"NB6M's Paddles"
built by Carel Mulder PA0CMU

As a QRP enthusiast and home brewer I often surf the web for small and easy to build paddles or interesting schematics. I found the article from NB6M on the Norcal page.

Although I normally use a Bencher BY-1 iambic paddle, the construction of this key was so easy that I immediately decided to build one because the BY-1 is too expensive to use during field work.

I used some double-sided printed circuit board, fret saw and file to construct the paddle within 2 hours. Dimensions are as given by NB6M. I didn't use plugs but soldered 3 pieces of wire to test and adjust the paddle. Screws 4-40 are not(?) available in the Netherlands so I used metric M3 screws.

I noticed that there is a difference in the resistance you feel while moving the lever to the DOT or the DASH side, especially when the contact space is minimal and the finger pressure is low. This is caused by the tension in the solder at the fixing point of the lever.

I'm not used to single-lever paddles, so the cw code was not faultless during my first QSO. I placed a rubber nut on each side of the lever to make it feel better.

Using this type of construction as a foundation I'll make a double-lever paddle.

Adjustment of the contact-distance in relation to the tension in the material when using this design (both contacts are between the two levers!) is the bottleneck up to now.



73 de Carel, PA0CMU