[Elecraft] OT: Scratchy Dot reducer for Bug type keys

[Don Wilhelm]

Scratchy dits are usually caused by dirty dit contacts or improper 
adjustment on bugs.
A piece of paper pulled through the closed DIt contact can clean those 
contacts - repeat until no further color appears on the paper.  
Adjustment of the damper to properly time the length of the dits with 
your dash sending speed is also important - the normal ratio is 3:1.  
Many (most) bug users I have heard make the dits too short in comparison 
to the dashes.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 6/3/2014 8:48 PM, Jim's Desktop wrote:
> This is kind of a feeler email to see if there's any interest for a 
> product I've sort of resurrected.  I don't know how many list 
> subscribers use a Semi-Automatic "Bug" key for CW when most rigs have 
> built in keyers now, but I have been hearing more bugs on the air 
> lately, mainly amongst the QRO operators and I've heard some really 
> excellent sounding ones and some really horrible sounding ones.  Not 
> talking about the operator's "fists", but the really scratchy dots 
> inherent in the mechanical contact on the vibrating "Dit" generator.  
> This contact is usually a bent, flat spring and the cause of the 
> "scratchies" is extra contact bounce on contact break as the spring 
> becomes free to vibrate on it's own as the contacts separate.
>
> Ted McElroy, who held the CW receiving record for many years and some 
> say that record hasn't been officially broken yet, came up with a 
> mechanical device that he incorporated into the contacts on the bugs 
> he marketed back in the 1920's and 30's.  I've come up with a hand 
> made version of this "dot contact stabilizer" that eliminates the need 
> for a capacitor across the terminals of most bugs and almost 
> completely eliminates the scratchy dot syndrome when it's properly 
> adjusted.
>