Hams like myself are always looking to play with technology, especially as it applies to our hobby of amateur radio.Whether it’s the newest, top of the line transceiver or a DIY dummy load, we’re interested – and this Capacitive Touch CW Key is a neat design! With a small touch-sensitive circuit powered by a battery, it can control any standard CW transceiver.From the look of the design, it can be used both as a straight key or as a paddle, which is a nice feature.
Why use something like this in the first place? Well, traditional keys are mechanical, and require maintenance and adjustment – not to mention they are a bit noisy! This design is completely silent (except for the sound of your dits and dahs) and will last for a long time.The only maintenance it might need is the very occasional cleaning of the touch pads, though even that is pretty unlikely unless they get particularly dirty.The only downside is that it does require a CR2032.
I would imagine that battery life is pretty good, and you can of course remove the battery when not in use, but a mechanical key doesn’t need any power at all, and so each have their pros.This is the sort of key that would be very useful on field day, or when in a quiet room with others – the silence could be a big plus! Just make sure you don’t call it a silent key or you’ll get some strange looks.73 and good DX! Like this:Like Loading...