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Reviews For: PicoKeyer from N0XAS

Category: Keyers & CW Keyboards

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Review Summary For : PicoKeyer from N0XAS
Reviews: 89MSRP: 17.99
Description:
Completely self-contained version of the original PicoKeyer, first introduced in 2003. The PicoKeyer features four memories, all connections and power on board (no external wiring needed), speed control, simple one-button menu based setup, beacon mode, and much more.
Keying modes supported are iambic A and B, Ultimatic, Bug and straight key/cootie. Hands-free tuneup mode lets you tune with either constant key-down or 50% duty cycle dits. Easy, quick assembly make this a great club or group build project!
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.hamgadgets.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00894.9
WA9ETW Rating: 2007-03-13
Outstanding! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
What a terrific little kit! It only took a few days from order to delivery, and less than an hour from the mailbox to the shack.

This mini-keyer is capable, versatile, amazingly inexpensive and just plain fun. And it's so strong on all four points that it is worth buying and building even if you don't need another keyer.

Congrats, Dale, on a truly outstanding product!
N7GEB Rating: 2007-02-21
The best value in keyer kits Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have bought, and built, three of Dale's Pico-Keyers. They are, by far, the best value in keyers that I have seen. Easy to assemble, crystal-clear instructions, bullet-proof construction, and the best customer service. The keyer has too many features to list. The Pico-keyer is a winner.

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Earlier 5-star review posted by N7GEB on 2005-06-27

This keyer has tons of features, is easy to build, and is small enough to fit into just about any rig without a built-in keyer. The instructions are clear, and I had mine built and working in 30 minutes.
Harris Leck Rating: 2006-12-16
Value for money Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Went together in about 30 minutes minus time for various interruptions. I bought this to go into one of my QRP rigs.
So far I have been unable to get the same fluency as with my Logikeyer (which costs a lot more). Also cannot make the /R function work reliably - sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't which I trace back to the Ultimatic emulation mode being less forgiving than Logikey V0 mode. I will likely take up the idea of remoting the push button once I install it in my SWL DSW - II. For the price it does a lot and adequate for a QRP rig. I would probably grade this a 4.5 so I have "rounded up".
KC0YVW Rating: 2006-12-01
Simply Perfect Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I like simple things that, simply work! Small, simple things that work extremely well with multiple features are truly a joy. I just finished my second unit and I'm kind of glad I had a problem (my mistake), it reinforced what others here have said that, "Dale is a class-act". We've exchanged a couple e-mails over the last few days and he has provided great advice, service and timely responce. Yep, you guessed it, the problem was operator error but Dale offered to have me send it back and fix it, "Thanks Dale, I think I see the error and can get it resolved".

I'll most likely be ordering up another one shortly, for a project I'm building for a friend and this might make a good starter project for my Boy Scouts.

In short; Buy one! In fact, buy two, for the quality and service not to mention the fabulously low cost, you "simply" can't find a better simple, small, action packed keyer on the market. I wish more things in life were this uncomplicated yet functional.

Tom KC0YVW
73
K5YUT Rating: 2006-11-27
Great keyer! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This kit goes together very easily and the result is an excellent, modern keyer you'd have to pay near $100 for if you bought it from MFJ or similar. If you plan to package it separately in it's own little box, following are some suggestions:
1. N0XAS says you can add manual speed control with a linear pot in the 10K to 100K range. 100K, however, compresses the range of adjustment a whole lot. You'll probably be happier with 10K
2. You program this keyer by pressing a push-button and waiting for the keyer to announce, in morse, the parameter you want to adjust. The supplied push-button is a miniature that solders directly to the board, making it highly inaccessible once the board is packaged. I replaced it with a panel-mounted momentary push switch from Radio Shack. Look carefully at the board when you solder in the two wires for this switch. There are four holes for the original switch, but you only need to connect two of them. One of these has an embedded but visible trace running from it to the microprocessor chip and the other one is DIAGONALLY OPPOSITE.
3. Take special care when hooking up the stereo plug connectors. The dot and dash lines to the paddle attach to the two center connectors, and if you get them backwards the keyer will key backwards (though you can change this with software). The rig connection uses only one connection, so if you get the wrong one it won't work at all. In this case I just hooked both inner connections together.
AF5KS Rating: 2006-11-14
Great keyer and kit Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I wanted to build a keyer to learn to send code well without messing with my radio. The PicoKeyer was just the project I was looking for. Fun to build and it works great.
KA7U Rating: 2006-10-14
assembled 3 of these fine little keyers Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought the first one on a lark and after it was assembled, maybe 20 minutes or so, including packaging in a mint tin, was using it. Wow, what a neat little keyer. Since the first one, I've assembled two more and did mess up one solder job. I could not figure out what was wrong, so Dale asked me to send it back. He fixed my screw-up and sent it back. Only cost me postage and of course the request for assistance... I just placed an order for #4, for a freind and noticed that for $2.00 to cover postage, Dale will upgrade my first keyers "gold dot" chip to the new version. If you do not have one of these, then I highly recommend one to you. Ron - KA7U
W1IN Rating: 2006-09-15
You need to get this keyer NOW Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Saw the Super PicoKeyer listed on EBay. Bought it on a whim. Man am I glad I did. Bought it on a Wednesday it arrived in Friday's mail. Less than 20 minutes to build and made its 1st QSO 30 minutes after opening the box. This would be a great club project for beginning builders.
KA8WFC Rating: 2006-08-10
Fun little kit, works great, too! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This was a lot of fun to put together. The kit is well engineered--everything fits together perfectly. And the instructions are very good--very little head-scratching during assembly. Even better, when you're done you've got a great little keyer with many features. Thanks N0XAS for a great kit and product!
KC0IEE Rating: 2006-08-03
Excellent Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
First off Dale gives great customer service, when he recieved my order he had unexpected delays in shipping and he immediatly let me know by e-mail. It still only took about a week to show up at my house.
My 12 year old son helped me put it together and even slowing down to explain the process to him it only took about an hour to assemble.
It works exactly as advertised and I would definately buy another one.