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Reviews For: Kent EK-4M

Category: Keyers & CW Keyboards

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Review Summary For : Kent EK-4M
Reviews: 3MSRP:
Description:
Iambic keyer with four programmable memories.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.kent-engineers.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0034.7
G4FFD Rating: 2006-06-17
first class keyer unit Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I am not sure if this keyer is still in production, but I was fortunate to get an unused one recently. It is made to the usual tool-room standards of Kent Engineers (see Keys section) It takes no room on the operating position. It measures 3.5 inches by 5.5 inches and weighs a pound. It stays put and does not wander around and is a handy sloping desk design. The circuit board is first-class and looks hand built. The keyer does everything you would expect and can be tailored to suit your style of squeeze keying. ( I use iambicB mode) The paddles can be reversed electrically by a key press. It is very responsive in fast keying, and you can articulate your characters cleanly. The only drawback is it requires an external power source. It consumes 30mA keydown @ 9-12v.
W6QE Rating: 2005-10-02
The best ! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
99% of what I do is in cw. I've owned a few keys in my amateur lifetime, but the Kent surpasses them all. I used a Brown Brothers for over 20 years, & played with the Bencher. Beyond a doubt, the Kent is the best. The precision manufacturing, the weight of the base and the ease of adjustment have convinced me that there isn't a better key on the market. I have 2, 1 for my primary HF station and a 2nd that I use on other HF stations here in the shack and on a multi-mode VHF/UHF radio.
G4OCR Rating: 2003-11-21
Nice for the price! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The EK-4M is an attractive c.w. keyer made by Kent Engineers in Preston, Lancs., U.K. I've had mine for a couple of years now, and intend to keep it. It offers four memories for storing frequently used messages (e.g. CQ calls, QTH etc.) which are programmmed from the paddle key. Playback of memories can be made to loop, with variable time delay. Also provided are a "paddle reverse" facility (useful if you prefer "dits" on the right!, and adjustable weighting. A bank of 8 LED's give useful information about the status of the keyer.

The only complaint that I have is that the unit does radiate unpleasant spurious signals on the h.f. bands. I have considerably reduced these by fitting ferrite rings on the leads. However, it can be annoying if a spurious emission happens to fall close to a weak signal that you are trying to listen to.

That said, for around £75 the EK-4M represents remarkably good value relative to other keyers.