Iambic Dual Paddle Key

[JohnyMac]

Lyrics "Big Weekend"

There's some friends that I know
Living in this town and I've come far to see them.
Gonna track em' down.
They live in a brick house painted white and brown.

Left a tip for the maid and I packed up my guitar,
Dropped my key on the counter, rented a car.
Gonna hook up with em' later and go hit the bars.

I need a big weekend. Kick up the dust.
Yeah a big weekend.
If you don't run, you rust.

Well I may shake your hand but I won't know your name.
The joke in your language don't come out the same.
There's times when I'm down and there's nothing to blame.

I need a big weekend.
Kick up the dust.
Yeah a big weekend.
If you don't run, you rust.

I can work, I can travel, sleep anywhere,
Cross every border with nothing to declare.
You can look back babe, but it's best not to stare.

I need a big weekend.
Kick up the dust.
Yeah a big weekend.
If you don't run, you rust.
Tom Petty

In an effort to not grow old or as Tom Petty sings in his song, Big Weekend"..."if you don't run, you rust" I am teaching myself a new mode of comms, CW. Or as you non ham radio folks call Morse Code.

I started out with a beautiful dual-paddle key that became a paperweight rather than a functioning key. It was a HA8KF Magnetic Paddles KEY-BR. . Thanks to DX Engineering's great return policy and their & my inability to get it to work.

As a side note, the manufacture did finally get back to me and suggested I sand the anodizing away around the grounding screw.  So much for buying a $250- key.

I returned the HA8KF key and received bought a Vibroplex iambic dual paddle key.

I am working on my A,B,C,ies right now. My goal is to be RX and TXing by the end of the month.

Sir John Honey Bucket has suggested starting up a CW net. I am game and going forward because "if you don't run, you rust".

73 & God Bless

[pkveazey]

I love CW but it puts me to sleep. I haven't Operated CW for quite a while. I have a WW2 straight Key in my Radio Bug Out Bag with my ICOM 718. I built this paddle key for $0 that I use with my ICOM 7300. I constantly criticize myself for not practicing my CW because its the mode of last resort because low power and high noise don't stop the signal. My copying is pretty bad right now but who needs punctuation anyway? Here's a picture of my homebrew paddle made from a Magmount antenna base and a piece of double sided Copper Foil circuit board. The cable to the radio is just a 1/4" stereo plug and 3 wires(Ground wire, Dit wire, and a Dah wire). Check out the attached picture.

[Nemo]

Be sure you do not forget your pentameter.

That is the most important part of Iambic stuff.

Nemo

[JohnyMac]

Wow PKv...pretty cool brother. 

[FeedingFreedom]

These are my paddles, there are many like them, but these are mine. Without my paddles, I am nothing, without me, my paddles are nothing. 

I had lusted after a set of these pretty much since I got my license. Not made anymore, so when I saw these on QRZ.com, I snapped them up, even though the price was a bit higher than new. Contact spacing is .001", you just have to think about it and you are sending. Someday I hope my CW skills live up to these beauties. Gives me some motivation. Speaking of which, I know I've mentioned it before, but a great short read about CW is The Art and Skill of Radio Telegraphy by William Pierpont. You can get a PDF copy here: http://www.tasrt.ca/TASRTVersions/TASRT.pdf

[JohnyMac]

OUCH! Beautiful Brother. I love craftsmanship.