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Reviews For: K1EL WK2/WKUSB Keyer

Category: Keyers & CW Keyboards

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Review Summary For : K1EL WK2/WKUSB Keyer
Reviews: 88MSRP: 64 (kit)
Description:
The WKUSB is a complete CW keyer kit, including a new K1EL Winkeyer2 IC and a USB computer interface.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.k1el.com/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
25884.9
NV7E Rating: 2010-09-13
A great operating tool Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I make a lot of sending errors when I send CW with a paddle. I need to use a keyboard to send CW with fewer errors. I use the Flex 5000A transceiver with the PowerSDR program with its internal keyer that lets you use a keyboard.

The PowerSDR keyer has nine memories built in, but when you access a memory in that keyer it cuts off the keyboard. You have to push a button with the computer mouse to reset the keyboard. The WinKeyer USB (WKUSB) has six memories which are accessible through a Windows program. With the WKUSB I can access its six memories and still use the keyboard with the PowerSDR keyer interchangeably without pushing a reset button.

There is so much information on the K1EL website that it is hard to digest at first. The three files you need to download from that website are the WKUSB Quick Start Guide, WKTEST and WKMGR.

The Quick Start Guide explains how to set up the WKUSB. WKTEST helps you select the COM port for the USB connection to set your personal preferences on the keyer. When I first started up the WKUSB it wanted to connect to COM 13, but there were only 12 COM ports available on my computer. I was able to select a usable COM port in Windows Device Manager as shown in the WKUSB Quick Start Guide. It’s a lot easier to set up a keyer when you can do it from a computer this way.

The program I use to actually send CW messages with is WKMGR. You can load messages into the WKUSB manually, but it has only four buttons, so I presume you can use only four of the six memories that way.

With WKMGR you load and access up to six messages into memories in the WKUSB. The messages are resident in the keyer and not in WKMGR, i.e., each time you start up WKMGR you have to upload the messages to WKMGR from the keyer. This only takes a couple of seconds and you do this only once per operating session as long as you don't change the messages in the memories.

I am sure there are other programs you can use with the WKUSB, but these are the ones I use at this point.

The WKUSB helps you cut down on operating surface clutter. The unit itself is very small. You can hook it up to two transceivers at the same time and use just one iambic paddle for both. I also use the Elecraft K3 so I consider this a big plus.

The WKUSB is a great operating tool for me. I recommend it to people I like.

5Z4EE
OK1RP Rating: 2010-06-16
Good...but Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I used this keyer for 6 months intensively...

Do You know what will happens if You will try to record You message and You would like to put longer pauses between words then they are between letters...or even another length to separate sentences? Simply this keyer will glue all together!

Do You know what will happens if You will change the speed pot on the front panel? Simply Your next few dots/dashes will be sent with preview speed then in the middle of the letter speed will be changed to new setup!

Do You know what happens if You would like to cover Your preferred 40wpm speed for chatting and also extremely slow speed for 160m Dx-ing on the pot? Simply impossible...the range is not so wide and it's fixed. You can move the range down to cover 5wpm but You lost QRQ or vice-versa.

Are You prefer to have access to all banks immediately? Sorry to access the second bunch of banks You need to wait...

Do You know what happens if You will go thru all settings and then You will replace cells inside or the keyer will voltage will be lost? All settings will be lost too! The Ctrl P command to save all settings are not documented in the manual! (Thank You to Martin, OK1RR for info)

I know that there is no "perfect" keyer. I posted it over here my experiences to avoid DOA to others.

73 - Petr, OK1RP
WF8O Rating: 2010-06-15
Outstanding Keyer! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I ordered this keyer and had it within two weeks. It took about two hours to build and worked perfectly immediately. Instructions were very well done and the pc board is expertly laid out. I built the K1EL K42 CW Keyboard / Reader last year -also excellent. Highly recommend Steve Elliots lineof keyers.
OH2KW Rating: 2010-05-11
WKSUB fine product Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Hi, I have had WKUSB for couple of months. It seems to be a great keyer. I have tested it with Writelog and it seems to work well as well as a standalone keyer.
But I did not get it working with TR4W.
Has someone used it with this Software?
I guess YES, as TR4W is listed on K1EL site.
And what kind of settings TR4W shiuld have?

And as usual, last moment hurry. I need to work next sunady a domestic contest for which the TR4W has support, but I should get the keyer working with it....

73 de Arto, Oh2KW
K2RS Rating: 2010-03-23
Great little keyer! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I built the Winkeyer USB just before the ARRL CW DX contest to use as a CW interface with my N1MM logging program. It went together easily and worked perfectly from the start. The software that comes with the kit makes it easy to test and set up the Winkeyer USB. When I hooked it up to N1MM, it generated keyboard CW and recorded messages without a hitch, but it's also a superb stand-alone keyer. In fact, it's my favorite keyer for use with a paddle. It generates smooth, crisp CW that doesn't require you to adapt to its keying characteristics.

My only criticism of the kit is the quality of the enclosure. It looks like someone spit the paint on the box, while the white lettering resembles a poor rubber-stamping job that's not quite straight. For such a high-quality piece of gear, the workmanship on the enclosure is a bit of a disappointment.

Regardless, the Winkeyer USB is my favorite electronic keyer and CW interface. It's well designed and performs impressively. You won't find a better keyer for the price.

Jack K2RS

WU1E Rating: 2010-03-13
Fun kit and works great !! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Bought this kit as a warmup to some more complicated kits I want to try. A fun one night project. Excellent documentation and quality of parts. PCB silkscreen makes part placment and orientation a breeze. I took my time and enjoyed the experience. I was very cautious and took my time making sure to identify parts correctly, especially the resistors.
Started after dinner and had it built, hooked up, and ready to go at the end of the evening. A no brainer when using it with AC Log software.
A very powerful keyer. Fun isn't over yet as there are plenty of features to explore in both standalone and host mode. Good stuff !!
Definitely a thrill when it powered up and worked correctly the first time. First QSO with it was great except that I discovered what Iambic B is all about Hi Hi.

Even though it was backordered initially, I still received it in about 2 weeks.
DL4AC Rating: 2010-02-28
building is fun and it works great Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
About 3 weeks after ordering it was shipped very well packed.
Building this kit was a great fun. No spare parts, nothing left and a good manual made it easy to build. And it gave me a great feeling, after switching on for the first time and hearing the "r" in cw!
I use Winkey with DXLab, N1MM and stand alone. Setup is very simple. Now I am independent of windows timing problems. Another advantage is, that both speeds, paddle and software are equal.

Uwe, DL4AC
DL1NER Rating: 2010-02-16
WKUSB/Keyer Time Owned: N.A.
A great kit. Easy to build. And it works at the first time.

Vy 73 de Peter
DL1NER
VK3HE Rating: 2010-01-19
Great product Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Once I received my kit I had it assembled in 30 minutes.

The documentation and packaging are both excellent. The PCB silk screen is very easy to read making assembly easy and fast.

All features are superb, and you can ask for no more.

The USB drivers and installation went without a hitch. The included documents makes the installation very easy and simple.

The keyer is smooth as silk, and is far superior to the keyers in most radios in standalone mode.


N2HO Rating: 2010-01-11
Excellent product Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Great product, very easy to assembly, good manual and great support from the developer, Steve, K1EL. Took me approximately one hour to put everything together and the unit worked as it supposed to.
I ordered a standard kit, which comes equipped with optocouples to control key and PTT outputs. After I put it together I found out that the PTT output for some reason doesn't drive properly the PTT in my transceiver (Yaesu FT-1000MP). The problem was that in this rig it requires the resistance in PTT line to be less than 50 ohms while the optocouple in the WKUSB didn't provide such low value. The solution Steve offer (and sent to me) was to install solid state relays, pin by pin compatible with optocouples installed in my standard WKUSB.
My advice - before ordering this device check what requires to control your rig and order if necessary a little more expensive HV version of this device, which comes with the solid state relays standard instead of optocouples.