In early 2018, a friend of mine came to one of our radio club breakfasts with a fun gizmo he had built from a kit; a K1EL Paddle Stick Keyer (PS2B). At the time we had been discussing possible “Hands-on” build night kits for the club. I was immediately taken with the simplicity of the kit, and actual utility. Put it together and you’ve got a full blown memory keyer capable of interfacing to any modern radio.
Now I need another paddle like a submarine needs a screen-door (I have shelf of different ones from Begali, N3ZN, Bencher and others), but I decided to purchase one to see how quickly it goes together and how well it works. It took a total of about 2 hours to put together, nothing was complex, the manual was very complete and useful. In terms of its operation, it works as advertised. It doesn’t claim to be a $500 precision mechanical paddle, its a $60 kit that uses capacitive touch sensing. It is perfectly adequate for CW practice, teaches good paddle techniques, and doesn’t break the bank.
Sadly, these are no longer kept in stock by K1EL, which has introduced a lower cost “Morse Tutor” without paddle (using touch-pads on a PCB). Unfortunately that does not teach proper paddle skills.
