WinKeyer, part 1

The WinKeyer principle is shown in the picture below. Both computer generated morse and manually generated morse is sent to the WinKeyer, and the WinKey device will key the transceiver.

PC and paddles are connected to the transceiver via WinKeyer. 

You may ask: Why not let the computer do the work? What is the benefit of the WinKeyer?

Firstly, the WinKeyer has become the "de-facto standard" for CW transmission in computer software. Many logging programs, contest programs, and digital mode programs support the WinKeyer protocol. This makes switching between different programs easy. You simply set the new software for the WinKey protocol, and off you go with CW!

The second benefit is flexibility. The TX macros will probably be executed via the computer software. But supplementary text can be sent anytime using the paddles. The speed button on the front of the WinKeyer can immediately change the pace of characters. No batteries are necessary since power is drawn from the computer via the USB  interface.

I ordered a Winkeyer kit from Hamcrafters (formerly K1EL Electronic kits) some weeks ago. The kit is expected to arrive soon. I can hopefully tell you more next month!

OZ1BXM Lars Petersen

Homepage: http://oz1bxm.dk