Coming to this conversation late, I know, but I wanted to point out that
the key word in the cleaning instructions is "gently." Lots of pressure
or abrasive cleaners will remove the gold (all Bencher paddles I know of
came with gold contacts, not silver) plating and then it will really not
work. I had to replace the contacts in mine.
On 4/17/2016 5:18 PM, Michael Rapp via BVARC wrote:
Hi all,
Thanks for the cleaning-the-contacts suggestions; they were indeed
tarnished and had some deposits. This paddle seems to be a bit on the
old side. I bought it on a whim on eBay when I was first licensed
four years ago.
It actually is one of the old combination units from MFJ that had the
MFJ keyer piggy-backed onto the paddle. I thought it would be a good
way to practice code as I didn't have a radio at the time. I've since
removed the keyer and now use the paddle with the keyer built into my
FT-950.
Cleaning and realigning the contacts has helped and I finally figured
out the adjustments that control the spring tension. There is not
much adjustment range, but it was enough to remove some of the
required pressure and my sending has improved. Curiously, I have the
paddle now set at near the minimum tension.
One of the students in my class has an interesting paddle. It's a
capacitance paddle. The paddles are fixed and do not move; simply
placing your thumb or finger on a paddle triggers a dit or a dah. My
experience with my Bencher may suggest that I prefer a light touch.
Anyone have any experience with these capacitance paddles?
73,
--
/*/-=[Michael / KT5MR]-=/*/
_______________________________________________
BVARC mailing list
[email protected]
http://mail.bvarc.org/mailman/listinfo/bvarc_bvarc.org
--
Jonathan Guthrie KA8KPN
_______________________________________________
BVARC mailing list
[email protected]
http://mail.bvarc.org/mailman/listinfo/bvarc_bvarc.org
