[Elecraft] KX3 CW Glitch with KXPD3/keyer?

[Thomas Horsten]

Ken,

I'm a bit sorry to (mostly) agree with your points. The Elecraft folks are
certainly better rig designers than key makers. I'll say that the paddle is
usable up to maybe 25 WPM and above that it becomes too erratic. The
contact spacing needs to be far wider than what I'm comfortable with to
avoid spurious contact, and it needs to be beaten much harder than what I'm
used to.

On the other hand comparing it to my Begali Sculpture is not fair. But I
did write to Piero and ask if he'd make a paddle for the KX3, this was
before the posts in this group, and he replied that he already was working
on a prototype - I'm already signed up for it. But it would be nice if the
Elecraft key could be modified to make it a little better with close
contact spacing. Not sure if it's doable, but I'm open to any suggestions.

So far, I'm planning to try rounding the contact screws like suggested by
Wayne, and clean them up with DeOxit. Let's see how far that goes towards
helping this issue. As I haven't been able to do more portable than back
garden operations (weather only turned good this weekend!), so far I've
mostly taken my Begali Sculpture out in the garden with me, but it won't be
going with me on longer trips.

73, Thomas M0TRN


On 24 July 2012 18:17, Ken Lopez <kjlopez at earthlink.net> wrote:

> Steve, and All,
>
> I have similar problems with my KXPD3.  This little paddle is cute and
> ingenious.
> But it drives me crazy!
> I've adjusted, changed springs, adjusted, fiddled, disassembled it,
> cleaned contacts.
> NOTHING seems to fix the generally clunky and inaccurate sending, random
> dits or dah strings, etc.
> The KXPD3 has less finesse than my 1962 Vibroplex Bug, and needs as much
> spacing and force to operate.
>
> I'm fed up with it.  I'll be using my Palm paddles until Begali makes
> their Adventurer paddles available.
>
> Ken N6TZV
>