[Lowfer] KID Chips

[David Willmore]

> I just got some bad news today from Steve Elliot, K1EL who sells the KID
> chips. Apparently he is discontinuing it due to time constraints; Too much
> trouble for him to program the QRSS id's. It's too bad since this has been a
> great keyer for us lowfers and hifers. I guess it would be a good idea to
> drop him a note and try to persuade his decision.

A keyer is a very simple application for a PIC or similar chip.  I would have
no issue with designing one and providing it to the Lowfer community if someone
would just say what they want out of it.

What kinds of signals do you want it to generate and in what modulations?
CW, QRS, Dif-CW, audio modulation, simple keying outputs, etc.

If I provided the programmed chips, would everyone be able to build it into
a project?  I.e. mount it on a board of some kind, feed it a crystal, +5V
power, interface it to a serial port via a MAX232, optocouple the output
to the transmitter, etc?  Or do you need the PCB and everything done for you?

I'll make the code completely open, so if anyone wants to make them for
themselves, they'd be free to.  I don't see this as a money making proposition.
:)  If that was my goal, I should pick something with more demand. :)

I've got a tube of 16F628's just sitting here with a programmer.  Oh, just as
I haven't made it clear, the chips would be programmed generically--you'd
need to hook them to a computers RS232 port and tell them what you want them
to send--they wouldn't be dedicated to anyone in particular.  Program and
re-program them to your hearts content.

Please let me know what you think.

Cheers,
David N0YMV