K1EL K42 CW Keyboard Kit

K42, the Swiss Army knife of CW keyers, from the packed order to a ready to use product.

[@KC6CNN]

I love my K42's. I have three of them. They decode great. Easy to build. Have one on ranch cabin and one at home. I use them to communicate home when at the ranch fast speed. Because CW gets through.

[@warplanner3258]

..they seem to multiply like bunny rabbits, don't they, Matthew? I started out with one and then..WHAM! Three of 'em in the shack. One for the main rig. one for the Elecraft K-2 and one to take to the field for FD or the like.

[@cwqrpportable]

Nice video, thank you! I've built two of these and have another one in the box ready to be built at some point in time. I haven't installed a toggle power switch yet and was wondering where you ended up finding yours? It's quite difficult to find a switch this small.

[@arturmarcal7388]

+Binder Dundat Glad you liked the video. I bought my power switch, here in Portugal in a local store, in the city of Entroncamento. They are a little bit hard to find, I know. And almost all electronics stores here are shutting doors. Competition from the great suppliers who sell over the internet is killing them. The man who sold it to me ordered 100 more, but the supplier sent him 100 units of other kind of switches, much bigger. He was very upset. And neither of them usually last long. But I think you can use a little bigger switch, if you install it on the back side, I think you have room for it. I'm not promissing you that I can send them from here cuz I don't know if I can find them anymore. But if you want, I can try it. Just let me now. I'll do it in good will. If you're a HAM (Radio Amateur), I am at QRZ.COM and you can find my email there. 73/72, Artur, CT1FRC.

[@warplanner8852]

Great video of great product. I am not sure if Steve made a provision in your model for the on/off switch, but I have two earlier models and found that a very slim switch could be fitted in the space to the left of the display on the front by carefully drilling a hole there. The power switch definitely improves the unit!

[@arturmarcal7388]

+William Phinizy Hi William. Glad you enjoyed the vídeo. I always thought that I made it a bit too long, and that people would get bored. In my case I had to buy the on/off switch sperately, and drill the hole in the back of the unit. I tryed to find here a smaller switch but I couldn't. Drilling on the left side of the display also requires more precision tolls than I have here, so i decided to put it on the back to ensure I had no problems with the assembly. Already sold the unit. I just bought it for testing purposes. I enjoyed very much the CW Reader. It works very well with, well tuned, weak signals, but it is not recomendable to have one if, like me, you're trying to learn to do head copy.Besides that, I'm not very fan of the fact that you need to enter all commands using the keyboard, instead of the paddle, which in this unit is even optional. But you probably know that since you're telling me you have both of early versions. 73, Artur, CT1FRC.

[@warplanner8852]

+Artur Marçal..your video is not at all over-long for anyone who wishes to understand what the kit is about, believe me. And thanks for the 4-1-1 on the switch. Either way, it's good to have if you leave the unit in line in your shack. The old paradigm of QRP stuff not having on/off switches just plain sucked in my book. I always built a kit (like the SW-XX series) and drilled out/installed one. Vy 72, mi amigo and hope to work you some day. Bill, k6whp

[@warplanner8852]

Artur Marçal, late reply here but understand about your preferences, etc. I now have FOUR of these beasts! Last one was a kit a friend found spare and sold me for $50! Couldn't pass it up! But, like you, I couldn't find a tiny switch handy so I put a mid-size one in back. Works great! Sorry you sold yours.. 71/72 es dit dit Bill, k6whp

[@Klaatu-ij9uz]

Will the K42 work with a boat anchor transceiver, (such as a Kenwood TS-520S)?

[@arturmarcal7388]

Hi Philip! Sorry for the delay answering. I remember that on the K1EL K14 morse keyer there was a simply circuit in the manual one could add to make it work with older transceivers, but I can't remenber if that is the case with the K42. Don't hesitate and go to K1EL SYSTEMS (Google) webpage and send them an email. I'm sure they will be very happy to help you. All the best. TNX and 73.

[@Klaatu-ij9uz]

@@arturmarcal7388 -- Thank you for the info. Much appreciated!

[@derekbragg557]

do you sell or send to uk

[@nickjaxe]

Can you plug a straight key into the K42 or K44 to practice sending Morse, Are they bother by RF...my long wire antenna plugs directly into my ATU in the shack...so must emit in the shack...will this bother the K44...dont want to waste my money if it will be no use to me. Nick.

[@arturmarcal7388]

I have no experience with the K44. And even the K42 unit I don't have it anymore. You should download the manuals from Hamcrafters website, read them, and ask Steve, K1EL, any questions you may have. Regarding your antenna, I don't have any experience whatsoever with that sort of antennas. Here on the shack, I only have a vertical GAP Titan DX, use a 1:1 current balun (MFJ and Diamond has them, to avoid common mode currents and the consequent RFI in the shack) right on the exit of the tranceivers, and protect every power cables with magnets. Never had any problems of RFI in the house. Sorry, this is all the help I can give you. 73.

[@AlienRelics]

@@arturmarcal7388 Those aren't magnets, they are ferrites.

[@arturmarcal7388]

@@AlienRelics When I was writing the text, and the word "ferrites" imediately came to my mind, I thought That I was thinking in Portuguese and not in english. Now I recall we use that same exact word. So, I choosed "magnets" instead. Thank you for the correction. 73.

[@AlienRelics]

@@arturmarcal7388 English borrows from so many other languages... actually, English follows other languages down dark alleys, mugs them, and goes through their pockets for loose grammar.

[@nickjaxe]

Wish my K44 decoded like that...it doesn't...send fine though....but I can yet read morse so no use to me.

[@bjorlfale1872]

Hello,, thanks for the video, this device is amazing. As I'm preparing the exam, I wonder what is the meaning of QST ? I don't find it in my book. Thx again.

[@arturmarcal7388]

Hello Björl. According to my records, regarding the Q Code, "QST" means basically "CQ ARRL", and it's a general call, preceding a message, addressed to all amateurs, and ARRL members. Good luck for your exam. 73.

[@bjorlfale1872]

Many thanks, 73

[@elanpaim33]

hello Artur btw i look on the user menu how you connect it to the radio what going where ? let say ts590 thank you kind vy 73 elan

[@arturmarcal7388]

Elan, according to page 64 of a manual from the TS-590S that I downloaded from the web, you can get the AF (Audio Frequency) output signal from the transceiver, from pins 3 (Sinal) and 4 (Ground) of the ACC2 connector that you can find in the back of the radio. Please check your manual for pin numbering. Please note that, according to the manual, the AF output level is independent from the AF control setting, but can be changed by adjusting the value in Menu No. 67. If I can help you anything else, just let me know. 73.

[@elanpaim33]

hello Artur thank tyou kind i am going to order this kit look very good i let you know thank you kind for this info very kind like to wish you happy holiday happy new year 2017

[@arturmarcal7388]

Tnx Elan. Happy new year for you, too. When you buy the kit: - Make sure you download the latest manual. Forget the one that comes with the CD that is probably older, - Read the manual. Be sure to follow all the written assembling instructions. There are 2 chips that came with a color dot so you can distinguish them easily. In my case the color dots came swapped and I had to read the manual carefully before deciding which one goes where. Besides that, I had no problems. Take you're time. Don't hurry things. And everything will be fine. 73.

[@morsetelegraphyhb9dqj138]

@@arturmarcal7388 .lloolkjhgjjjjujugzzhhzzjnnuüž

[@elanpaim33]

Hello Artur thank you very interesting vy 73 elan

[@arturmarcal7388]

Hello Elan, I'm glad you enjoyed the video. TKS ES 73.

[@johnleonardelli_VE3IPS]

Cw up to 140wpm?😮😮😮😅

[@johnadams6569]

It apparently copies CW with a strong signal with no QRN or QRM or adjacent signals. Would have like a more challenging demonstration of this K1EL keyer instead of this easy copy condition.

[@arturmarcal7388]

I have no knowledge of any CW decoder capable to decode on those circumstances. But with this video was recorded receiving a very weak signal from ARRL.It seems a strong signal because it was very well zerobeated, wich always helps. I don't have the unit anymore, already sold it after assembling it and using it for a few days. If you REALLY want to learn head copy, you can forget from the start any one of these devices. Overall and for I know about and expect from these sort of devices, the K42 performed very well. 73.

[@arturmarcal7388]

Forgot to say: Problems with adjacent signals, is something I rarely have here on the shack, because insteady of buying big fancy radios (and since I'm only interested on CW), I usually buy smaller ones and invest in all the CW filters available. The other condition to buy a radio is that it has the possibility to change bandwidth from at least 2.4k Hz down to 100 or even 50 Hz, and shift the passing band from right to left, using front panel buttons, which happens with the Ten-Tec Eagle and the TS-480SAT I have right now. I also always use a proper zerobeat indicator. I always used to, first zerobeat, second reduce the bandwith as low as possible (it also reduces noise), third shit from left to right to choose the signal I wanted, and only them decode. QRM is not always exactly in the same frequency, so with this helps you can almost always choose exactly which station you want to copy. I know that the best filter is between the ears, but it takes years to get to that point. Hope this helps. 73.

[@Varianna12]

140 WPM a bit fast for me. I can only do 130!

[@arturmarcal7388]

Well... if that is a joke, I must confess it's a very good one, Hi Hi. If that is not a joke... all I can do is congratulate you for your proficiency in CW. 73.

[@Varianna12]

C'etait une blague. Tout vitesse = 35 WPM.73!K4TIN

[@arturmarcal7388]

That's very good. Much better than me, for the moment. TKS. 73!

[@johnadams6569]

Those green LED's are mighty annoying. During any QSB, copy accuracy suffers.

[@arturmarcal7388]

The green LED's never bothered me. On the contrary, they were very usefull to see if a signal was properly tuned. By, I guess you can't please everybody... RegardIng QSB, you can always use a fast zerobeat circuit, like the "Son of Zerobeat" and retune. But QSB situations are not so frequent these days, thankfully. But, people usually prefers to give more money to an equipment even if it doesn't have a simple TCXO unit, instead of buying a smaller one an investing on the extras, like this unit or the CW filters. We can't do anything about that. 73.

[@electronixTech]

@Law You could probably mod it with a switch to enable or disable the LEDs.