed. > > My idea was just a first step in trying to get to the root of the problem, > rather than a fix. > > --John W0UN > > _______________________________________________ FlexRadio Systems Mailing List FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexradio_flex-radio.biz Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/flexradio%40flex-radio.biz/ Knowledge Base: http://kb.flex-radio.com/ Homepage: http://www.flex-radio.com/
