[Elecraft] K3 CW keyer issues

[briana]

Heck, keyers went way back into the late 40's, if I recall correctly..  
I played around with a two 12au7 HB tube keyer in 1960.  The tubes 
worked fine but the output keying relay was a real problem.  One had to 
adjust contact spacing and spring tension on the relay to get it to 
work.  It really didn't work very well above 25 wpm.  Paddle was a bug 
with a rubber band on the dit arm and rewired dash contacts.  The W9TO 
keyer came along in the same era.   The relay problem was solved by 
using a sealed mercury whetted relay.  It could do 65 WPM.  It had an 
awful sounding sawtooth monitor..  Later I sprung for a single lever 
ELKEY paddle  Kept it about 25 years until the Curtis single IC keyer 
came along.  I built that into my TS-520 and published an article in CQ 
about the mod.  To my knowledge it was the first within rig keyer.  Then 
came a multi IC HB keyboard keyer.  That was wonderful.  It had a few 
memories.   Then came computers and computer keyboard keying with HB 
coding and logging on a Radio Shack computer.  I finally ended up 
abandoning keyboard keying in favor of a pico keyer mounted right on the 
40 year old single lever paddle..  Pico keyer for ragchewing and fills, 
computer keying for contests.

Never made the change to a two lever paddle.  Doubt I'll ever do it.

BTW Iambic A on a single lever keyer also has the extra dit problem.  I 
must use iambic B.

It has been interesting.

73 de Brian/K3KO.

The key paddle was a bug with the dit arm constrained by a rubber band 
and the dash paddle rewired to have an independent connection.
On 9/21/2010 2:13 AM, Radio Amateur N5GE wrote:
> On Mon, 20 Sep 2010 18:16:28 -0700 (PDT), Barry<w2up at comcast.net>
> wrote:
>
> I really don't think this topic should be "K3 CW Issues".  It seems to
> me that it has become a discussion of personal preferences and old war
> stories about keyer types and other nostalgia, so I'll join the
> fray...
>
> I don't remember when I started using a keyer, but I'm pretty sure it
> was around 1981 and that it was an MFJ keyer.  I remember that at that
> time I had a friend, N5SW (no longer a ham) who had a keyer named the
> "TO Keyer".  I had a lot of fun with him calling it the "Too Old"
> keyer.  Maybe some of you have seen one of those keyers.  I'll bet
> they're quite a collector's item these days.
>
> At about the same time I bought my black Bencher paddles that I still
> use when mobile.  The shack has the newer chrome plated one now. ;o)
>
> I'have always used the B type iambic keying.  Try it you'll like it
> once you have mastered it, but as others have said, it takes a little
> practice.
>
> BT 73 ES GUD LUK
> DE N5GE,
> QCWA LIFE MEMBER 35102,
> LICENSED SINCE 1976 AR SK
>
> n5ge at n5ge.com
> http://www.n5ge.com
>
>
>    
>> Thank you for the intro Doug :.)
>>
>> I'll give Mode B a try in the K3.  If it isn't to my liking, I'll just hook
>> up one of my many external keyers.
>>
>> Speaking of the HST and Ultimatic (from K2AV's post) I used Ultimatic in the
>> competition in the numbers-only run.  I was much less prone to errors than
>> true Iambic.  The only other person I know who uses Ultimatic routinely is
>> W5ZL, who also participated in the HST in LZ last year.
>>
>> Barry W2UP
>>      
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