Alan D. Wilcox wrote: > Hello, > > Fifty years ago I designed and built a tube keyer to replace my > Vibroplex. Then a transistor keyer. All this before the iambic keyers > came along ... > > Left paddle = dots > Right = dashes > Squeeze both paddles = dashes only.
Somewhat over 50 years ago [1956] I built such a keyer using about 10 dual triodes. With the power supply, mine weighed about a brick and was bigger than a K2. It had self completing dots and dashes, but nothing else. I keyed it with my Lionel J-36 that, from it's appearance, went ashore at Iwo Jima, which I modified to be a straight paddle. I did try dual paddles on it once. What happened when I squeezed was unpredictable, but I think it mattered which one went closed first. It wasn't Iambic for sure. > > The technique I developed was to > 1. Always squeeze _both_ keys for dashes; if I was a bit late getting > the dash paddle closed, the logic turned the dot into a dash (as long as > the dot hadn't finished, of course.) > 2. If dots followed dashes, just simply let loose of the right paddle. > 3. A string of dots would turn into dashes simply by squeezing both > paddles together. > > I could send good CW at fairly-respectable speeds, and was happy. For > decades ... until I got the K2 and the K3. Not sure the K3 or any modern keyer can do that. Possibly a new market if you're good at electronics design and marketing? > Questions: > 1. Is there a way to kludge the K2 or K3 keying logic for squeeze keying? It does, but it's Iambic. A or B. My blood type is O+, my keyer type is A. > 2. Does anyone make a keyer with my logic? WHO? All I've ever seen are > iambic. I don't think so. Some keyers have an Ultimatic mode, but I have no idea what that is, except that I remember reading the article when it came out. Tubes too, I think. > 3. If neither, and I wind up building my new keyer myself, is this > something anybody else would want? See above. Not me, but some younger folk might be interested. I'm too old to learn a new keying technique. 73, Fred K6DGW - Northern California Contest Club - CU in the 2010 Cal QSO Party 2-3 Oct 2010 - www.cqp.org ______________________________________________________________ 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
