HamGadgets News » Masterkeyer MK-1

January 2012 HamGadgets News

Dale — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 17:34:32 +0000

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. The UKA-2 kit was retired and replaced by the UKA-3, which people seem to like. I was able to start offering custom cases for the PicoKeyer-Plus and UKA-2, thanks to the addition of a CNC machine to the workshop. There were a couple of firmware updates to the MK-1 and ID-O-Matic II, which continues to be a very popular kit. If there was a low point to the year, it would have to have been Dayton — but we’ll just leave that alone for now.

2012 will see some changes as well. I’m working on a couple of new projects that you will see announced as they get closer to being ready to offer as kits or assembled products. There will also be updates to some existing kits. The PK-RM chip is about to get a major overhaul, its first in several years, to being it up to date and more in line with the PicoKeyer-Plus’ features. I’ve been working on a new repeater controller for a while now, and I’m hoping to be able to offer that later in the year. It is my intent to offer a ready-to-go cabinet for every new kit added to the lineup — most people seem to like having that option.

And speaking of assembled products… I know that some folks really enjoy kit building, while others would prefer not to have to heat up the soldering iron. I simply do not have the time to assemble kits, except in very rare cases. But there is hope for those of you who don’t like soldering or no longer are able to. I do have a very small number of PK-Plus kits assembled and in the cases, and will list those on the web site in a few days. For ID-O-Matic II kits, there are two sources from whom you can buy completely assembled and tested boards. One is Radio Dan (www.radiodan.com); the other is W5TXR Labs (www.w5txrlabs.com).

We’ll be out of town for a week or so beginning the 14th of January. As usual you can place your orders at any time, and we’ll get them shipped as soon as possible when we return from our trip.

Again, I’d like to thank all of the people who helped to make 2011 a good year, and I hope I can continue to provide the kits and products you like for years to come. And remember — if you like your kit or your MK-1, please take a few minutes to let others know. If you don’t think it deserves a 5/5 rating, then please tell me and let me see if we can fix that. If you do think it’s better than sliced bread and Mom’s apple pie, a positive product review on the EHAM web site (www.eham.net/reviews) will reach a lot of hams — and it really helps me out as well, of course.

Thanks again and have a GREAT 2012!

73 de Dale, N0XAS

November 2011 HamGadgets News

Dale — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 21:26:20 +0000

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 in the back yard. Hopefully it will dry up before winter sets in.

The big news is that I’m shipping the UKA-3 at last. I’m really happy with how the project has turned out, and especially the new cabinet. It’s extruded aluminum, with engraved markings to give it a very nice finished appearance. Right now I have both black and silver anodized cabinets, but I’ll probably settle on just one color soon. That one color will probably be black. In fact, I’ll probably quit offering PicoKeyer-Plus cabinets in any color but black soon, too — there just is almost no demand for anything else. So, if you’re been anxiously waiting for a new kit, or for the UKA-3 in particular, now’s the time to order!

In anticipation of the holiday season, I’ll be running some specials on the web site this month. Right now it’s the MK-1 at a price that I can guarantee you won’t see again this year, so if you want one at this price — hurry up and get it. Next week? Can’t say what will be on sale. Really, I can’t – I won’t decide until next week. Check the web site.

One more little thing about the UKA-3. If you take a look at the manual, you will see that it has detailed, step by step color pictures for every step in the assembly instructions. I hope to eventually overhaul all of the manuals with similar construction photos. I also welcome any translations; we now have PicoKeyer-Plus instructions in English, French and Czech. I know my friends at Box 73 in Germany have an outstanding German language manual as well, if you order one from them.

Well, there’s work to be done! I have more cabinets to run through the CNC machine, two new kits to work on getting finished and a couple of firmware projects that will keep me busy through the winter. Better get back to work! I hope all of you have a very warm and happy Thanksgiving… and don’t forget to fly your flag on Veterans Day.

Thanks & 73,
Dale – NØXAS
www.HamGadgets.com

October HamGadgets News

Dale — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 20:46:57 +0000

Happy October!

It’s that time of year again — time to start getting your shack ready for the long winter operating season. Due to having had some house painters around with their really tall ladders, it’s looking like I may even be able to get a functioning antenna in the air this year!

I’ve sold the last of the UKA-2 kits, and the UKA-3 kits will be shipping later this month. I’m several weeks farther behind than I wanted to be on this project, but the results will be quite nice. If you’ve pre-ordered a UKA-3 kit, just hang in there — you’ll see it just as soon as I can get it out the door! But I think you’ll be very happy with the kit. The new aluminum cabinet is something I’m working especially hard to look great in your shack.

Many people has asked me over the past few years for assembled and tested ID-O-Matic II kits. While I simply do not have the time to devote to assembly, you can now find them for sale from one place that I know of. Radio Dan, W7RF is selling assembled and tested ID-O-Matic IIs on eBay: http://stores.ebay.com/radiodanw7rf. If you want the functionality of the ID-O-Matic II but don’t want to do the soldering, here’s your chance! Be sure to tell Dan where you heard about it.

Firmware version 1.32 is now available for the MasterKeyer. This is a bug fix release that resolves a couple of bugs involving embedded memory message commands. For keyboard speed demons, it also nearly doubles the size of the USB keyboard buffer to 150 characters. You can download the new firmware from the support page: http://www.hamgadgets.com/index.php?main_page=page&id=7.

Are you a US service member or family, serving overseas? I now have FREE standard shipping on orders shipped to all US APO/FPO addresses. This should show up automatically during checkout.

And finally — it’s my birthday month. Let’s just say I’m celebrating a double digit anniversary of my 40th birthday. This month I’ll give you the birthday present… how about a $10 discount on your HamGadgets order over $50! Just use coupon code OCTOBERBDAY during checkout. You can use this coupon code once per customer, between now and October 31, 2011. It’s good on everything except gift certificates and CW Touch Keyer products.

Have a great month!

73,
Dale – N0XAS

MK-1 Firmware V1.32 Released

Dale — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 19:02:55 +0000

I am releasing firmware version 1.32 for the MK-1. This is primarily a bug fix release — though there is one improvement that snuck in that might be considered a new feature.

If a message called a subsequent message that ended with the /B beacon command, only the last portion of the message chain would be re-played after the beacon delay. This has been fixed. HOWEVER, in such a situation the chain will not repeat indefinitely. It will terminate after the 8th repetition. A standard beacon repeat will, as always, repeat until canceled.
If a beacon message contained the /Y (MYCALL) command, and was terminated during playback by a button press, subsequent activations could either not play or truncate the call sign.
Under some conditions, /R could send parts of other messages instead of the desired word. This generally would only happen if /R immediately followed the first word in a message.
The USB keyboard buffer space has been expanded from 128 to 250 characters. The LEDs will show the “nearly full” amber warning when 32 or fewer characters remain in the buffer, and will turn red 8 characters before the end of the buffer.

You can download a ZIP file containing the BETA test firmware along with instructions for upgrading by clicking here.

September HamGadgets News

Dale — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 16:32:58 +0000

Summer is drawing to a close, the kids are back in school, and the weather is cooling off. Time to put down some grass seed, finish up some yard projects and start planning for the winter’s ham radio activity!

There’s no better time than now to start thinking about your winter projects and operating. If you’re a kit builder, I’ve made the UKA-3 kit available on the web site and hope to be shipping by the end of this month. Pricing for a complete kit without enclosure is $24.00. If you plan to build it into your own gear or retrofit into an older tube amp or transmitter, you can order the kit without the power switch, LED indicators and connectors and knock that price down to $15.00. And, while I don’t have current pictures available on the web site, I’ll have a very nice extruded aluminum cabinet available with the end panels already CNC machined and ready for assembly. I currently have plenty of PicoKeyer-Plus and ID-O-Matic II kits in stock. I’m down to the last few UKA-2 kits. I’ve got a good stock of MK-1 keyers in stock, and I’m told there will be a review of the MK-1 in Radcom soon.

I have always felt that happy customers are the best advertising. If you’re a happy customer, I encourage you to tell your friends about HamGadgets. One way to do that is to spend a few minutes posting a product review on EHam.net. Of course if you’re less than 100% happy, I want to hear from you first! I try hard to make sure no one has unresolved problems with their HamGadgets kits and products. A couple of times I have seen, for example, a review of a PicoKeyer kit saying that the kit died after a couple of years’ use. Folks, if you don’t know it yet, you can forget the whole 1 year warranty thing. If your kit doesn’t work, tell me… we’ll get it fixed. I have never charged more than the cost of return postage to resolve a problem, even a user-induced problem.

MK-1 reviews on EHam: http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/8286
PicoKeyer reviews on EHAM: http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/3706
ID-O-Matic reviews on EHam: http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/4909
UKA / UKA-2 reviews on EHAM: http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/4198
HamGadgets thread on QRZ: http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php?309309-HamGadgets-keyers-repeater-control
And the Reviews section on QRZ: http://forums.qrz.com/forumdisplay.php?17-Amateur-Radio-Equipment-Reviews

As I have (hopefully) a little more time this fall and winter, I hope to be able to work more on the project backlog. I need to finish the MK-1 firmware update, which will hopefully also include a fix for users with German keyboards (the Y/Z and ? keys are different). I’m still working on a new universal USB rig interface that I hope to have done soon. And of course I need to finish the manual for the UKA-3 and get to work on cabinets… OK, I’d better get to work now!

Thank you and 73,
Dale – NØXAS
www.HamGadgets.com

August HamGadgets News

Dale — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 16:55:13 +0000

Summer heat is upon us in full force… July was HOT here! The first few days of August have been quite warm and humid as well. Of course along with the usual summer activities there’s been a fair amount of development going on. I’ll try to be brief and recap the latest news.

I had planned to have the UKA-3 kits ready to go in August; it looks like it may be as late as mid to late September instead. I made a couple of component layout changes to optimize the layout of the cabinet as much as possible. Fortunately I believe I have a sufficient number of UKA-2 kits in stock to last until the new kits are available. I will, however, be making the new kit available for pre-orders very soon.

I have mentioned to some of you my plans to replace the ID-O-Matic II with a new kit. I’m pushing this back a few months. I have been working with the prototype, and it is apparent to me that I have some further development to do. This is a completely new and different approach, using a new chip, completely new firmware, USB interface, 3.3V logic and more. I’m currently reworking the I/O circuits for better and easier connectivity to a wide range of gear. I’m also adding a few new features that need hardware changes, and that hardware needs to be tested. Since I’m running low on ID-O-Matic II boards, I’ll be making one last run of those to last until the new kit is ready. I anticipate having the ID-O-Matic II available through the end of the year at least.

Firmware version 1.31 was released for the MK-1. I’m currently working on V1.32, a minor patch release that addresses a couple of bugs in memory playback. It’s not quite ready yet, but will be released some time over the next few weeks. In the mean time — if you have some unexplained memory playback issues with MK-1 memories using the /R command, or linking memories with a /B in one of them, you can email me for the Beta version.

I’m juggling all of this around family and work obligations, and that means an occasional delay shipping or in answering emails. OK, I’ll admit — frequent delays answering emails. I’m doing my best to keep up and hope to improve as I get some things settled down.

Have a good summer (or winter, for our friends “down under”)!

Thank you and 73,
Dale – NØXAS
www.HamGadgets.com

MK-1 Firmware Version 1.31 Available

Dale — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 17:18:08 +0000

Firmware version 1.31 for the MasterKeyer MK-1 is now available. This is a bug fix release, and I would recommend that all users upgrade. If you are running an earlier V1.31 Beta, you’ll still want to install this as it finalizes the fix for an N1MM related issue. The fixes include:

Fixed an issue with Winkeyer buffer editing commands.
Fixed an issue with AMP OUT in Winkeyer emulation mode.
Fixed an issue with dropped leading characters in N1MM and some other programs.
Z (leading zeros) setting from paddle command mode was backward.
Some parameters were not loading properly from FLASH drive (XL) with leading zeros.
J and D would lose second parameter if queried from paddles.

Firmware can be found by clicking this link or by visiting the HamGadgets Product Support page. As always, please report any problems you may discover via email.

May HamGadgets News

Dale — Sat, 07 May 2011 13:52:16 +0000

It’s an incredibly busy month here! If you will be in Dayton for the 2011 Hamvention, please stop by and see us in booth 482. We’re right down the aisle between ARRL and Begali, not hard to find – and there are pretzels close by! We’ll have special Hamvention discounts, plenty of kits and MasterKeyers on hand, and a couple of new things to show off.

I’ve been working far too many hours the past few weeks. Yes, there is a nagging little problem with amp keying in the MK-1 firmware that I’ve been working on fixing. In addition, I’m in the middle of a new production run of MasterKeyers so we don’t run out during Dayton. I just received another run of PicoKeyer-Plus boards the other day, so now we need to start bagging kits – lots of them.

I will be posting a blog entry within a few days regarding the work I’ve been doing on the ID-O-Matic III, so you’ll need to wait a while for that news.

The newest addition to the shop is the new CNC milling machine! I’ve been assembling, adjusting and tuning this for the past couple of weeks, and last night produced the first “production” parts on it. Having this machine will allow me to offer cabinets pre-drilled and cut to fit the various kits. The first job will be drilling and counter-boring end panels for the PIcoKeyer-Plus kit. Soon you’ll be able to order the kit with a cabinet already drilled and ready to go. Over the coming months I will be re-designing other kits (starting with the UKA-2) to fit into enclosures custom made for them.

Until the next update… enjoy the beautiful weather, and we hope to see you in Dayton! If you’re in the EU, we may even see you in Friedrichshafen next month.

April HamGadgets News

Dale — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 21:42:50 +0000

The release of firmware version 1.30 for the MK-1 has been quite successful. There does, however, appear to be an issue with the AMP OUT signal when used with some contest loggers. I am working on that problem now, and will announce the fix once it’s available.

I recently began shipping new firmware for the ID-O-Matic II. Version 3.3 includes support for receiver audio muting, as well as a change to the courtesy tone. Now instead of a variable length tone, you can specify a single Morse character to use for the courtesy tone. I’ve also begun work on what I’m tentatively calling the ID-O-Matic III (that name may change), but will leave the details of that for later.

We are getting ready for our trip to Dayton next month! We’ll be in the same location as last year, BA482 just down the aisle from ARRL in one direction and Begali in the other direction. If you will be attending the Hamvention (http://www.hamvention.org) this year, please take the opportunity to stop by and say hello. We’ll have some specials going on during the show, and will probably have a couple of new product prototypes along. Given the rather hectic schedule around here for the next few weeks, I can’t say for sure what we will and won’t have ready to demo in Dayton. There is also a pretty good chance we’ll be at Ham Radio Friedrichshafen (http://www.hamradio-friedrichshafen.de/ham-en/) in June. More information on that as it becomes available.

If you are planning the purchase of a MasterKeyer, now is definitely the time. Due to increases in materials, parts and labor costs, I will have to raise the price of the MK-1 this month. I’ll hold off a little, but on Monday the 11th expect to see a higher price on the MK-1.

Now, if it will only warm up a little more we may be able to get the bikes (both motorized and non-motorized) out for some serious riding!

Amp keying issues in V1.30

Dale — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 18:41:50 +0000

UPDATE 4/13/11: I have fixed a couple of Winkeyer emulation bugs, along with a couple more discovered by Gabor, S57WJ (thanks, Gabor!) and will have a fix available shortly. I’m working on one remaining bug I found during testing.

I have had a few reports of issues with the AMP OUT signal from the MK-1 when using a couple of different contest logging programs. The issues involve either AMP OUT not keying the amplifier, or keeping it keyed full time. I am researching this issue and working on a fix for it. In the mean time, I welcome any specific information you have regarding behavior with your software and setup. If you run into problems, please let me know the program, version, and specifically what the MK-1 is doing that it should not (or not doing that it should).