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KA7NOC's Product Reviews
Choose a topic
- Whiterook Products Company's CK-1 review
- NorCals 38 Special 30 Mtr CW transciever review
- NorCals K8FF iambic paddle key review
- Whiterook Products Company's MK-79 QRP Pocket LED Mini-Light review
- Larry Stamm WB3EVL's Plastic Dustcovers review.
Whiterook Products Company
Clock kit, Model CK-1
W.P.C. is a company which manufactures many different products for the amateur radio enthusiast. They offer some of their products in kit form,
meaning , you have to put everything together. I have been absent from kit building for several years , and thought I would start up again with
their clock kit , model number "CK-1". This clock can be set for 24 hour display, which is very useful in ham radio activities. The kit arrived
Jan.31,1997.
Packaging
Upon arrival, I of course opened the package ! Everything was very neatly organized and the box was stuffed with foam "peanuts", so there was very little movement of the contents. I did encounter one problem though, while dumping out the "peanuts" into an empty box, the bag which contains all the components fell out into the other box , tearing open and spilling some of the contents ! Luckily, we did away with the long green shag carpeting years ago ! After gathering up what I almost lost, everything proceeded smoothly.
Instructions
The instructions are very straight forward, nothing is left for guess work. The first page informs you about possible problems to watch out for, such as component placement and polarity, before you begin. As well as gives a discription as to how your new clock works and how to set the time once you get it up and running. The next page is the "packing list", here you can check off all the parts which come with your kit. Then there is the assembly information, which is very straight forward. There is also a page which tells you the "theory of operation" , which I found very interesting and informitive. Also included is a schematic diagram.
Components/Parts
There are 64 electronic components, 2 printed circuit boards, 2 IC sockets, 6 nylon spacers, 1 nine volt battery snap, 1 12 volt wall transformer, 4 adhesive rubber feet and the ABS plastic enclosure included with the CK-1 kit. All parts were included as per the packing list, nothing was missing.
Getting it all organized
After checking off all the parts on the packing list, I organized everything in those little plastic organizers you find in the hardware stores. The main printed circuit board ( PCB ) is silk screened with a parts layout, so even a novice kit builder can figure out what goes where. I found all the parts clearly marked and identified in the instruction sheets.
Assembly of the CK-1
The first step is installing the three PCB mounted switches ( S1-S3 ) , these control the L.E.D.s for setting the time, "fast" "slow" "hold", and are mounted on the bottom of the PCB so they can protrude out the bottom of the case when you are finished. No problems here with installing these tiny switches, a sharp point on your soldering iron will help. The rest of the assembly is pretty straight forward, follow good construction practice's and you won't have any problems. The instructions call for installation of all like parts, i.e. resistors, diodes, transistors etc, at the same time. Again very simple and straight forward. I had no trouble what so ever assembling this kit, I took my time and enjoyed building the CK-1 . Total time involved was approx. 8 hours.
CK-1 Features
The CK-1 has a six digit display, so you get a seconds reading. I don't know of many other digital clocks with this feature. Large red L.E.D.s, 12 VAC operation with a 9 volt battery backup during power failures, very nice. It also has a "hold" button, while setting the CK-1 , you are able to stop the clock for a more accurate reading. The CK-1 measures approx. 5.25 L X 5 W X 1.50 H, making it very compact for easy placement in the ham shack or on the work bench. The features I like most about the CK-1 are the "hold" button and its ability to display seconds . With these two features, setting this clock to WWV is a snap !
The bottom line
The CK-1 was a joy to build ! Having built kits in the past , I found the CK-1 to be of very high quality all around. It worked correctly the first time I powered it up. I would highly recommend this kit to anyone who is looking for a simple, highly accurate, fun, L.E.D. clock for the ham shack or anywhere else a quality clock is needed. The large L.E.D. display is very easy to see in various lighting conditions, unlike some LCD display clocks. It even has a dimmer switch if you prefere a lighter display. The front panel is labeled, "Coordinated Universal Time", above the L.E.D.'s. Below the L.E.D.s there are labels for "Hours", "Minutes", "Seconds". This gives the CK-1 a real professional look, and the "UTC" label is sure to become a conversation piece from all the guest's in the ham shack who don't know what "UTC" means !
Contact information
For more information about the CK-1, or W.P.C.'s other products, contact:WHITEROOK PRODUCTS COMPANY
309 South Brookshire Ave.
Ventura, Ca 93003
( 805 ) 339-0702
or, surf on over to their web site at: Whiterook Products Company
Disclaimer
I have no vested interest in W.P.C. , just a satisfied customer !
NorCals 38 Special
Norcal is an amateur radio club out of northern California, dedicated to the art of "QRP" operation. For years, they have been providing hams with quality inexpensive transceiver kits. A few years ago, they offered a small 30 meter CW transceiver kit, called the "38 Special". Although no longer available, HB electronics is in the final stages of producing their version of the 38 Special , 30 meter superhet QRP transceiver, designed by Ori Mizrahi-Shalom, AC6AN . This new kit is being called the " 44 Magnum" , for more information follow this link and view the "44Magnum" QRP Update. If you subscribe to the QRP-L mailing list, you are familiar with this rig already. I bought the orginal "38 Special " from NorCal. My kit arrived in the mail, on Feb.7,1997
Packaging
My kit arrived via USPS in a padded envelope. The kit contains an instruction manual, PCB with plated through holes, and all board mounted parts.
Instructions
The instruction manual consists of 9 pages, printed on both sides. The first page is the "Errata Sheet", there are a few slight errors in the manual, so you will find the corrections here. The next page is the introduction page, which tells you how the 38 Special came into being, and the process which is involved in "kitting" a project like this. Here you will also find information on building kits as well as the alignment of your radio once it is completed. The next couple of pages deals with the description of the 38 Special and how it works. Information such as, receiver front-end, IF filter, product detector, VXO etc., is found here and is very interesting ! The next section deals with "Toroid winding", and is a must read if you are unfamiliar with the winding of toroids ( like me !). I found the information very easy to grasp, it turns out that it is easier than I thought it would be ! There are several mods. which you can do to the 38 Special, and that information is also included. Also included in the manual, parts list, parts layout, parts check off list and schematic diagrams.
Components/Parts
There are 96 components included in this kit, one printed circuit board ( PCB ) and enamel copper wire for winding the 3 toroids and 1 transformer. After sorting all the parts and checking them off the list, I found that I was missing one 22pF disc cap. for C16 or C23. But not to worry, Norcal states that they will gladly mail you any missing parts, no questions asked, just let them know ! I however elected not to notify NorCal of the missing part, as I have several different disc caps. in my "junk" box, and found a suitable replacement.
Getting it all organized
After checking off all the parts, I again put everything in those little plastic organizers for later use. The main PCB is silk screened with a parts layout for easy placement of compenets. With the aid of the parts list , you can easily find where they go on the board. I would suggest that you study the PCB carfully before you begin stuffing it with parts. The board is very small, approx. 4" X 3", and with 96 components, it is tight in some spots. You need to make sure that you are putting the right parts in the right holes ! Some of the markings are hard to read, I spent about an hour looking for "L-1", and had to refer to the schematic for assistance. I did locate it, it is just above "R-4" !
Assembly of the "38 Special"
The first step in the assembly process involves winding the toroids, L-2, L-3 and L-4. Along with winding the transformer, T-1. The instructions are very helpful in this matter , I have never wound toroids before, and the easy steps took me right through it. They all came out rather nice ! I didn't encounter any trouble winding these, although, T-1 is a little trickier and you will need to take your time, relax, and above all, have fun ! One other thing the manual taught me was, removing the enamel from the wire using a "bic" type lighter, and burning it off, being a non-smoker, I had to run out and get one ! After I was done winding , burning, and sanding ( the burnt enamel ) , I set the toroids aside for future use. By the way , I had plenty of wire left over for the remaining toroid, which is L-5 used with the 5 watt mod.Next comes the components, you start out with the two 12.000 MHz crystals and solder them into place, making sure to ground the "can" before you finish. Then its on to the five IC's, I elected to use IC sockets ( not included ) instead of soldering the IC directly to the board. That way , if one of them is bad or if I screw up and place one in the wrong way, all I need to do is remove it from its socket and replace it. Thereby saving the PCB from possible damage from exssive heat while trying to remove IC's. Next, comes the trimcaps, diodes and the transistor "TR-1". All went well while installing these components, I took my time to make sure everything was oriented properly. Diodes are directional, and must be installed with the cathode ( banded end ) correctly. The instructions were somewhat vague with respect to "TR-1", although there is only one transistor included, it was not identified in the instructions as "TR-1" or the type "2N3904" ( it is however identified in the parts list ). So, knowing what a transistor is and that it was a "2N3904", I had to check the parts list for the identification marking on the board, which turned out to be, "TR-1". I don't know why I had such a hard time finding it, cause once I saw it , there it was !!
Once I got over the "TR-1" ordeal ( :-) ), I began installing the resistors, making sure I was selecting the proper ones using a VOM as well as checking the color bands. I selected them by using the parts check off list which identifies each resistor by color code as well as value. Then checking each off the list, as I installed them in their proper places.
Installation of remaining components
With the resistors installed, next comes the disc caps. The manual says to hold off on installing C-28, C-29, C-7, C-11 and C-40. This leaves more room to work on other components. Then I installed the 22.118 Mhz crystal, X-1 and grounded the "can". With X-1 installed , I went ahead and installed the remaining capacitors mentioned above. Making sure that I had all the electrolytics oriented correctly, this is important ! Next came L-1, L-2, L-3 and L-4, again, no problems encountered while doing this. The last two steps are installing T-1 and the 7808, you must make sure that you have these parts oriented correctly as well.
Off board parts
You will need to supply the following off board parts to complete this kit.- P-1, 1K Pot.
- P-2, 100K Pot.
- Antenna connector - builders choice
- Power connector - builders choice
- Key Jack - builders choice
- Audio Jack - builders choice
- Hook-up wire
I used the following parts purchased from "Digi-Key".
- P-1, 1K OHM 1/4 watt CARB LNR TPR #CT2202-ND
- P-2, 100K OHM 1/4 watt CARB LNR TPR #CT2208-ND
- Key jack, 1/4" panel mt mono phonejack #AC1032-ND
- Audio jack, 1/4" panel mt stero phonejack #AC1033-ND
I went ahead and orderd extra parts, you can never have too many spare parts ! Plus I wanted to experiment with the LNR TPR and the AUD TPR pots. So I ordered one of each type. As of now , I installed the above pots on my 38S and they seem to work just fine. P-1 and P-2 are small 1/4 watt pots, and fit the small size of this neat little radio ! However, some may prefer larger types with bigger knobs. For the remaining parts, I used an SO-239 for the antenna connector since that is what I already had. The power cord is an automotive type 12V fused cord that you find in Radio Shack, used to hook up AM/FM radios. To connect all this stuff together, I used 20 AWG stranded hook-up wire found in Radio Shack, #278-1225.
The smoke test !
On completion of the off board parts, the only thing left was to connect my little prize to a power source. Fingers crossed and with a shaky hand I applied 12 volts to the 38 Special...... NO SMOKE !!! With my Heil boom headset, I listened and tried to find a signal on the band, nothing, band was dead. So I tuned up my TS-430s and transmitted a signal, (into a dummy load of course) trying to locate it on the 38S to find out where the heck I was on the band. Hummmm..... seems to be a little high, 10.151. Manual states that I should be around 10.130 Mhz, wonder what I did wrong ? Went ahead and tried to tune the receive on the 38S with TC-1 looking for two peaks. At first I thought I had it , but after some thought, I realized that I was going 360 deg. on TC-1 ! Oh no, I am going to have to remove T-1 and remove a turn ! Something I was not looking forward to doing . Forget that for now, check out the transmit. Hooking the 38S into a dummy load and connecting my key, I transmitted a signal... Yes its putting out RF alright, but I can hear the signal all over the band ! Spread spectrum I thought ? Boy , I really must have messed this baby up somewhere. Decided to put it away for awhile and take a break.
Trouble shoot #1
Coming back to the rig the next day, I decided to swap out L-1, the 4.7uH choke, with a 5.6uH choke. Hoping that that would bring my 38S down to where it should be. Did'nt work, still the same ! And the CW signal was horriable as well, sounded very unstable. I began looking for cold solder joints, loose IC's, solder bridges and the like, found nothing. Put it away again, and referred to the notes I had collected from the QRP-L list. Several days had passed and I was real disappointed with the whole thing, but determined to figure out the problem.
A nice surprise
I was planning on checking it with my O-scope, when Doug Hendricks posted a message to the QRP-L group stating that NorCal had gotten a bad batch of 22.118 Mhz crystals and if yours is marked "KOYO 22.118 Mhz 7-35", NorCal will replace it with the correct freq. xtal. Of course mine was one of the bad ones, so I thought, this must be it ! I send Doug a quick e-mail message stating that I had one of the bad xtals and gave him my mailing address. About two weeks later the new xtal arrived, I had done nothing else to the rig during this time. Unsoldered the old xtal and installed the new one, power on. WOW, big difference, this thing really works ! Checked the receive again, still only one peak on TC-1, so out came T-1 and I removed one turn from the toroid. Back in she goes and two peaks this time ! Great , now to check out the frequency coverage. With the new xtal, the rig covers 10.090 to 10.119 Mhz, much better but I will need to bring it up some. Now on to the transmitter, sounds much better and tuned up nicely. I called "CQ" a few times but no response, could have been due to the fact that the band was dead. The rig seems to be working well now, I will have to do some work on it to bring the bottom end freq. up . Mine also has the infamous "thump", that alot of people have on key up. After I make those mods, its in the encloser which I picked out, a "Deluxe metal utility cabinet" from Radio Shack, part number 270-253A. I am going to be adding photo's here on my site soon , so check back often to see how it turns out !
Summary
Overall, I found this kit very fun to build. I have learned and am learning a lot from it. For the experienced transceiver kit builder, you won't have any trouble building the 38 Special. For the novice transceiver kit builder ( like me ), it will be an enjoyable experience ! I took several days building this rig, I wanted it to work right the first time and did'nt want to have to remove any parts. Except for X-1, L-1 and T-1, I have had to remove no other parts. I built my 38 Special without any of the mods and have'nt decided whether or not I am going to add them. First I want to play around with it as it is and make a few contacts. I have not checked the power output, but assume that it is putting out the stated 300 mW. I would like to thank Ori Mizrahi-Shalom, Doug Hendricks , Jim Cates and the whole NorCal group for putting out such a great kit and responding promptly to inquiries !
Contacts
So far I have made the following contacts with the 38 Special. 300mW to a dipole ( inverted Vee ) at 40 feet.| QSO # | CALL | NAME | LOCATION | RST RECEIVED |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | VE3FLB | Rob | Ont. Canada | 239 |
| 2 | NF0Z/7 | Larry | AZ | 439 |
| 3 | W6TQG | John | CA | 339 QSB |
| 4 | VE5KZ | Jerome | SK.CANADA | 579 ! |
| 5 | KI7MN | Bob | Az. | 349 |
Contact information
Contact NorCal for ordering information on the 38 Special.NorCal QRP Club
J.W.Cates, WA6GER
3241 Eastwood Rd.
Sacramento, CA 95821
UPDATE ! THE 38 SPECIAL IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE ! COMPLETELY SOLD OUT !
Or, check out their web site from my links page.
The NorCal Paddle kit , designed by K8FF
Once again NorCal has produced an award winning kit for the masses to consume ! I was very pleased with my first kit from NorCal , the 38 Special. So as soon as I found out what their new kit was ( an iambic paddle key ), and being a "CW nut", I happily sent off my peso's to get one ! The new kit was "unveiled" at "Pacificon" this last Oct. I received my kit around the 7th of November. Upon opening the package and inspecting the parts , I found that everything was included as stated. The base of the paddle is solid hot rolled steel and weighs in at one pound ! The other parts are made of brass stock, and needed just alittle polishing to remove the machining marks. All very good quality and looks like loads of fun to build and customize !
Instructions
The instructions are pretty straight forward, two pages long. And include an exploded "map" of the kit , nicely drawn by Paul Harding NA5N. ( Nice job Paul ) !! They provide a parts check off list which is nice. I checked everything off and started to read the instructions. Lots of little nuts and screws, so you will need to become familiar with what a 4-40 hex head screw looks like ( no its not 70 cm ! ). As well as a 6-32 screw. But the drawing is very clear , so you won't have any trouble, some have assembled this kit by just looking at the drawing !
Deciding what to do next ?
I could not decide if I wanted to assemble this kit right away , or wait til I finished the base. You will need to finish the base as it is in the raw ! That is of course unless you would like your paddle to look like it has been on a ship under water somewhere in the south pacific ! I decided to put this baby together as is and test it out. I also wanted to familiarize myself with the assembly, so as not to scratch my newly painted surface !
Putting it together
Once I had all the parts separated, I began reading the instructions. This is an iambic paddle kit , so there are two contact posts. That is the first step, assemble the post's, no problems. Then comes the "Center Magnet Assembly" , again no problem. Some guys have been reporting that their magnet easily slides through the center assembly, not mine ! I had to "press" fit mine in, now that baby is in there for good ! Would take a nuclear melt down to free it !!! At the time , I did not have a vise to press the magnet in. So I used the "KA7NOC patened method of press fitting center magnets !"WARNING, only experienced pressers should attempt this method !!
That said, here's what I did. I took two pieces of wood ( 1X ), cut out a small square hole in one of the wood pieces, so the magnet could come through the other side of the center assembly. I then took the magnet and placed it in the center assembly hole as far as it would go. Making sure the magnet was level and centered ( this is important ! ). I then placed the two pieces of wood on either side of the center assembly. Then carefully ( and I mean carefully !) hit the top piece of wood with a hammer !!!! It took several thumps with the hammer to get this baby in there all the way but she went in O.K. Remember, only experienced and crazy people should attempt to "press" fit their center magnet's using this technique ! So don't say I did'nt warn you ! That done, I proceeded to assemble the rest of the paddle by following the instructions. It went together just fine, after the assembly was complete I had to adjust it to feel the way I am accustomed. It took several attempts and lots of adjusting to get it just right. At this point I had not attached the plexiglass paddles, so it was a little hard to judge how it was going to feel with them on. That is when I decided to wait til I had a file so's I could shape the plexiglass and attach them . The next day I went to the hardware store and purchased some tools and other such things to finish up this cool project !
Shaping the paddles
Having a new file, I drew on the protective paper which covers the plexiglass paddles. They came square and I wanted something similar to the paddle drawing in the instructions. I drew the shape that I wanted on the paper and started filing away on the plexiglass. Rounded off the square edges first , then took a little "coping" saw and sawed off the top corner on each piece. More filing and soon I had the shape that I wanted ! They kinda look like the tail of an airplane, or the tail fins on a 59 Caddy. I have named my new paddle key " Caddy " because of this ! Or maybe even "5 - 9 Caddy " ! Take your time here to get the shape you want , just remove alittle at a time. I have found that it is easier to take material off than to replace it ! I still need to "clean" up the edges, and am going to wait til I'm ready to remove the protective paper for this.
The fun begins ! Sanding the base
As I stated earlier the base comes in the "raw". Just a hunk of hot rolled steel, with all the "stuff" from the manufacturing process still attached to it ! I first began with 60 grit sand paper then decided that I wanted to finish this before my 40th birthday ! Moving down to 50 grit, I placed the sand paper on a piece of plywood and ran the base in a circular motion. It slowly started to look like a piece of clean steel. Did the top and bottom and each side in this manner until I had clean gray steel all around. I then moved up to 100 grit, then used some emery cloth . When I was satisfied with the way the base looked, I wiped it off, put some 6-32 screws in the threaded holes to protect the threads. Then applied the primer coat to the base, let it dry for one hour in the warm southern Idaho sun. Then turned it over and primered the bottom. I decided to paint the base with a black wrinkle finish, still need to do that when the primer dries.
Nov.19,1997. Waiting for the paint to dry
Ok , I have primered and painted the base. Well sort of, still not finished with the painting. As I stated earlier, I decided to use a wrinkle finish on the base. I chose black wrinkle finish by "Zynolyte" (TM) for this purpose. I did'nt want to paint the whole base at once, so I started with the bottom. And this turns out to be the best way to paint with a wrinkle finish paint , since you have to really put on a heavy first coat to get a good wrinkle effect. I let the paint dry for several hours, the directions state that the wrinkling will appear in " 4 to 5 hours after final coating application". Mine started to take shape in about 2 hours. ( One hint, if you want the wrinkling to appear sooner, put the base under a lamp with a 60 or 75 watt bulb near the base) The bottom really looked nice, it has a satiny look to it and really catches the light . Feeling brave, I decided to go for the top. Again , I applied a liberal first coat then waited about three minutes and applied a second. I then carefully brought the base in the house and set it under a lamp on my desk and baked it for the rest of the night. The sides were not wrinkling up like the top and bottom had , so I figured that I needed to stand the base up on its unfinished end and apply a heavy coat to one side at a time. This seems to work well, I have three sides to go ! Will finish the painting tomorrow and maybe have it back together by tomorrow evening. Wish me luck !
Nov.21,1997 , finished at last !
Ok, it took me a little longer to finish painting the base than I expected. But it was worth the wait, it looks great ! I will post a picture of it soon here on my site. Anyway , like I said it really turned out nice. The edges were easy to paint but I had to do one side at a time , wait for it to "wrinkle" up and dry , then go onto the next side. I did drop the base once while moving it inside, but no damage was done that the paint could'nt handle. I assembled the paddle again, but I am going to polish the brass parts one more time . I have made several contact's with it so far , one of which ( KR5L, Jerry ) was using the same NorCal / K8FF paddles ! And I must say , this baby is smooth ! The paddles are further apart than I am use to with my "Bencher", but still has a very nice feel to it. This will get a lot of use in my shack ! I guess that's about it , if you have'nt ordered one I would suggest that you do so. If you enjoy customizing things , this is a project which offers that. I believe this paddle will become a classic very soon, and with all the different customizing jobs going on , no two will be exactly alike ! The cost is only $30.00 plus $5.00 shipping , making it a very affordable paddle.
Contact information
Contact NorCal for ordering information on the K8FF iambic paddle.NorCal QRP Club
J.W.Cates, WA6GER
3241 Eastwood Rd.
Sacramento, CA 95821
Or, check out their web site from my links page.
Stay tuned for more exciting paddle moments at KA7NOC !!
Whiterook Products Co. MK-79 QRP Pocket L.E.D. Mini-Light
Although not a kit, I thought that I would give a review of W.P.C.'s latest product the MK-79. I just received this little gem in the mail today, Nov.19,1997. This is a small square box with three "super bright" yellow L.E.D.'s mounted on the bottom. It comes provided with a nylon mounting clamp on the top for hanging or mounting under a shelf. You will have to make a mounting bracket of some sort, use your imagination ! The MK-79 is made to protrude out over a piece of equipment and is weighted in the back to help keep it from falling off ! This unit runs off of 12 volts DC providing a continuous light source. I can't wait for it to get dark so I can really see how this is going to work ! So far though, it has met all of my expectations. You have to provide your own pwr cord, so there is some "homebrewing" involved with this product. The first thing I had to do is stop by our local Radio Shack ( tm ) and purchase the following :- One two-conductor 2.5mm phone plug, R.S.# 274-289B
- One inline fuse holder, R.S.# 270-1238B
- 0.315 AMP fast-acting fuses ( 4 ) , R.S.#2701046
The instructions are very clear as far as hooking up the pwr cable, very easy ! That finished, I plugged her into my pwr supply and she works ! I have the MK-79 sitting on top of my TS-430s with the three L.E.D.s illuminating downward on my control panel. It puts out a rather nice amber glow that will really look cool once it becomes totally dark in here ! I believe that you could perform logging functions using only this little light. The MK-79 has four rubber feet on the bottom to elevate it up off of where it is sitting. The three L.E.D.s are closest to the front and stick out far enough for the light to "beam" down on the front panel of any equipment. There must be hundreds of uses for this neat little light that I have'nt even thought of yet !
This lite will really come in handy if you like to operate while camping . As well as using it during power outages, provided you are using battery power ! The cost of this light is a steal at only $16.95 ! I think that I will be ordering more of these as I know I will find several other uses around the "shack" for them ! One thing I would like to see W.P.C. do is add an on/off micro switch for when you want it turned off . The L.E.D.s have a lifespan of approx. 100,000 hours, so I doubt that they will ever burn out on me. But an on/off switch would be nice ( another button to push anyway ! ). The MK-79 is a nice addition to any ham shack. And I am sure that you could find many other uses for them as well.
Contact information
For more information about the MK-79, or W.P.C.'s other products, contact:WHITEROOK PRODUCTS COMPANY
309 South Brookshire Ave.
Ventura, Ca 93003
( 805 ) 339-0702
or, surf on over to their web site at: Whiterook Products Company
Disclaimers
W.P.C. paid me ....ONE MILLION DOLLARS..... to write this review !!! ( just kidding ) I have no vested interest in W.P.C.
Plastic Dustcovers by Larry Stamm, WB3EVL.
This product is not a kit , it comes fully assembled and ready to go ! I had a little trouble finding out who made these kinds of things , so I thought I'd post the information here for the convenience of others. What this product is , is a plexi-glass cover for your paddle key. I purchased one for my Bencher BY-2. It sure makes the paddle look even more impressive and provides a great amount of protection for the paddle as well. Not just from dust either, these covers are very well made. Should something fall off of a shelf or you accidentally drop something onto the paddle, it would be fully protected from damage , in most cases. Of course you would not want to drop your 75S-1 or NC-300 on it ! Larry will engrave your callsign on the top of the cover if you so choose. He engraves the call from the underside of the cover, this is great ! Dust won't even collect inside the engraving of your callsign !These covers remain in place even during operation , making them really useful ! My cover sets atop my BY-2. It hangs over the side of the BY-2 by maybe an eighth of an inch or so. The engraved letters of your callsign are about an half inch long. These are available for the following paddles;
- Bencher
- Vibroplex Iambic
- Vibrokeyer
- Kent
- Jones
- MFJ-564
Contact information
For more information about the Plastic Dustcovers, or Larry's other products, contact:Larry Stamm, WB3EVL
28 Topton Road
Kutztown, PA 19530
wb3evl@arrl.net