Project for the Winter

As a QRPer you probably have a million of them - who doesn't?  If you're like me, you might have a small stash of kits waiting to be worked on (ie, started!), or perhaps you have a schematic for a transmitter, receiver or some other station doo-dad that you want to complete over the Winter.

With my post the other day about the Begali mono, and realizing that I won't be able to afford one in the near future, I have decided that I will try to craft my own single lever paddle for station use this Winter.  As of right now, there are only a few very crude ideas rolling around in my cranium.  Nothing refined and nothing definite.  But there are some goals that I have in mind:

1) The finished product has to have a good feel.  I don't want to make something and then never use it, only for the thing to take up space and collect dust.

2) It has to be heavy enough so that it won't wander all over my operating table.

3) I want it to look good.  I want to be able to be show it off without being embarrassed.

So, I have started trolling the Web for some basic ideas.  Maybe I can glean enough and then expand upon other ideas.  After all, that's how a lot of things come about   ..... no?  Improvements on existing ideas.

http://arj.nvg.org/ham/paddle1.html

http://9w2gu.blogspot.com/2008/03/homebrew-simple-iambic-key.html

http://home.online.no/~verner/Clippers.pdf

http://www.aa5tb.com/paddles.html

http://www.amqrp.org/projects/paddle/NB6M%20Paddles.html

http://www.eham.net/articles/7114

http://timelesson.blogspot.com/2010/02/second-life-of-dead-mfm-hard-drives.html

These should be enough to get me started.  The planning phase will probably take the longest.  The idea is not to make anything that I would consider "superior"; but just to have fun, and build something useful with my own two paws.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!