CWTOUCHKEYER

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REVIEWS

Here's a sample of some the product reviews we get from our customers.

K4TWJ

Dave

MODEL

P1PAD

Hello Sumner!

The paddle and the PCB package are really terrific. It took about two minutes to get the feel of the paddle. Never really realized before that mechanical keys can slow down one's sending. My speed is up around 50wpm with the touch
paddle. It's a killer!

(two weeks later)

Still finding the Touch Paddle really terrific. It's amazing how much faster you can go when mechanical mechanisms are not involved, although they do have a feel or "personality" that makes sending a special treat. Additionally, the Touch Paddle is good for silent hamming.

Special note: Dave Ingram is the author of periodical articles in CQ Magazine focused on keys and paddles. He is also the author of his published book "World of Keys".

K1PN

Rex

P1K

Hello,
Finally wanted to drop you a line on the P1. I  purchased the kit at the Nearfest last spring. I took me awhile to get to it( four young children in the house!).

I had no idea how many functions it had. Wow!
I operate CW about 98%  of the time and usually use a iambic Kent paddle, but use the Touch Keyer now on my main Cw rig, which is a restored and upgraded Ts-930s.
You got an excellent product there and I love it!

KE1R

Tom

MODEL

P1W
Sumner - received my new P1W last week and used it on the air this weekend. It is a real gem and more that it is claimed to be in terms of small package, perfect touch, and ease of use. I  bought it based on the recommendation of a neighbor and friend, Craig Deuby (K5OCD), out here near Santa Fe, NM.  It took me a while to figure out how to get into the program features as they are not audible if you turn down/off the internal speaker!
 
It might help to include a simple example of how to input your call letters as that is the first thing someone would want to do. It would then teach the basic steps to program the keyer.
1. Turn power ON.
2. Be sure internal audio volume pot is full clockwise (maximum audio).
3. PAH Memory button, PAH dah paddle (this takes you to the PAH Mem + dah, MENU 3, page 5), you will hear TU in code (at a lower audio frequency than used when sending code).
4. PAR Mem to cycle through Menu 3, until you find ? in code.
5. Carefully enter you call sign (if you make a mistake, just start the procedure over again).
6. PAH Mem to get out of program mode.
7. You can now call CQ by PAH Mem + PAR dah. 
 
This is wonderful key and keyer. I would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone who is into CW. It beats my Vibroplex Iambic paddles (conventional and Brass Racer), MFJ, Bencher, and anything else I have seen or used.  
 Your keyer will now be front and center at my radio station! Many thanks for all your work to create this gem. Use my comments as you see fit.

 

N4EKV

Adam

MODEL

PIPAD

Here's a 1+ year report on my P1PADW                           

To make a long story short, it's become my main paddle despite my large collection of paddles and bugs.  It simply works great and requires less effort to send quality morse code than my other keys.

http://www.n4ekv.com/keys.asp

Schroll down this web page and view all of Adams great paddles.  

Of all of them he's chosen our model P1PAD as his main paddle.

Adam has modified the model P1PAD by adding two trim pots to slightly change the touch sensitivity.

KG9HV

John

MODEL

P3K

I received my P3K kit Monday, wow, that's fast shipping. I built the board while having my morning coffee. I installed it in an old computer scanner p/s box fitted with a couple feeler gauges glued to a piece of Plexiglas. I put a small piece of cement board in the bottom for weight. The keyer worked great from the git go.

I have had it on the air and is it ever sweet. It didn't take long to get the feel of it. I have to admit, I bought the kit more out of curiosity and am I impressed. This is pure genius. Thanks for a great product and the super fast shipping.

 

K4DMU

Joe

MODEL

P1K

I have been playing with it since it arrived. It is a real work of art - good materials and construction, and the touch is  terrific ! Just a little wrist action and no finger motion needed. I can send at a good clip without pain or fatigue. The weight and the feet really make it stay put. It is everything I hoped it would be.

K8NO

RALPH

MODEL

P1W

Hello Sumner:

I personally want to thank you for your time and effort developing the CW Touch Keyer.  I have been working cw for 35 years and find your keyer and paddle the best I have ever used.  No screws. no burnishing contacts, no springs to adjust....just Plug/ play/ and little practice..  I am a radio technician and was going to build the Kit, but when you work all day on the bench sometimes you get a little tired looking at smd/ and through holes. so I got lazy..  Thanks again for the best money I ever spent on a keyer 'INCLUDING THE PADDLE'. and you can take that to the bank !!

W3BBO

Bob

MODEL

P3K

 Works really slick and I think it will get more use than my Hexkey, Bencher or W5JH paddles.

KB1HYR

Brett

MODEL

TT1

I got the TT-1 kit and put it together.  Building it was easy and took almost no time - and it worked perfectly upon power-up.  I've tested this thing out plugged into a standard CMOS keyer powering my EMTech 8040 - and it works like a charm.  Better than good.  It's the perfect thing for me to put in my laptop case with the rest of the gear.  
Great work on a great product.

KA0W

Ken

MODEL

P1W

 Hello Sumner,
 
I received your P1 and a new Begali Graciella just before this weekend. Now I don't know what to do with the Begali! Your "odd looking" paddle has me rather disheartened with my high dollar paddles. I am not saying that to be kind. I had no idea that the paddle would be so sensitive and consistent, never misses a dit. Thought for sure it would have a problem or two. Works the same with cold dry or hot moist hands. All makes good sense with having no moving "mass" to push around, but also needed consistent contact take-off when touching the paddle. And it certainly does have that.
  
Interested in revamping my wireless touch paddle from Wonn Engineering? Need your paddle on it. It is also keyerless, just has the "old" serpentine paddles and their intermittent problem. I may mess with it to see what I can do. Will have to buy a third P1 for that.
 
Thank you for the best paddle operation I know of! Great stuff!

W1MEH

KENNETH

MODEL

P1W

 This review is of the P1W keyer, the electronic box with the integral paddles. The unit is a fantastic piece of digital technology. The instructions, while lengthy, set forth all the features of the keyer. I ordered the keyer about 6 weeks ago, and the designer, Sumner, quickly shipped one out to me even prior to receiving my check. I had some difficulty in firing up the memory portion, and a question to Sumner on a weekend brought forth an immediate reply, with an explanation. Following his e mail, I was into the memory and sending memorized transmissions in about 2 minutes. A high number of programming permutations is provided with only the one memory button, and the two paddles. The menus are straightforward, and one follows the next by sequences involving press and hold, or press and release of these three items: 1) the memory button; 2) the dah paddle; and 3) the dit paddle. That's all there is to it. The unit gives audible confirmations as the menus are traversed; also, on start up, you get a "FB" in code, indicating proper functioning of the unit. It is quite a machine for just under $ 100. I am having a great time with it, and recommend it to anyone who wants perfect CW, and versatile memory for standard transmissions (CQ west, etc.) Sumner is most helpful, and has shown genuine interest in helping out his customers, even with the most trivial of questions.
ALL in ALL, a great buy.   

WY3D

FRANK

MODEL

P1W

I just purchased my P1 Touchkeyer Paddle combination yesterday at a hamfest here in South Jersey. At the hamfest the dealer, K1CRA Radio Store (www.K1CRA.com), had a demo unit set up for all to try. I was hooked after only a few minutes of playing with the P1. I have two other paddles, a Bencher and a Vibroplex Deluxe. I keep these adjusted for as light a touch as I can get. Well with the P1 since there is no mechanical adjustments they are just perfect. They require a very light touch and have a wonderful feel to them while operating. The keyer functions are easily accessible thru a menu system that talks back to you thru the built in sidetone speaker. The operating manual is a little confusing. I had to email the manuafacturer last night(a Sunday by the way) and got a response within a few hours from Sumner with the answer to my questions. Very impressive. He answered my questions and told me the manual will be corrected soon. No moving parts and a great feel. I highly recommend the P1!

AB3CV

JIM

MODEL

P3
As you can probably tell I'm pretty happy with the CWTouchkeyer. I briefly tried a Begali paddle and I find the CWTOUCHKEYER a much better solution than finding the last teeny turn on a fine pitch screw.

The Begali is a very pretty and well constructed paddle and I'm sure a lot of folks like it. However to get to a true touch rather than pressure state it takes a lot of sensitive tweaking that I found wouldn't hold over time. Perhaps I was pushing it beyond reasonable limits. The CWtouchkeyer on the other hand requires no such adjustment...it just works!

Mike

K2CSJ

MODEL

P1W

 I have accumulated enough experience with the touch paddle now to make a judgement: I like it!

As you know, I am not an accomplished CW sender, and I had some doubts about a touch paddle. But I couldn't pass up your generous moneyback offer. I began using the touch paddle sitting in front of the TV, as I told you previously.

In very little time I began to develop a 'feel' for the touch paddle. I began to like it. Furthermore, I looked forward to sitting and sending --it was
somehow relaxing, and it didn't matter (no ham at the other end) if I made an error or two.

Then the lifechanging experience. On Saturday this past weekend, I went to my weekend qth. There I have a Kent dual paddle, and I had recently bought a MFJ493 keyer --which has an 'iambic on/off' feature. My plan was to use the touch paddle to develop a light 'fist', and then to apply this to the kent paddle/mfjkeyer combo.

Well guess what? I found that the action was different enough, so that I began to make lots of 'dit' errors with the kent-mfjkeyer outfit. I regreted not bringing the touch paddle with me. And I realized that basically I no longer preferred the mechanical paddle, with its inevitable 'clicking' when it made contacts, but instead the smooth, effortless touch paddle. Part of the difference here may well be the keyer itself --the presence of dit and dah memories on your keyer vs. no dit and dah memories on the mfj. But by far the majority of the difference is the fact that my 'fist' is now accustomed to simply touching the paddle, instead of moving it. And once you have it, well it is 100% every time, as you say on the website.

This also means, I believe, that I don't really need to obtain and to try the most expensive mechanical paddles in the world in a quest to achieve the best CW sending that I can muster. No need, because the touch paddle allows smooth, nearly effortless sending, and I just can't see how that could be improved.

N1EA

DAVE

MODEL

P1W

 I find the CW touch paddles www.cwtouchkeyer.com very easy to use at 50 wpm. In fact of all the keys I've had - Mercury (N2DAN), Hensley, WBL V22L, the CW touch paddle is either faster or tied.  The WBL V22 is so close I can't say it isn't tied with the CW Touch Key.  The WBL (W9WBL made) V22L key has low mass on the paddles, but the CW Touch Paddle has ZERO mass to move - it just doesn't move at all.

DISCLAIMER:  I was the prototype tester for these paddles, and I suggested certain changes to make them work even better at high speeds.

I find they don't false and don't bounce like regular paddles.  They don't look like $500.00 paddles but they work as well.  They have ZERO movement weight because they simply don't even move.  Movement weight and weight of the paddle arm are critical at high speeds (50+ wpm).  Less weight, faster movement.  Zero weight, FASTEST movement possible.  Fastest movement, this means able to get the next dot or dash out faster without sounding jittery.

They are cool keys.

AC5P

Mike

MODEL

P3W

 It assembled quickly and tests confirm it to be all you described.  I had never tried what you call the "finger tapper" style with the pads on a level surface.  I found with just a little practice I was getting close to what I can send accurately with conventional paddles.  At about 35wpm my reflexes seem to reach their limit and I go to the keyboard.   There surely cant be any mechanical paddles more sensitive and responsive than your P3 circuit provides regardless
of cost?    I am working on a finished base of hardwood cherry.  The P3 and battery will fit into a routed out space underneath, and the silver inlay "pads" will be the only thing showing on the top side other than future custom laser engraving.  The "pads" are what I think will be unique.  

I think you have a winner of a circuit, and I thank you for making it available in kit form without paddles for those of us who like to make simple accessories. You can bet that I will be refering others to your excellent web site.

F8ENY

Paolo

 

P3K

I received the kit today. I mounted the device in about 20 mins, then just made two simple connections using 1 eurocent coins (HI) and......Your kit works terrific!!!  I built one myself in the meantime, (prior to receiving the P1K) and could not get satisfied with paddle keying precision, even with no RF.  
I will recommend to all friends of mine at local RadioClub.

KD3JF

Paul

P1K

When I started using the CWtouch keyer i thought I had died and gone to heaven! <g> It is so nice. Sending CW now will be so pleasureable.

W3II

John

P1W

 I promised to give you a report after Christmas about my P1 keyer.  My frst impressions are confirmed: it is a splendid keyer, and its touch is marvelously responsive.  It is a delight to dispatch its signals into the ionosphere.