Thanks, AE4RV!  Much appreciated.

Tom, NU7J

I stumbled upon a garage sale yesterday which was selling several boxes of misc ham equipment.  I purchased an AEA BT-1 Morse Trainer, along with some other small items.  If anyone has a copy of the manual, I'd greatly appreciate an electronic or paper copy of it.  I'd be happy to pay for postage if a paper copy is provided.

Thanks and 73,

Tom, NU7J 

Your Heathkit keyer contains a built-in paddle.  If you use that with the 757, you need to set the keyer switch on the 757 to the "Manual" position.  In this case, only two wires are needed between the external keyer and the 757.  

The 757 has a built-in keyer. So if you wish, you can plug a paddle into the 757 and set the keyer switch to the "Auto" position. In this case, you'll need 3 wires between the paddle and the 757's built-in keyer.  

You should be able to use the same cable as you used on the FT101, just make sure that you set the 757 keyer switch to the "Manual" position.

I prefer to cook the ham whole, rather than cutting it into pieces.  Otherwise the ham gets dried out in the cooking process.  But if you've already cut the ham up into parts, you may as well remove all of the ham parts before disposing of the oven.  

I vote for a late model TS940S, with two cascaded 500 hz CW filters.  The 930's are great but they're older and therefore less reliable.  The FT990 would be a good choice too but I prefer the 940. The K2 (100W version) would be a good choice if you're willing and able to build it.  (I prefer to avoid menu driven radios for my main, everyday contesting and dx radio).  For a little more $ you may be able to find an Omni VI, that would make a fine CW rig too.  
 

This condition was the result of Idiom Press changing to a new speaker P/N.  They later corrected this condition in production by installing a resistor in the speaker line.   If I remember correctly, Idiom Press will mail you a resistor free of charge if you send them a request w/ SASE.  

The speaker still sounds terrible even after the volume is reduced.  It's too bad they didn't put a better speaker in w/ a volume control.  I always leave the sidetone off on mine for that reason. (Despite this shortcoming, this is still the best keyer on the market).

73,

Tom, NU7J

Sorry, it turns out that I have the manual for the CK-2, not the CK-1.  

I can e-mail you a cheat sheet if you provide your e-mail address.  (I have a paper copy of the manual also but the cheat sheet may be adequate).

Tom, NU7J at arrl dot net

I have an SB220 and a Heathkit SB220 and also an Alpha 76A.  Both amps are ancient and therefore the open frame relays are slow enough to cause hot switching with my 940.  One of these days I plan to modify both amps to avoid that issue.  In the mean time I switch between Receive and transmit by pressing the "send-receive" switch on the 940.  (A foot switch would be a more elegant temporary solution).  The 940 has a non-adjustable 10ms delay between receive and transmit.  Any of the new amps will work fine w/ the 940.  Most newer transceivers allow you to adjust the T-R time to match the amp switching time.  

Rather than use use the "REMOTE" DIN connector (pin 4) to activate the linear control relay, I built an interface and connected to pin 2 on the XVERTER connector.  (+ 12V on transmit).  That way you don't have to listen to the noisy T-R relay in the 940. (If you plug a DIN connector into the remote socket, the T-R relay is activated and therefore you can't use QSK until you unplug the remote connector.

The interface circuit I used was published in QST (April, 2003, page 66).  

GL and 73,

Tom, NU7J

 

 

I just purchased an AEA "Contester" CK-2 electronic keyer at a hamfest today.  I wasn't looking for another keyer but the price was too good to pass up.  Unfortunately it did not come with a manual.  It seems to work but I can't figure out how to program it, change speeds, etc. without the manual.  If anyone can mail or e-mail a copy of the manual I would greatly appreciate it!

Thanks and 73,

Tom, NU7J
Everett, WA
nu7j at arrl dot net

I've got a 2 el Gem quad (Lake Stevens area).  Ward, N0AX (Vashon Is.) also has a Gem Quad.  NG7V (Snohomish) has a 4 el Hy-Gain quad.  A friend of mine who lives nearby is in the process of building a 2 el Gem quad.  It's on the ground now so if you want to see what they look like up close feel free to contact me.  Tom, NU7J at arrl.net

I purchased a pair of Sony MDR-7506 headphones after reading the excellent reviews here on eHam.net.

There is a very noticeable hiss when the headphones are plugged into any of my HF rigs, even when the AF and RF gain is fully CCW.  The hiss is not heard in my speakers or in my other set of headphones.  

I hope this isn't a normal condition, I don't think I'll be able to tolerate it.  Has anyone experienced this?  Any ideas?  

Thanks and 73,

Tom, NU7J

I assume your quad spreaders are made out of an insulating material such as fiberglass.  So obviously grounding the antenna structure itself is not helpful.  Adding a lightning arrester in the coax line at the base of the tower, and grounded to the tower/ground would be a good idea, same goes for any other coaxes coming from your tower.

Tom, NU7J

Check out the Universal Keying Adapter:

http://www.hamgadgets.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=65

Tom, NU7J

Sounds like the T/R relay is stuck.  Must be something simple simple like that. If the transmit light is on and the receiver is muted, then the T/R relay is probably the culprit.  If I remember correctly, the T/R relay is near the back of the rig somewhere.  I think it may require some dis-assembly to access the relay.  You might want to post that question on the Kenwood relector for some more ideas, and/or some more specific instructions.

GL and 73,

Tom, NU7J