Here are some more great YouTube videos I’ve come across lately. This first one is a pretty good introduction to all the digital modes we, as radio amateurs, can operate.
I’ve been thinking about putting up a hex beam here for a while. The only reason I haven’t done it yet is because I’m thinking about moving.
Have I ever mentioned that I’m a Begali fanboy?
N3JT posted this to the CWops mailing list, and I thought it was just hilarious.
This video has been making the rounds lately. It presents a very interesting explanation of how electrical energy flows.
I am an unabashed Begali fanboy. Here’s a peek inside the Begali factory.
One of the questions I’m most frequently asked is, “What is a good paddle for a beginner?” My usual answer to this question is to look for a used Bencher BY-1 at a hamfest or on one of the online venues. You used to be able to get them for $60 or less. Now, however, there are few hamfests and the price has gone up. Now, used Benchers are close to $80.
Another option that newcomers might consider is the CW Morse paddle (shown in photo below). They cost $60 with a steel base ($43 without), and are available from 3rd Planet Solar and Gigaparts. I purchased one recently, and used it for a couple of days. To be honest, I was prepared to hate it, but it actually works pretty well. It’s not a Begali, but it’s good enough that I’d recommend it as a starter key.
These keys are mostly made from 3D-printed plastic parts. You can tell this from the finish. While not as bad as some 3D-printed parts, they do look a little rough. I wouldn’t be surprised if they go to molded parts, though, at some point. In high volumes, it has to be cheaper to mold the parts rather than print them.
The key does have metal parts where it counts, though. The contacts are all brass, the base is made from 1/2-in. cold-rolled steel, and the levers pivot on sealed ball bearings. My key weighed 22.5 oz (1.4 lbs.), and was quite stationary on the silicone mat that I use for my keys. The Begali is, of course, a lot heavier at nearly 60 oz. (3.75 lbs.).
A spring between the levers provides the tension. Two screws allow you to adjust the contact spacing. Unlike the Begali, whose adjustment screws have a very fine thread to give you plenty of adjustability, these screws are standard thread screws. What this means is that it can be a bit tricky to set the contact spacing. The screws are spring-loaded to prevent the adjustment from changing, but the springs don’t seem to be very beefy, and I can see where the adjustment might change after a lot of use.
The ball bearings give the key a nice action. During my tests, I had the speed cranked up to 23 wpm, and this key performed well at that speed. One thing I didn’t like very much is that the arms tend to flex more than I like, but I actually have the same problem with the plastic Begali finger pieces. That’s why I use the aluminum finger pieces on the Begali.
Overall, though, I’m quite happy with this key. And, for sixty bucks, which is about one-fifth of the price of a new Begali Magnetic Pro, I can certainly recommend this key to newcomers getting started in CW.
Yesterday afternoon, I was tuning around on 30m, but the band sounded dead. For some reason, I decided to give 20 m a try. I don’t know what possessed me to do that, because a) If 30 m is dead, 20 m will be, too; b) I’m not a big fan of 20m.
Nevertheless, one of the first signals I heard on 20m was CT1BQH calling CQ DX on 14044 kHz. He had a reasonably strong signal, so I figured that I had a good chance of working him. Sure enough, he replied to my call and gave me a 559. It turns out he has a six-element Yagi, so no wonder he was so strong.
Next, I tuned down the band, found a quiet spot on 14032 and started calling CQ myself. F5TIL responded to my second call. I love it when DX stations answer my CQ. He was using only a three-element Yagi, but signals were still 559.
Right after I signed with F5TIL, I got a call from Mike, K8XF, my friend down in Florida. We had a short, but nice chat. I always like working Mike because he’s such a good operator. He’s been playing around with a bug lately. It was funny to hear him send with a bug because he slowed it way down.
One of the things that Mike and I chatted about are our Begali paddles. Mike recently bought a Signature, while I recently added a Begali Magnetic Pro (see right) to my operating desk.
I love this paddle. It’s the first paddle that I’ve used with magnetic tension. It really does feel different from my Begali Simplex, which uses spring tension. It’s hard do describe.
Another thing that I like about it is that you can adjust the space between the paddles. You can’t do this with most paddles.
The one regret is that I didn’t also get the aluminum finger pieces. The plastic finger pieces—as show in the photo—feel kind of cheap to me. I’ll be buying some aluminum ones at Dayton.
I inherited some furniture from my mother-in-law, including a computer desk and chest of drawers. The computer desk replaced the homemade workbench that I was using as an operating desk, the chest of drawers replaced the small desk that I was mainly using for storage, and the homemade workbench is now actually my workbench, replacing a folding table that I was using for building things.
The previous setup had served me well for the past 15 years, so this new arrangement was a bit difficult to get used to. The computer desk, for example, is a foot narrower than the workbench, so I had to move things around, and the workbench is not as deep as the folding table, so I’m still getting used to that.
I think it’s a good thing to mix things up once in a while, though. Maybe the reorganization will help me break out of some of the bad habits I’ve fallen into.
