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Reviews For: QRPGuys Single Lever Mini Paddle

Category: Keys & Paddles

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Review Summary For : QRPGuys Single Lever Mini Paddle
Reviews: 2MSRP: 15
Description:
 
Leave the Begali at home. The QRPGuys Mini Paddle will allow you to mount a single lever paddle directly to the front or side of your existing chassis. It is only 1.75”W x 2.25”L x .62”H and at .65oz. (18 grams), it is light weight and ideal for portable or field operations. You construct it from the individually routed PCB pieces, and after soldering forms a strong mechanical assembly. All the electrical circuitry is embedded into the pieces and forms the needed connections upon assembly. The paddle is a single lever design with all stainless steel lever and contact hardware. Contacts are threaded for a wide range of adjustment from a few thousandths of an inch to whatever you feel comfortable with for sending. Connections are made on the inside of your chassis through solder lugs secured to insulated bushings. You will need to drill three small holes in your chassis to accommodate the mounting hardware. All hardware is included. The tools required are a soldering iron with a small tip, rosin core solder, #1 Phillips screwdriver, needle nose pliers, tweezers for the hardware, and a flat surface to work on. Allow an hour or so to build. On a difficulty scale of 1 to 5, 5 being the most difficult, this is rated at 4.
Product is in production
More Info: http://qrpguys.com/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0024.5
K6SDW Rating: 2020-10-14
Works FB, probably not QRQ Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Just $30 for the kit. It took me about an hour, and one trip to ACE hardware to replace a missing 4-40 nut, to complete kit. Being 70 I had to use me super close-in glasses...Hi Hi. I really recommend having a good quality soldering iron for this kit, some pretty close-in soldering is required. The challenge to building the kit is mechanical and the QRpGuys did a great job designing the kit and the directions and photos are excellent.

So, I'm no hot shot CW op and I'm trying to see if a single lever paddle is preferred over iambic. At my speed of 16-18wpm the paddle feels adequate for what it is given the tin piece they use supplies the feel and action. I doubt QRQ ops would care for this paddle, just an opinion. Adjusting the paddle is very simple, tighten the 4-40 nuts and run the contact screws to where you like the gap...that's it.

For $30 I'm happy with the lever and will keep it connected to my KX3. By-the-way, the iambic key Elecraft sells for the KX2/3 is top notch and worth the $100.

Unfortunately, QRpGuys has discontinued the key.
NE2B Rating: 2017-06-16
Inexpensive and works well. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I'm very satisfied with this kit. I'm new to kit building, and mine didn't turn out looking as good as the one in the picture, but it wasn't that hard to assemble. Maybe they gave it a 4 out of 5 difficulty rating because there are lots of tiny parts. My daughter and I worked on this together so her small hands helped. It was pretty straight forward. We made a couple dumb mistakes that were my fault, I could have avoided them by comparing what I thought the directions said with the picture of the finished product. I wish it came with a cord or a jack. It was fun, cheap and it works.