[Elecraft] Silly question - what is KEY OUT?

[Darwin, Keith]

Yea, I knooooww, but I'm a SW person so I sometimes get lost in the EE
details, even when they are very basic.

By "T-R Relay keying output" I guess it means it is a relay that can be
used to control the T/R switching of an external amp.  In other words,
the KEY OUT jack acts like a switch, open / closed.  The Amp would have
a TR line that would be providing a voltage.  When the K3 KEY OUT goes
to "closed", the Amplifier's TR line would be pulled to ground and this
would tell the amp to switch to TX.  Yes?

The fact it is labeled as an output confuses me a bit, making me think
the K3 is sending some voltage, but the K3 sending 1KW (200 v @ 5 amps)
makes no sense.

I'm just hoping it can be used to make my old Heathkit code oscillator
beep when I send CW with the K3.  

Or maybe I can use it to turn my coffee pot on :-)

- Keith N1AS -
- K3 711 -

-----Original Message-----
From: Don Wilhelm [mailto:w3fpr at embarqmail.com] 

 From page 17 of the manual
"KEY OUT (RCA/Phono) is the amplifier T-R relay keying output, capable
of keying up to +200VDC @ 5A."