First - thanks to all for the attaboys!
Josh, Given NM’s climate I just don’t activate when it’s rainy - wait a day or two and it’ll be sunny - so I can’t say how moisture would affect the keying surface. I’d guess there’s nylon involved in the conductive fabric so it’s probably hydrophilic. But is that good or bad?
However it’s also possible to make these using copper foil tape. I’ve made one and it works fine. It’s clear that the foil is more delicate than the conductive fabric so I’m not sure how well it will hold up over many activations in the rugged SOTA environment.
A feature of the copper foil is that you can easily solder to it. It’s so thin that the you can produce a good joint with just a touch of the iron. The technique I’ve used is to tin a spot on the tape, tin the wire you’re attaching, then touch the wire to the tape tinned spot. With just a touch of the iron a good joint is made.
Here’s a link to copper foil tape I’ve used that’s reliably conductive on both sides.
73,
Mike - ke5akl