homebrew morse paddles

Now that I’ve got several morse code transmitters, I need a better way to key them than grounding a wire or toggling a switch. Looking online, I can see that like everything else ham radio, morse keys are ridiculously expensive for what they are, so I guess its good that I like building my own gear. I started with a small scrap piece of red oak and some brass brackets and hardware.

I used the steel ruler as the paddle lever. I drilled a hole in one end and mounted it between the two brackets.

Next I drilled out the holes in the block and mounted everything for a test fit and continuity check.

Once everything checked out, I took everything back apart and sanded the block and added two coats of tung oil to the wood.

I put all the hardware back on the block and it was pretty much all done.

I’ll need to find some rubber feet to add to the bottom to keep it from sliding around. I will probably cut down the length of the ruler and add some kind of grip to the end of the lever. The next step is to build a keyer for it and test it out on the air.