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Clipboard CW Key by KE5AKL

Several months ago I had an idea for building a CW paddle onto my SOTA logging clipboard. The resulting prototype, to my surprise, worked out quite well. Since then I’ve built a couple of different versions and used them on 50 or so activations with only a few minor teething problems.

The basic idea for the key is pretty simple - use narrow conductive fabric tape to make opposed keying pads on the front and back of the clipboard by laying out several parallel strips of tape on each side then connecting alternate strips to appropriate terminals of a 3.5 mm stereo jack. Alternate strips on the front pad are connected to the jack’s tip and ground terminals while strips on the back pad are connected to ring and ground terminals.

Put conductive material on the thumb and forefinger of a lightweight glove, connect the clipboard jack to the rig’s key input with a stereo cable, then key the rig by touching the pads with the conductive glove fingers to bridge the gaps between strips.

So it works electrically like a standard paddle but you operate it sort of like a “touch key” but with no external capacitive or pressure sensing circuitry.

Here are some pics that will hopefully help clarify things.

Back side

key1.jpg3946×2036 1.16 MB

Front Side

key2.jpg4267×2207 1.11 MB

Set Up for Operation

key3.jpg2078×1790 652 KB

Pros: Minimal weight and cost. Rugged and easy to build. Quite reliable with no moving parts, no extra circuitry, no extra power requirements. A very low profile and no need for special protection when carrying. Works fine with all my SOTA rigs – KX1, KX3, ATS3 and MTR5B – and with the Winkeyer USB at my home station. I don’t see why anything that works with mechanical paddles would have a problem. No need for special mounting arrangements. I just hold the clipboard as I normally do. As far as feel – what feels better than your own fingers.

Cons: Wearing a lightweight glove. To my surprise this hasn’t bothered me and I really thought it would. I’ve been using an old liner glove that lost it’s mate. It’s light enough that it doesn’t get in the way and I’ve been able to send fine at my normal 25 wpm. Experiments with bumping up to 28 or 30 wpm have resulted in normal error rates at those higher speeds.

Here’s a link to a short YouTube video of me sending at 28 wpm on an MTR5B using the clipboard/key.

Homebrew Clipboard Key

The clipboard for the key shown is a piece of scrap corrugated polycarbonate sheeting typically used for glazing greenhouses. Interesting stuff - very strong and light. The clipboard/key weight, not counting glove or cable, is right at an ounce. The glove adds half an ounce. To the right in the video are a pair of conductive “finger cots” I made from the cut off liner glove fingers. The cots weigh almost nothing.

A trick that helped me simplify tape layout was to realize you can overlay tape runs without creating a connection by using an intermediate layer of ordinary electrical tape.

A 65 ft role of the 5mm conductive fabric tape I used is available at Amazon for $6.99. The entire clipboard setup certainly takes less than 3’ of tape so there’s plenty in one role to absorb mistakes and/or experiment with other configurations. The tape is reliably conductive on the the adhesive and non-adhesive sides - a must for this application.

Here’s the tape link:
https://www.amazon.com/Conductive-Fabric-Adhesive-Laptop-Shielding/dp/B01ALDR0D0/ref=pd_ybh_a_2?_encoding=UTF8 13

You can’t solder to this tape. Connections between the tape and hookup wire leading to the jack terminals were made by stripping 3/4 inch of wire and sandwiching the spread wire between two strips of tape. The tape adhesive is quite strong and this arrangement produced good electrical and mechanical connections.

This type of tape is widely used for computer EMI protection or making “paper circuits”. There are many other options on Amazon and I’m sure you can find similar stuff on Ebay, etc.

73,

Mike - ke5akl

Radio Prepping VS Emercency Communications.

How a Machine That Can Make Anything Would Change Everything

How a Machine That Can Make Anything Would Change Everything: If nanofabricators are ever built, the systems and structure of the world as we know them were built to solve a problem that will no longer exist.

Gun Control Humor December 29, 2019 by Dan Mitchell

I haven’t added to the collection of gun control humor since way back in August.

So let’s rectify that oversight, starting with this sarcastic tweet about the logic of gun control.

Julio Gonzalez@TaxReformExpert

To stop drunk drivers from killing sober drivers, just prevent sober drivers from driving.

That’s how gun control works!

21.9K

10:56 AM - Sep 7, 2019

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8,429 people are talking about this

Quite similar to this cartoon about stupid and illogical ways of fighting rape.

This cartoon strip zings both sides. While the left is sadly right that evil people won’t be stopped by “thoughts and prayers,” it’s also true that they are wildly wrong in thinking that gun control will succeed.

Indeed, advocates of gun control will make society less safe if they succeed in disarming law-abiding people.

Here’s some satire on both gun buy-backs and so-called red flag laws.

I’m skeptical about red flag laws, but I haven’t studied the issue enough to offer any commentary.

Though it’s definitely true that governments historically have the worst track record of violence.

But since this is a humor column, I’ll steer clear of serious analysis and instead note that the government of Baltimore was at least kind enough to provide some unintentional humor on the issue of buy-backs.

Since my left-leaning friends need plenty of tutoring on guns, here’s a helpful guide.

And we’ll close with some much-needed wisdom on being armed.

If you think this is an empty slogan, I very much recommend this article by someone who leans left but had an epiphany on the importance of self defense.

P.S. I have a collection of columns dealing with honest leftists on the issue of gun control. For other examples, click here, here, here, and here.

Top 20 most viewed CD (and AEI) publications in 2019 by Mark J. Perry

Summary Statistics: The first table below shows the Top 20 most viewed Carpe Diem posts this year, and the second table below shows the Top 20 most viewed AEI publications in 2019.

Rank	Carpe Diem Publications	Date Published	Pageviews in 2019
1	Why Socialism Always Fails	March 22, 2016	153,275
2	18 spectacularly wrong predictions made around the time of first Earth Day in 1970, expect more this year	April 21, 2019	62,844
3	There is no climate emergency, say 500 experts in letter to the United Nations	October 1, 2019	42,905
4	The shocking story behind Richard Nixon’s ‘War on Drugs’ that targeted blacks and anti-war activists	June 14, 2018	36,236
5	Putting America’s enormous $19.4T economy into perspective by comparing US state GDPs to entire countries	May 8. 2018	33,656
6	Chart of the day…. or century?	January 11, 2019	26,650
7	There really is no ‘gender wage gap.’ There’s a ‘gender earnings gap’ but ‘paying women well’ won’t close that gap	July 31, 2017	22,778
8	New US homes today are 1,000 square feet larger than in 1973 and living space per person has nearly doubled	June 5, 2016	18,964
9	Chart of the day: For every 100 girls/women…..	December 23, 2019	17,727
10	50 years of failed doomsday, eco-pocalyptic predictions; the so-called ‘experts’ are 0-50	September 23, 2019	17,460
11	Happy 89th birthday (June 30) to Thomas Sowell, one of the greatest living economists	June 29, 2019	16,901
12	Chart of the day: In 2017, US had largest decline in CO2 emissions in the world for 9th time this century	July 12, 2018	16,156
13	Yes, the US middle class is shrinking, but it’s because Americans are moving up. And no, Americans are not struggling to afford a home.	January 31, 2018	15,954
14	More evidence that it’s very hard to ‘beat the market’ over time, 95% of finance professionals can’t do it	March 20, 2018	15,735
15	Putting America’s huge $20.5T economy into perspective by comparing US state GDPs to entire countries	February 28, 2018	15,332
16	What if the Asian-white achievement gap were treated the same as the white-black gap?	June 11, 2019	14,992
17	Quotation of the day on whether Rep. Ilhan Omar can overcome her prejudice…..	July 13, 2019	14,522
18	Fortune 500 firms 1955 v. 2017: Only 60 remain, thanks to the creative destruction that fuels economic prosperity	October 20, 2017	14,107
19	Maps of the day: Travel times from NYC in 1800, 1830, 1857 and 1930	October 5, 2016	10,335
20	Is Google manipulating search results to promote a social justice agenda, prevent Trump re-election?	Jun4 24, 2019	10,215

========================================

Rank	AEI Publications	Author	Date Published	Pageviews in 2019
1	Why Socialism Always Fails	Mark J. Perry	March 22, 2016	153,275
2	18 spectacularly wrong predictions made around the time of first Earth Day in 1970, expect more this year	Mark J. Perry	April 21, 2019	62,844
3	There is no climate emergency, say 500 experts in letter to the United Nations	Mark J. Perry	October 1, 2019	42,905
4	The shocking story behind Richard Nixon’s ‘War on Drugs’ that targeted blacks and anti-war activists	Mark J. Perry	June 14, 2018	36,236
5	Putting America’s enormous $19.4T economy into perspective by comparing US state GDPs to entire countries	Mark J. Perry	May 8. 2018	33,656
6	How generous are federal employee pensions?	Andrew Biggs	September 30, 2011	27,759
7	Chart of the day…. or century?	Mark J. Perry	January 11, 2019	26,650
8	The places where walls work	Michael Rubin	January 27, 2017	26,096
9	There really is no ‘gender wage gap.’ There’s a ‘gender earnings gap’ but ‘paying women well’ won’t close that gap	Mark J. Perry	July 31, 2017	22,778
10	Is war with Iran imminent? Here’s the real truth	Kenneth Pollack	May 16, 2019	22,258
11	New US homes today are 1,000 square feet larger than in 1973 and living space per person has nearly doubled	Mark J. Perry	June 5, 2016	18,964
12	Chart of the day: For every 100 girls/women…..	Mark J. Perry	December 23, 2019	17,727
13	50 years of failed doomsday, eco-pocalyptic predictions; the so-called ‘experts’ are 0-50	Mark J. Perry	September 23, 2019	17,460
14	Happy 89th birthday (June 30) to Thomas Sowell, one of the greatest living economists	Mark J. Perry	June 29, 2019	16,901
15	Chart of the day: In 2017, US had largest decline in CO2 emissions in the world for 9th time this century	Mark J. Perry	July 12, 2018	16,156
16	Yes, the US middle class is shrinking, but it’s because Americans are moving up. And no, Americans are not struggling to afford a home.	Mark J. Perry	January 31, 2018	15,954
17	More evidence that it’s very hard to ‘beat the market’ over time, 95% of finance professionals can’t do it	Mark J. Perry	March 20, 2018	15,735
18	Putting America’s huge $20.5T economy into perspective by comparing US state GDPs to entire countries	Mark J. Perry	February 28, 2018	15,332
19	What if the Asian-white achievement gap were treated the same as the white-black gap?	Mark J. Perry	June 11, 2019	14,992
20	Quotation of the day on whether Rep. Ilhan Omar can overcome her prejudice…..	Mark J. Perry	July 13, 2019	14,522

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