TELEGRAPH KEY

Most Telegraphers were paid by the word,  so sending fast was important.  Most speed keys send dots way fast and thats one reason why you hear speed keys being used on the ham bands sending dots at 35wpm and dashes at 20wpm.  If you just add more and more weight to the dot arm, it becomes unweidly heavy and that causes dot errors.  The  Extendadot designs that I have come up will allow easy adjustment as slow as 10wpm and it works as a sliding extender.  It replaces the weights on the dot arm and requires about 1 1/2" of room behind the key when its extended for slowest speed.  I've found the sliding extender works much better than just loading up your dot arm with heavier weights. Its very slender, light weight and works by extending the average weight past the end of the key when sending slower.   Some bugs send so fast they require 2 or 3  large 1oz weights to slow them down and then there is no way to change the speed with so many weights on the dot arm.    The Extendadot is very easy to adjust --- simply by sliding it back and forth on the dot arm.   The end of the Extendadot is taped for either  8-32 or 10-32 screw threads.  So a small weight can be easily added to the end in order to  slow it down for 10wpm -- if you wanted.  If your always changing the speed range, then the Vertical design allows easier speed changes by slipping on or off a small weight.  After many months of testing I finally came up with designs for the Original style keys (with the round dot arm) or the Lightning style keys with the flat bar dot arm as well as  the McElroy/TAC keys.    With the Lightning style keys, the extender attaches directly to your existing rectangular weight provided it has screw threads all he way to the bottom.  A few square weights dont have threads all the way through the weight.   See the pictures for the different designs. In a few months  I'll be making a  Trombone section that increases the slide length and makes it easier to fine tune it for your speed range.  Athough when the trombone section is fully extended it requires up to 3 inches of free space behind your key. The Trombone requires more hand fitting labor and I wont be making any of that type for a few months.   More pictures and other info at www.extendadot.com  I can make the Extendadot in various configurations for a very reasonable cost if you contact me via email @ (email spelled out to prevent spammers)

  SALES AT EXTENDADOT.COM

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