Sorry for the terrible Morse. My radio an SW/3b would only send continuous streams of dots or dashes. Luckily I had a paddle which I never use for activations. But this would only work if I held it in my hand in a certain position- I couldn’t hold it properly sending quick morse, and couldn’t work out how to adjust the speed properly and ended up with it working at a very very slow speed less than 12pm I think.
How some of you managed to copy or guess what I was sending I do not know.!!!
Thank you for your extreme patience.!
I’m activating G/NP-016 using my trusted other radio (hb-1b) and straight key.
I was on Ingleborough at the same time as your activation, I only found out afterwards!
I wonder if you’ve tried your Venus radio on the bench? I briefly looked at a manual online and it seems as though it expects a mono plug on a straight key. If you have a stereo plug on your key and the ring is open circuit, I think the Venus would assume a paddle key is plugged in and produce dits (assuming tip is wired to key contact).
It would have been nice to have an S2S, but then I don’t ever check the spots whilst I’m activating!
Thanks Colin - I’ll try that when I get home in a couple of days. I’m in my camper van! But I’m sur I’ve used a straight key on the radio without problems before.
a lot of current radios decide on switch-on whether the key is a straight key or a paddle, based on whether the ring connection is grounded, which it appears to be on a mono plug. This can be simulated using a paddle by closing the dash lever while turning the radio on. your straight key with a stereo plug should work happily after that as the radio will have started in straight key mode. Another solution is to short the ring to the ground inside the plug.
Firstly, yes, if you squeeze the paddles together and switch on the SW-3B will switch to Manual (it sends an M to indicate), however I’ve had a different problem show up. On a recent activation my Palm paddle (that I had used many times) would not key Dah’s. I happened to have a homebrew paddle in my kit and by holding it and levering to the side ever so slightly it would work. On checking at home I notice the key 3.5mm plug seems to be fairly loose in the socket and not it seems making contact now on the Dah side. First time I’ve come across a socket loosening over time but seems like it has and will need to be replaced (all the actual soldered connections to the circuit are checked and ok)
