[Elecraft] Re: External Keyer w/K2

[Tom Hammond]

Hi Rod:

>Without even realizing it, you solved a dilemma I've had with my K2 from 
>day one. Firstly though, I do hope life is treating you well and that 
>things are looking up for you. It's so good to see you back on the reflector.

Things are 'good' once again. Still recovering, but I'm feeling much better 
and now working on getting me 'spizzer' back, so I can do a LOT more things 
I now have backed up in the hopper... hehehe!

Can't wait to hear what I was I 'magically' solved...

>So, you're asking yourself, "What's his dilemma?" Well, very simply put, 
>it was solving how to key my K2 with an external keyer. I've never been 
>fond of internal keyers and am even less fond of the K2's internal keyer. 
>On the other hand, I have to admit that the internal keyer in my Argonaut 
>V comes awfully close to my Idiom Press CMOS 4. Anyhow, I've read, read 
>and re-read the page in the K2 manual regarding using an external keyer. 
>For the life of me, I couldn't figure out why they showed the diodes. To 
>make bad matters worse, unless I'm blind, there's no mention made anywhere 
>about going into the menu as you so thoroughly described.

Guess I got lucky... <G>

The way I did mine, since I have rigs which use both 1/4" and 1/8" plugs, 
was to make a 'tweenie' (to go 'tween' the keyer and the rig), which has a 
1/4" stereo FEMALE jack on one end and a 1/8" MALE stereo plug on the 
other, with about 4" of 2-wire shielded cable inbetween. I wired the 1/4" 
jack directly to the cable and then (carefully) installed the two diodes 
into the body of the 1/8" plug. this way, when I want to key the K2, I just 
plug the keyer's 1/4" plug into the tweenie and I'm all set to go.

I set AUTO DET to ON, so I can also plug a paddle directly into the jack if 
I don't need to key from an external keyer and I don't have to change any 
menu settings. Handy for when I'm traveling and don't being the CMOS 4 with me.

>Thanks to your comments on today's Elecraft reflector, you've greatly 
>simplified my life. I'd already made up a cable to connect the CMOS 4 to 
>the TT, so now I can use the same one to the K2 and just change the menu. 
>Fantastic! No more being misery with the K2's internal keyer.

I've found the K2's internal keyer to be quite adequate for much of my 
operation, but I generally prefer a slightly lighter weighting than the K2 
can provide, so using an external keyer handles this for me.

73, and have fun.

Tom Hammond  N0SS