TELEGRAPH KEY

Thursday, December 29, 2005 This posting was just meant to be about speed keys. I seldom use a paddle on the ham bands.  I only included these paddles that I have owned for GP.  I'm sure there are many fine but expensive paddles available today.  Including the new single lever Schurr that just came out.   Here is the Schurr Profi and the V2L sitting side by side.  Both top of the line paddles.   W9WBL is very inventive with a lot of mechanical ingenuity.  As the paddles he produced were very unique with advanced mechanics.   Indicating he was a working at an entirely different level than most everyone else.  This particular V2L has Mastodon Ivory finger pieces.    The Profi key is lengendary for being the worlds best.  I was surprised at how well it did work.     I might have kept both of those paddles if they were non-iambic.    They both found new homes.     Same for the Bencher hand key and Bencher Iambic paddle.   The Bencher Iambic was one of the best paddles available when it first came out many years ago but today the design is dated and you dont have to look very far to do better.     I still own the March magnetic iambic paddle with ebony finger pieces.   The feel of the paddle using repelling magnetics makes it  easy to send with.  I'm not saying its the world best paddle but I enjoy using it and thats all that matters in your shack :-)    Its very easy to adjust the magnetic tension (very broad range), but the contact spacing and pivot bearings adj should have used fine threaded screws as they can be difficult to adj.  Its just fine if you dont change your contact spacing or pivots once its set correctly.   The only reason I have kept the March paddle is its built like an 1800's clock movement and  its very magnetic :-)   I dont care for Iambic keys and thats why the Vibrokeyer Gold Presentation Non Iambic is my favorite today.   I owned the Begali Simplex Iambic but I just didnt care for its ergonomics.  The K8RA paddle is very cost effective, there is no play in the very well engineered pivots and it has more tactile feedback than most other paddles.  The K8RA P2 Iambic paddle is a great value for the price.  http://www.k8ra.com/index_018.htm

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This entry has 1 comments: (Add your own)

• #1 Comment from ke5c 
  1/17/06 6:40 PM | Permalink

  Different strokes for different ops, but I rate the Begali Magnetic Signature well ahead of the Schurr Profi.  The WBL keys are pretty over-rated, and I think they are sought after strickly for their rareness.