Bencher Keyer Does Double Duty

I had thought it’d make sense for a keyer plugged into a modern HF transceiver to be able to function as a PTT switch when using the radio in a voice mode. I searched through the radio’s enormous menu, but found nothing.

Then I thought, “What if I just wired it up to both jacks?”

So I tried it… like this…

BY-1_to_FTdx3000_KeyAndPTT.png

…and it worked!

Works fine for Sideband, AM, and FM. And it doesn’t appear to adversely affect any of the modes, as far as I can tell.

Sure, yes, the MOX button is right there. But I can find the paddle without even looking. And I just find it more natural to push to talk, let go to listen. (See, the MOX is push once to TX, push again to RX.)

I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before, given how many times I’d wished the keyer would do PTT. Silly.

By Kelvin D. Olson

Not saying much here. What you really want to see is https://mastodon.hams.social/@kelvin0mql