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Reviews For: Four State QRP Group: Cric-key designed by NM0S

Category: Keyers & CW Keyboards

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Review Summary For : Four State QRP Group: Cric-key designed by NM0S
Reviews: 1MSRP: $33.15
Description:
The Cricket series consists of low cost entry level minimalist CW transceivers. This kit is designed to complement 4SQRP's popular CRICKET series of QRP transceivers with a useful and easy-to build keyer circuit. High quality, double sided printed circuit board construction is used, with solder mask and silk screened component reference designators. All components are through-hole for easy assembly. The CRIC-KEY can be constructed by beginners as well as experienced builders. Construction time is approximately 30 to 90 minutes, depending on experience level. Voltage Input: 9v battery, clips mounted to board     Speed: 5 to 50 WPM, adjustable     Standby Current: Less than 1 microamp     Paddle tension and spacing fully adjustable     Low Part Count: Only 19 total electrical components     LED Keying Monitor
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.4sqrp.com/crickey.php
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
1515
WB0FDJ Rating: 2023-01-08
Fun and useful keyer/paddles kit Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Preface: I own a number of simple QRP transceivers and transmitters, nearly all assembled from kits that do not have onboard keyers. Seeing this simple project I jumped at the chance to have a small and simple paddle/keyer combo to operate these radios.

It came in the mail within a few days of order. Complete, well written assembly instructions included. The circuit board seems of good quality. The paddles are made of circuit board material and snap apart for assembly. Populating the board (i.e. building the keyer) was very straightforward. Getting the paddle parts assembled was not at all difficult (they mount directly on the PC board) but the instructions make it clear that to get decent results you have to pay close attention to how things fit together. An attractive wooden board for mounting is included to provide stability.

So once together I got out my trusty Small Wonder Labs SW-20 QRP rig and found that the keyer/paddle system works just fine. The "feel' of the paddles is pretty light but responsive and clean. This is a very simple system intended to be an adjunct to running simple equipment. It seems to do exactly that and will be a useful addition to the shack.