Hi Karl,
Most keyers I have ever heard about are designed to switch the keying
lead of the transmitter (or transceiver) to ground, so they are
compatible with any rig (careful, read below) that can also use a
straight key or bug. Straight keys and bugs are purely mechanical
devices that provide a simple contact closure. Almost always, one side
of the key is grounded and the other lead, which is connected to the
keying input of the transmitter, is connected to ground when the key
contacts are closed. Electronic keyers were originally designed to plug
into the same keying input jack as a straight key. Bugs often had a
wedge connector that could be inserted between the open contacts of a
straight key. In any case, the point is that most keyers switch a keying
lead to ground, and most transmitters have a keying lead that activates
the transmitter when grounded.
Where you need to be careful is with older tube equipment which may have
hundreds of volts on it's keying lead. Some electronic keyers are
designed to work with this and some are not. Often newer electronic
keyers will have an output device (transistor or IC) with a voltage
rating such that it will be fried by connecting it to an older tube rig.
Some tube rigs may also have a negative voltage on the keying lead,
which needs to be pulled to ground to key it (most solid state rigs will
have a positive voltage), so even if the output device of the keyer
could handle the voltage, it would not conduct in that direction.
Therefore many keyers have jumpers that can be configured to work with
either polarity, or they have two separate output connectors for keying
either a positive or negative voltage keying input.
Ten-Tec made some tube transmitters long ago. I suspect however that the
670 key was designed to work with ANY solid state Ten-Tec transceiver,
except perhaps their older tube products (which are fairly rare I believe).
If connecting the keyer to your Omni C shuts the rig down, there is
either something wrong with the keyer or something wrong with the way
you have connected it.
Does a plain straight key shut down the rig when connected and keyed?
Maybe someone has already fried the output transistor on the keyer. In
that case I would expect it either to not work at all, or to key the rig
continuously, but not to shut it down. There is something wrong with
this picture.
DE N6KB
Karl Schwab wrote:
Gentlemen; I have a Ten-Tec 670 Keyer that appears to
be designed for only use with the Century 21
transceiver. I tried it on my Omni "C" series
transceiver, and it immediately shut the transceiver
down! So, it guess it will not work on this
transceiver, but I am wondering if it might work on my
Argonaut 509 transceiver? Anyone know? I'm afraid to
try it! If I can't use it, I'll consider trading for
another keyer or selling this one. Thanks for your
comments, de KO8S
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