I first went QSK by moving the porcelain knife switch off the wall and down
onto the operating desk. That switched the antenna. A foot switch changed the
receiver from on to standby and the transmitter was always on, waiting to be
keyed. ARC-5 receiver and 6AQ5 sandwich box transmitter.
Then I realized that the ARC-5 receiver worked just as well with a 10 foot
piece of wire and my knife switch sat unused and moved it back onto the wall.
The next big improvement was an electronic keyer - the W9TO design using 4 or 6
12AU7s built into an old ARC-5 transmitter case and an old sterling silver
knife blade that did not match my mom's set, with a knob on the end taken from
an old Atwater Kent.
The beauty about the home brew keyer and knife blade paddle was that I had an
excuse for the lousy cw. Now I have expensive keyers, big antennas, expensive
rigs and high power amplifiers and QSK and I still have a lousy fist - with
nothing to blame it on except old age. Getting so that I use that more and
more as an excuse and few people really question it. In truth, it never was
very good and most of my friends just do not remember.
73, Colin K7FM
_______________________________________________
Amps mailing list
Amps@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/amps
|