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What Key Will You Use
28 March 2013 | by Some of you may be on the AT-Sprint Yahoo group that is a place to hang out if you are an afficianado of Steve Weber's, KD1JV, QRP radio designs. After the recent re-release of his popular 2 Band, Mountain Top Rig (MTR), a thread broke out on what types of morse key operators would use with these portable QRP rigs. The results were intereresting.
Mike Crownover, AD5A, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Texas, USA. Contact him at [email protected].PortaPaddle from American Morse
The PortaPaddle seemed to be the most popular. These keys come in a kit and can be deployed in many different ways. They seem to be popular anchored to the top of a RockMite rig
Te Ne Ke
The Te Ne Ke also received several endorsments. This key is very light and can used in a varied of ways. You can actually hold it in you hand with the paddles pointing away from or you can order it with a base that holds the key pretty firmly.
P3W Touchkeyer
This key comes is a key and takes some soldering, but is very compact if built into the rig you are using.
WG0AT Home Brew Goat Paddle
This is Steve's ergonomic paddle made from wood found on one of his SOTA Activations.
KT5X Home Brew, Te Ne Ke Type Keys
Note the bolt that hold the key down on the logging clipboard
The top key is made of very light wood.
Obviously there are as many key configurations as there are hams with imaginations. I thought you might be interested in looking at these different keying options for you next QRP adventure.
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