[ICOM] IC-706 KeyClicks

[Buck - N4PGW]

On 5/21/05, I had a CW conversation with another ham in Indiana on 14.029.
During the conversation someone came up and announced that I had bad
keyclicks (without identifying).  Today I received an OO report stating
"Please check your equip. key clicks were very bad." 

I am running an IC-706 MKII with a Bencher Iambic Paddle using the internal
keyer built into the Icom.  I have never before nor since heard a complaint
about keyclicks.  

I don't know what happened.  The station that complained sounded like he was
in my driveway under my antenna.  The signal pegged my s-meter (or
bar-graph.)  The station I was working was in IN, the OO was in FL and I am
on the GA/SC border.  I don't know if there were some kind of propagation
that could have affected anything or what.  I was, as usual, running the rig
from a deep cycle battery.  The battery had a good charge and the charger
was not hooked up or operating at that time.  (An earlier report was
generated as the charger hooked to my battery went south and started causing
serious hum on my signal when I transmitted.  That charger was replaced and
I no longer keep it turned on, plugged in or hooked up when I am operating.


To the best of my knowledge, those are the only two incidents of complaint
about my signal quality.  I know that in the old days, one would put a .01
capacitor across the CW key leads, but what do you do to a built-in
electronic keyer circuit?  

For good measure, I turned the rig off and on again and continued my QSO.  I
don't know if it affected anything or not, but right now I am just chalking
this up to some freak of nature.  

Has anyone else had any experience with this problem?  If there is a
problem, I would hope to resolve it.  I have no way to test my rig so unless
I hear more, there is really nothing I know to do.

The rig does not have any kind of weight feature on the CW settings. The
settings are CW Pitch: 600, Break-in delay: 0.6, CW Paddle: n, Key Speed:
14, Ratio: 3.0.

I know what each of these features are and how to use them.  There is no
reason they should cause or affect key clicks.

Thanks for the comments.

Buck
N4PGW