Thursay, Aug. 12, 2021
Since I took my Ten-Tec radios offline, I’m depending on my Tempo 2020 transceiver for my ham radio work from Studio C. I recently bought a new iambic key on eBay.
The seller listed this key with an attractive Buy It Now price, and I recognized the key as an older portable small key manufactured years ago by the Japanese CW key manufacturer GHD.
The arrived in fantastic shape; the only problem was that the dit and dah paddles were reverse. The wiring from the lever contacts was made with very teeny-tiny wiring, and then connected to the wiring of a larger cable.
The way the contacts were mounted on the levers was rather chinsey — a plastic snap rivet held each contact in place in each lever; a round solder log was sandwiched between the contact and the plastic snap rivet. The entire key and the levers were at ground potential; only the two individual contacts were “hot.”
I had some problems when I went to rewire the contacts. I eliminated the teeny tiny wiring, and used the larger 3-conductor cable wiring and ran it straight to the contacts. But I did get the key working solidly again, and reassembled it. As shown in the photos, it has a nice dust cover over the entire key. You can remove the cover to adjust the spring tension or the amount of play on each lever.
The key is small — the base is roughly 4×3 inches, with the actual key base is 3×2 inches.
TEMPO 2020 WORKING WELL. The Tempo 2020 continues to rock and roll right along, nary missing a beat. I did have a problem with the external VFO … I had pulled the cable kinda loose moving the radio around, and it was powered up but no operating. I simply reseated the cable and it was back to normal.
The Paragon with the VCO issue sold on eBay this week. The buyer — an eBay newbie — decided after I accepted his offer that he wanted to bitch about the cost of shipping. I nearly canceled the sale, but let him know that the cost of shipping is the cost of shipping, and that I expect the cost to be fairly accurate.
I expect that if my shipping costs turn out to be too high, I’ll refund the extra. But that remains to be seen.
HW-99 SALE? I had plans to list the HW-99 for sale on eBay, but I’ve delayed that decision because I FINALLY found a source for a manual — the W7FG manual site. For $36 i can get a complete copy of the assembly manual.
I was going to sell the radio because the transmit and receive frequencies are too far apart, and the stations I’m calling can’t copy me. My plan is to buy a copy of the manual first; if I can’t fix the misalignment, then I’ll list it on eBay.
Well, time to head to bed. 73 es CUL …. de KY4Z … SK SK …. (dit dit) ..