By Dale, on May 8th, 2012 If you’re waiting to see us in Dayton this year, I hate to disappoint you but we won’t be there. Our youngest son graduates college that weekend, so we’re going to miss the Hamvention this year. However, I’m going to make it really easy to feel like you got a Hamvention-grade deal! From now through Monday, 5/21 I have the MasterKeyer, PicoKeyer-Plus and ID-O-Matic II on sale. I can pretty much guarantee you won’t see the MK-1 on sale for a lower price — ever. I am running a little low on stock on some items, but should be able to get all orders out within a couple of days. I’m running a batch of PicoKeyer-Plus cabinets through the CNC machine, and doing final assembly on a batch of MasterKeyers.
The ID-O-Matic firmware is now at Version 3.6. V3.5 had a minor issue with muting receiver audio during the ID, which I believe is now fixed. I have also switched to a newer PIC processor chip. No big change from the end user perspective, but it did allow me to delete one resistor from the circuit board that is no longer needed. The new chip can be used on all of the old boards, so upgrades are not a problem.
I am now offering the PicoKeyer-Plus assembled and tested as well as in kit form. You can order your PK+ in the cabinet, ready to pop in the battery (included, of course) and start using it right away. If the assembled PK+ shows as “out of stock” when you order, don’t worry — I only do a few at a time, but always get them put together and shipped within a couple of days.
If you are having weather anything like we have had here for the past couple of months — happy Spring! It’s been unusually mild, and we’re getting just enough rain that I have not had to resort to sprinklers yet. We’ve got the bikes down from their winter hangers, and have already had the motorcycle out a few times. As always… if you LOVE your HamGadgets gear, let the world know! It’s product reviews on EHam.net, Youtube and other places that really help get the word out to your fellow hams. And of course if you’re NOT totally thrilled, let me know and we’ll see if we can’t fix that.
By Dale, on March 7th, 2012 Those of you who follow these blog posts & newsletters may have noticed that there was no February post. We returned from our vacation to start working our way through a huge pile of orders, thanks to a very nice QST review of the PicoKeyer-Plus kit. Along the way I ran out of cabinets… then circuit boards… and so on. And of course there were new orders coming in nearly as fast as I could get the old ones shipped. For those of you who don’t know it yet, HamGadgets is my sideline business — I have a regular full time job, and HamGadgets is pretty much just me. When you call, I’m the one who (sometimes) answers the phone – and if you don’t get a call back, well, that’s my fault as well! I was working my regular job plus 30 or more hours a week on HamGadgets business, and it still took the better part of a month before I got the last of the backlog cleared out. We’re back to normal now, and shipping within a day or so of orders being placed.
Somewhere along the way, I managed to get a new PicoKeyer-Plus firmware release tested and shipped. All kits that have gone out over the past couple of weeks have shipped with an all-new chip and V4.0 firmware. The new PIC chip allowed me to do a lot of things I had been wanting to do for several years. This substantially improved firmware adds a new and easier to use command mode. It also lets you adjust the speed control range, makes it easier and faster to send messages 2-4 (no more holding the button down!), and adds an auto-resume feature to the message pause command. There are a few other new features, but I’ll leave the detail to a follow-up blog post in a few days. I’m also working on a PicoKeyer chip that is designed to be a drop-in, pin compatible replacement for another popular 8-pin keyer chip. This will let you replace the keyer in a number of rigs as well as some of the Whiterook portable paddles, so look for that announcement soon.
The ID-O-Matic firmware is now at Version 3.5. The newer version add a couple of minor features — for example, you can now change the courtesy beep character can be changed based on the ALT MSG input.
We will not be attending the Dayton Hamvention this year. As much as we enjoy meeting and talking to our friends and customers, our youngest is graduating college that weekend, so that has a higher priority. Since HamGadgets is pretty much a one-man show — with a one-XYL helper — there’s no sales staff we can send! Hamvention 2013? I don’t know, we’ll have to decide that later!
There is more news to share, but I’ll have to let some things wait for a later bulletin.
By Dale, on January 25th, 2012 The PicoKeyer-Plus kit received a very good review in the Feb. 2012 issue of QST magazine. There is a link in the article to the Youtube video I included in a post a couple of weeks ago.
Of course this came out a few days before we left on a week’s vacation! I’m still working my way through the orders that came in. I’m catching up, and should have everything shipped by the end of the week. I’m current on MK-1, UKA-3 and ID-O-Matic orders now.
By Dale, on January 4th, 2012 Several years after the last firmware changes to the PicoKeyer-RM, that product is getting a pretty major update.
The new chip will not require the installation of the 1/8 Watt pull-up resistor, as the current one does. I’ve also changed the embedded message commands to be the same as for the PicoKeyer-Plus, and have simplified . . . → Read More: The PicoKeyer-RM is getting a major facelift
By Dale, on January 1st, 2012 Happy New Year! I hope 2011 was a good year for all of you, and I hope that 2012 will be even better. I want to thank every one of you for helping to make the past few years very interesting and enjoyable.
Looking back on 2011, it was a pretty good year for HamGadgets. . . . → Read More: January 2012 HamGadgets News
By Dale, on December 20th, 2011 Check out what George, N0JRJ posted to YouTube last week. Thanks, George! Awesome job!
And George isn’t the only one, either. Apparently our friends at ARRL HQ like the PicoKeyer-Plus also.
By Dale, on December 20th, 2011 It has come to my attention that, for at least a couple of weeks now, it has not been possible to create a new account on the web site. You could still place an order without an account. I have fixed this problem, so you can now create an account, subscribe to the newsletter, etc. . . . → Read More: Account creation bug fixed
By Dale, on December 8th, 2011 It’s getting closer to the holidays, and of course that means it’s time to be letting your friends and family know what you really want. I’m working to make sure I have kits and keyers on hand and shipped quickly so that everyone gets their deliveries on time. If you’re DX, all I can say . . . → Read More: December 2011 HamGadgets News
By Dale, on November 2nd, 2011 Wherever you are, I hope the weather is better for you than it is here! This morning started out with rain, then progressed to ice pellets, then what i can only call “snow blobs” falling from the sky. I think we’re back to rain now, but it surely has made a mess of the leaves . . . → Read More: November 2011 HamGadgets News
By Dale, on October 20th, 2011 I know some of you have been patiently waiting for your UKA-3 kit. And I thank you for that!
After receiving the final prototype, I discovered a couple of minor changes I needed to make. One trace was omitted from the board. I also need to adjust the values of two resistors — the power . . . → Read More: UKA-3 Update
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