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| Reviews Summary for K1EL K42 CW Keyboard |
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Reviews: 15
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Average rating: 4.7/5
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MSRP: $92.00
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Description: The K42 is the Swiss Army knife of CW keyers, it will provide many hours of CW operation and enjoyment. A
CW keyboard interface, CW reader, iambic paddle keyer, LCD display, and optically isolated keying outputs
are all presented in one compact box. In addition, the K42 will operate many different modes including
QRSS, HSCW, and conventional CW up to 140 WPM.
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Product is in production.
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More info: http://www.k1el.com
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write your own review of the K1EL K42 CW Keyboard.
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KB3KJS
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 24, 2012 05:52
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Well Done !
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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This is a great little kit. Easy to follow instructions with quality parts. The kit is very small and built like a tank. I built the kit in a few hours and was on the air with it that evening. The cw reader works OK once you learn how the tuning and filtering works. I didn't buy the kit for the reader though. I'm only using it for the cw keyboard. This unit is extremely flexible as far as features and functionality. You may need a little cheat sheet until you learn some of the more commonly used keyboard commands. You can program a whole simple QSO into a few memory keys!
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DL2KMK
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Rating: 2/5
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Jan 10, 2012 05:14
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Good, but some problems with higher power
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I am on the air since 1961 and built my first SSB transceiver in the mid-sixties with a filter, homemade of surplus quartzes. But normally I use CW. I am graduated by university in electronics and I had an interesting professional life in research and development of measuring equipment.
I assembled the K42 kit during one evening. The package included all parts and the instructions are good with lots of pictures. Only one of those did not match, I think it shows an older version of the PCB.
Then I connected a 9 volt wall power supply, a paddle and the keyboard to make a first test. All input worked fine and I saved some texts in the memory and recalled them via the sidetone speaker. After this I connected the K42 to my IC7000 and tested the recognition of CW signals. It also worked very well. Then I tried to transmit one text out of the memory, but only the first “dash” appeared, then the memory was empty! After some kind of testing various filters I used a 9 volt battery like K1EL himself. Now I know why he writes this in his text.
Normally I use my FT847 for CW operation, so I connected the K42 to this radio but it did not work properly. My first posting to this forum was the question, if anybody out there has experienced a similar problem, but there came no answer and eventually my posting disappeared from the forum !!! I found the solution for the problem with K42 and FT847 and posted it here for other hams. This (my second posting) is still here but nearly useless without the first.
The K42 seemed to me a good tool for contesting and so I tested it with my PA ZZ750. Normally I use it with only 500 watts because of the intern heating. But the K42 did not work with this power, any text in the memory was always lost after the first did or dash. I tested and filtered a lot but it was unsuccessfully. Therefore I sold the K42 to a fan of QRP operation who is not as good in CW speed.
vy 73! Manfred, DL2KMK
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N3CAL
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Rating: 5/5
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Dec 31, 2011 07:14
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Outstanding
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Ordered the latest version online just before Thanksgiving. I wanted to have something to build over the holidays. Kit went together in a day without any problems. The manual covers everthing very well. Quality of parts and case are great. This unit now sits on top of my TS-590s. The back lit display matches my rigs display. Everything works great. I have a PS2 Keyboard and my Bencher Paddles hooked to it. It's a great tool for the beginner to learn on. You can practice sending as the display will show you what you are sending via the paddles. It's a great way to polish your skills.
All in all a great tool for the shack.
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N7XFT
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Rating: 5/5
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Oct 16, 2011 10:33
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Excellent Design
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I bought one of the earlier K42 kits but, just never found the time to assemble it until now. With a lot of kit-building experience, I tackled this project with enthusiasm and was very satisfied with it. My problem was 'old eye' that can't see the tiny resistors or capacitors to read the values without a magnifying glass! :)
The tests were perfect and the kit completed without any hitches at all. It was easy to set up and use the first time. I was really impressed with the reading ability to display received CW on the readout. Now, I would like to have the upgrade kit so I can have a back-lit display.
It certainly is not a kit for an inexperienced builder at all. A fine tip temperature controlled soldering station is a must to assemble this kit. I would certainly recommend it for anyone interested in a CW reader. By the way, the keyer itself operates better than the one built into my rig.
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VE3JLC
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 16, 2011 14:04
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Excellence in Kits
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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The K42 is an excellent kit and an amazing keyer/reader. I could really rave about this keyboard-kit. Every detail has been attended, making it an almost possible first kit. Also performence is just delightful. A PS/2 cable for my radio with a mini-phono and at power up with a stroke of the keyboard the K42 was happilly displaying good copy. One thing I would like to mention is the CW training feature that makes code practice really fun.
Jim VE3JLC
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W2JAW
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Rating: 5/5
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Apr 7, 2011 06:38
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Wonderful do it all CW Machine!
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Awesome Kit to build. Once I got it yesterday I couldn't stop building it and the instructions are very easy to follow and you must follow them to the letter.
Kit went together for me in 8 hours yesterday taking a 4 hour break in between build times.
I installed a heatsink on the voltage regulator just as a precaution, even though I am feeding the K42 with 9 volts at 300MA.
Beautiful design and the LCD being backlit now is a plus as it's beautiful.
Do all tests the whole way and you won't go wrong.
I will post some vids of the kit built and working on youtube, and how to get around from what I know from memory.
I suggest reading and printing out the manual in learning to use this fine kit.
K42 is a Godsend, so I thank you Steve and Art for making it available.
CW just got a lot more fun, not that it wasn't before but this adds more tools in the CW operators arsenal.
73
John Wesley W2JAW
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K6WHP
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 5, 2010 11:20
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Great for contesting
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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Just an addition to the other reviews here -- particularly N6VCW's -- to let you know that this reader served me well on this past Field Day. It's filters, electronics, and decoding algorithm worked superbly during the contest. It could handle the high density and the variations in speed from 15-40 wpm very adroitly.
Also, if you cannot come by the technical expertise to do the surgery on the display that N6VCW describes, DO NOT LET THE ABSENCE OF A BACKLIGHT DISSUADE YOU FROM GETTING THIS DEVICE.
I found a very suitable external light source for the K-42 and your entire Field Day station for that matter in a little book light sold by Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/LightWedge-Reading-Light-Touch-Black/dp/B0010T5AVY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1278353481&sr=8-2
..although I do not remember mine being as pricey. I think the same light can be found on eBay for less money. But, that notwithstanding, I was able to use the K-42 day and night and am well-pleased with the product.
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N6VCW
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Rating: 5/5
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Jun 4, 2010 13:12
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Handy Tool for the Shack!
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I built the K42 over a couple of afternoons and its assembly was very easy. The instructions are superb.
I replaced the included non-backlit display with one that is. The only modification to the enclosure was to remove 1/8" from each LCD mounting post and add a jack screw to each shortened post. After which, the replacement LCD fit perfectly. I also placed a 1/2 Watt 100 Ohm resistor at R14 and attached power wires to pads 15 and 16 for the LCD's backlight. I made a ribbon cable that goes between the LCD and K42 board from an old IDE hard drive cable.
The new display now greets me with a nice, cool blue backlight that allows me to see the characters in virtually any lighting condition. It's very easy on the eyes.
Now my K42 looks as great as it works.
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KI6JD
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 20, 2010 22:01
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KI6JD
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I built the K42 as a kit during the first week of
January. It was a Christmas present. I wanted something that would be a helper in copying fast foreign CW call letters and code. My code copy speed is limited to about 13 WPM. Not fast enough for serious CW operation.
After getting it built, I put it in service to see how it would perform. I will say this, it did not work very well in the receive department. Constantly having to twiddle with the setting to get it to decode. I sent Steve an E-mail describing my problems.
Steve pondered on it for a while and then sent me a new POC chip.. After replacing the chip, it works very well.
I copied many stations on the air today during the CW contest. Things went from bad to very good. All because K1EL (Steve), cares about his product and his customers.
I can now easily recommend the K42 for CW use. It has many, many super features for use with a keyboard and can be a keyer for your iambic key as well.. Just about perfect in it's operation... Thank You Steve!!
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W5RDW
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 17, 2010 15:00
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Very good product.....
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Easy to build. I was in no hurry and spent a few hours per night as I had time. The instructions have you build a part of the unit and then test that part and then continue on to the next part, test that part and so forth. Your confidence is built up by doing this. A very enjoyable kit to build and test. It worked the first time. As a keyboard, it is really good and it is so nice to just type and the CW is sent. I am a novice at using a keyboard to send CW and this unit does a great job. I just used a spare keyboard I had laying around and it worked fine. As far as decoding CW, it does as advertised. I happened to copy the ARRL bulletin on 17M and it copied it with no problems. Of course, the CW was sent by a computer, but it copied just great at this speed. I then found KP2/3CT working a string of stations and it was fun watching him crank out the qso’s. I would recommend this product.
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