You may have noticed that many CW geeks have a big collection of CW sending implements, including straight keys, bugs, and paddles. I’ve felt like a piker because up till now all I had was a straight key and the Bencher BY-1 paddle.
Well, all that’s changed now. I now am the proud owner of a AZ ScQRPions/W5JH Paddle. This paddle was designed by Jerry Haigwood and is sold by the AZ SQRPions club. It comes in kit form and only costs $25.
It’s quite a cute, little paddle. The base measures only 2-in. square, but because it’s almost entirely brass, it’s heavy enough that it stays put as long as you don’t beat on it too much.
How can it cost only $25? Well, it is a kit, for one thing. You not only have to assemble it, you have to finish the brass pieces. This means buying four different grades of sandpaper and sanding down the six brass pieces four separate times. This took me about two hours total to do. Once you’ve sanded down the pieces, you then have to polish and/or apply lacquer to them. It’s a lot of work, but if you take your time and do it right, you’ll have something that you can really be proud of.
After the sanding and polishing, you assemble the paddle. The included instructions are very good, and the paddle went together without a hitch. One thing I’m not real crazy about is the way the paddle arms connect to the common connection. To make this connect, you much solder a small silver wire to each arm and then route the wire through a hole in the base to a lug on the bottom of the base. It seems as though the wire could easily fatigue and break as it moves every time you move the arm, but the arm doesn’t move that much, so I guess it’s not too bad.
Another thing that I don’t like about the paddle is that it doesn’t sit up that high off the desk. The center of each finger piece is only about 3/4-in. off the desk. Maybe I’m just used to using the Bencher, though, whose finger pieces are about twice as high.
I’ve been using it a little tonight, and I must admit that the action is pretty smooth. It has a nice feel to it as long as you’re not too ham-handed. It can’t be too bad–tonight while using it on 30m, I worked both the HK0GU DXpedition to San Andres Island and the 3B9C DXpedition to Rodrigues Island.
Will I use it every day? Probably not. It is, though, a nice piece to add to my collection.
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