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Thursday 19 June 2014

Mini Morse Key - the smallest key you have ever seen?

I saw this key, on ebay, a couple of months ago... and thought it would be nice to have a brand new key in my collection... so far, I have only been able to afford cheap secondhand keys, so when I sold the old FRG 8800, I used the cash from that to finance this key.... it cost £30.68p and was advertised as "from China"... however, the package that arrived through my letter box, surprised me..... firstly because I never expected to get the key through the letter box,...( I expected a small packet to be collected )... and secondly, because the place it was posted from was Belgium ! ... When I opened the jiffy bag, I was again surprised at how small it was.... even smaller than my thumb !...



Anyway.. I took a few photographs of it, and then connected up with a spare lead and clipped it on to my Admiralty Pattern 7681, to connect it to CWCOM.




 I did some adjustments to the spring tension, ( a small nut at the back of the rocker arm).... and the gap.... adjusted by the black knob and the big brass washer as a "lock" device......... Did a short "off air test" .. then opened CWCOM.....  As luck would have it, Barry VK3HAP in Melbourne Australia, was on CWCOM, and he was the first QSO I had with the mini morse key...   He said that it sounded good.... and I must admit,... I thought so too !...

Here is a short video of me doing a test transmission.... click on the small square at the bottom right for a full screen experience... don`t forget to turn your speakers on... or put your phones on....







To make sure it stays in place... I used a blob of "blu-tack" underneath the key.... otherwise, it needs to be held down with the left hand.. ....

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