Homebrew cootie key cuts through QRN, QRM
A couple of days ago, I worked a guy who said he was using a homebrew sideswiper, or cootie, key. I looked him up on QRZ.Com, where he featured a photo of his key (see right). After seeing this photo, I tweeted:
Just worked a guy using this homebrew cootie key. It really cuts through the QRM and QRN.
I included the photo in the tweet.
That really caught the eye of my followers. More than two dozen have either liked or commented on it.
Homebrew paddle uses hard disk drive bearing
Last night, I worked a fellow who also noted that he was using a home brew paddle. He said that it was similar, but not exactly like the paddle built by N2HO (shown at left).
The unique thing about this key is that it uses the magnet and bearing from a hard disk drive. I don’t know if or how the magnetic tension is controlled, but I think the design is quite unique.
Callsign fun
In the past week or so, I’ve worked stations with fun callsigns. the first is AI5IN. Joe’s call not only spells a word, but it is palindromic, if you consider the sequence of dits and dahs.
Last night, I worked K5EMI. Bill didn’t mention why he chose this particular call, and I wonder if he knew that EMI is an acronym for electromagnetic interference. I may have to email him about that.