The brand new fireproof ones I got from MARS back in the late 50's didn't
have cables or connectors. I'm on my 3rd Bencher. The last two used ones
had cable and 1/4" connectors. The new one I bought at HRO probably came
with the cable and a connector or two and you had to put it together which
ever way you needed. Now it's a $13 option.
In case I expressed myself too subtlety for some, I'm not griping about
keys not coming with cable and connectors. I'm complaining that every
radio manufacturer uses a different connector scheme, which makes swapping
back and forth for important testing purposes impossible unless you have a
junk box full of adapters. I have noticed that they are exactly the
opposite, too. If the Icom uses a 1/4" phone plug, the Tentec uses a
1/8". If the Icom uses a 1/8", the TenTec calls for a 1/4". Or the RCA
jacks which not even Radio Shacks carry adapters for anymore.
The el cheapo MFJ straight key the League sold me last year didn't have a
cable, but that may have been lucky. If it had come with a cable I might
have actually tried to use it. If you know anyone interested in getting
into CW, do them a huge favor. Tell them to stay away from this key. The
League shouldn't do this to Life Members either. It's nice to send out
"birthday gifts" I guess but who at the League is dumb enough, or
malevolent enough, to want to foist this key off on members in good
standing? This is Might Poor Junk. Maybe MFJ pays part of its ad bills
in merchandise or something.
73 de W6OGC Jim Allen
On Sat, May 24, 2014 at 6:36 PM, Timothy Johnston <
timothy.f.johnston@gmail.com> wrote:
> I have never had a key come with a cable, let alone a a connector. But I
> have never bought new either.
>
>
> 73 de Tj, K4TFJ ...
>
>
> On Sat, May 24, 2014 at 4:05 PM, Lee WA3FIY <wa3fiy@radioadv.com> wrote:
>
> > The Triton, Century 21, Argosy, Corsair etc. all use RCA phono jack for
> CW
> > straight key.
> >
> > Various Collins, Heathkit, E.F. Johnson, SideBand Engineers and maybe
> > others use the RCA
> > jack for the antenna (transmit at 100 watts!). Ten-Tec, Elecraft and I
> > imagine others also use
> > BNC for the antenna.
> >
> > Same sort of thing goes for mic connectors, serial control ports and data
> > ports.
> >
> > That tells me there was never a standards committee called. :-)
> >
> > I make my own adapters for the various rigs and peripherals using the
> > appropriate
> > connectors and a short piece of appropriate cable. I much prefer the
> > flexibility of that
> > arrangement.
> >
> > I think I have several dozen I'v accumulated over the years. I can
> > usually connect whatever
> > rig I come across with any of my peripherals.
> >
> > That's part of the fun! :-)
> >
> > 73,
> >
> > -Lee-
> >
> > On 24 May 2014 at 14:33, Jim Allen wrote:
> >
> > > Yes, but no key I have owned or recall seeing has a RCA plug!
> > >
> > Snip
> > >
> > >
> > > At least all of them use SO-239s.
> > >
> > >
> > > 73 de W6OGC Jim Allen
> > >
> > >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > TenTec mailing list
> > TenTec@contesting.com
> > http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
> >
> _______________________________________________
> TenTec mailing list
> TenTec@contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
>
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