Don,
Maybe a gate implementation might work ... you set me on a search that
led me to http://fermi.la.asu.edu/w9cf/articles/ultimatic/ultimatic.html
... and that's probably the info you recalled. A quick glance won't do
for this one: I'll need to study it a bit and see if it'll do the trick.
It appears that the K12 keyer could solve the problem, if the above
won't. $17 for http://k1el.tripod.com/K12.html is fairly modest.
I'll get back to you all shortly with the conclusion!
Many thanks,
Alan
Alan D. Wilcox, W3DVX (K2-5373, K3-40)
570-321-1516
http://WilcoxEngineering.com
Williamsport, PA 17701
Don Wilhelm wrote:
Alan,
That places you in my chronological age range - yes, I have my 50 year
pin from ARRL too!
I believe you are referring to "Ultimatic" keying - the paddle that
was last operated is the one that takes precedence - none of the
"idiotic" alternating dots and dashes (which to me is confusing).
Yes, I have tried to use Iambic, and have never been successful - I
resort to
'slap keying' and/or a single lever paddle. Ultimatic was the first
keying method introduced with the Ultimatic Keyer (a vacuum tube
design), and it is a puzzle to me why it has not been continued -
perhaps the Curtis chip popularization of Iambic ruined the best
keying method available - not to mention the adoption of the Iambic B
mode which adds an opposite element at the end of a character -
initially that was a mistake by the Curtic designers. but they
successfully sold it as an "enhancement".
There is a cure. Take a look at the K12 keyer by K1EL which supports
Ultimatic mode. Alternately, there was a fellow on the Elecaft
reflector (about 6 months ago - maybe longer, my memory gets
compressed with age) who developed both a logic gate and a pic
implementation of an Ultimastic to Iambic converter. I have the parts
on a perfboard for that, but have not yet finished it. Look in the
archives because I have forgotten who it was that produced the design.
BTW - I have lobbied Elecraft for inclusion of Ultimatic keying
support for the K2 and the K3, but all I have gotten so far is a
"maybe" - I guess Wayne is occupied with more important things to do
than support us few "old farts" who remember and liked the Ultimatic
keyer".
73,
Don W3FPR
Alan D. Wilcox wrote:
Hello,
Fifty years ago I designed and built a tube keyer to replace my
Vibroplex. Then a transistor keyer. All this before the iambic keyers
came along ...
Left paddle = dots
Right = dashes
Squeeze both paddles = dashes only.
The technique I developed was to
1. Always squeeze _both_ keys for dashes; if I was a bit late getting
the dash paddle closed, the logic turned the dot into a dash (as long
as the dot hadn't finished, of course.)
2. If dots followed dashes, just simply let loose of the right paddle.
3. A string of dots would turn into dashes simply by squeezing both
paddles together.
I could send good CW at fairly-respectable speeds, and was happy. For
decades ... until I got the K2 and the K3.
Then I tried to get the hang of iambic keying, and the best I can do
is slap-keying or stagger along at 10 wpm or slower iambic.
Questions:
1. Is there a way to kludge the K2 or K3 keying logic for squeeze
keying?
2. Does anyone make a keyer with my logic? WHO? All I've ever seen
are iambic.
3. If neither, and I wind up building my new keyer myself, is this
something anybody else would want?
Cheers,
Alan
Alan D. Wilcox, W3DVX (K2-5373, K3-40)
570-321-1516
http://WilcoxEngineering.com
Williamsport, PA 17701
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