As one of my regular readers of the blog, you would know I am a CW buff and the main part of CW is the CW key. For some time now I have been at odds to get the one that works for me. The first key I ever had was the Bencher BY-1 key. It is a very straightforward spring tension key that worked great for me, so what happened to it you ask? As with most of you, I got married, had kids, a job and all the activities that go along with that portfolio. Ham radio was put to the side and things got sold including the Bencher paddle.
Fast forward to now when the kids are grown, work is no longer and retirement is here. I started to get back into radio again about 4 years before I retired as life did at that point start to slow done. It was time to start looking for a key again. I had read about Begali keys and looked online and decided on their Contour which was magnetic return and not sprin. Me and the key were not getting along very well. I thought it was a matter of adjustment, I had adjusted the contact spacing more than I can remember and I became over time more and more frustrated. I ended up selling the Contour key.
I then move to a solid-state touch key made by 9A5N. This is a very well-made key which is very solid and works as advertised. For me, I could not get the electronic touch adjustment done in a way that would work for me. Seemed it was either too sensitive to touch or not enough, now there was nothing wrong with the key it was just me. With this key, I tried adjusting and adjusting but never could get what I was looking for. I found myself sending extra dits or dahs.
It was time for me to come full circle and move back toward a spring key as that was the only one that worked for me. I ended up going back to Begali and purchasing their Simplex Basic Iambic key. It is their least expensive key but not at all poorly made. The key arrived about a month ago and I have been reacquainting myself with a spring key again. In a nutshell, it seems I have found my happy place again with keys.
It's very odd as in the past I would have thought a key is a key is a key but not so there is a feel to each of the types of keys and I just had to find a type with the correct feel for me.
4 comments:
Read this with great interest Mike. I have a straight key but am not shure I want to learn to use that. I see all you CW guys working with these paddles so it has to be the way to go. 73, Bas
Good morning Bas always nice to hear from you. Yes most ops do use the Iambic key and as you say it is the way to go. With a straight key there is more stress on your wrist and your hand, arm and wrist become fatigued faster.
Have a nice time on your contest this weekend and look forward to reading about it.
73,
Mike
VE9KK
Hi Mike, hope you're all well. Can you tell me how stable the Simplex Basic key is on the desk? I notice you have some anti-slip below yours - is that because the unit moves around easily?
Regards, Tom.
www.m7mcq.com
Good afternoon Tom I am doing very well thanks for asking. Yes you do see a small mat under the key. I have a heavy fist as they say, the Begali key is heavy but I can get it to slide around the desk just a bit. When it does this it has a tendency to mess up the code being sent. As a matter of fact I just the other day put double-sided tape on the rubber feet as the mat was not doing the job.
Have a nice week,
73
Mike
VE9KK
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