By the way… when you police up that brass, I’ll be happy to take all the excess .357, .40 and .44 Mag you have.

I’ll look into the items you mentioned. I’m not able to replicate the first one; when I set F=99 and L=Y, I still get the speed readout just fine. You are definitely running 1.21 still, though… you may want to check to make sure your mk1upgr.hex file is normal (should look like the example below). Sometimes the files get corrupted when going between Windows, Mac or Linux. A valid HEX file should look similar to this:

:0408000024EF63F08E
:080808005DEF04F000000000A8
:100810000000000000000000056ED8CF06F0E0CF19
:1008200007F00001E9CF0DF0EACF08F0E1CF09F0C1
:10083000E2CF0AF0D9CF0BF0DACF0CF0F3CF14F0FF
:10084000F4CF15F0FACF16F000C00FF001C010F091

I’ve loaded the V1.22 program into my MK-1. I THINK I installed this update correctly—-when I query the MK-1 as to the version it responds V1.21R. Hmmm.

Just a few items which I have noticed about my MK-1.

IF:
F=99
L=Y (letter spacing enabled)
THEN:
The M1 + M3 SPEED CHECK BECOMES INOPERATIVE.

OR IF:
F=0
L=Y (letter spacing enabled)
THEN:
The M1 + M3 SPEED CHECK IS OK, but the LETTER SPACING (L) becomes
disabled.

When using the LETTER SPACE feature (which is extremely user friendly) there will on occasion be an extended pause between words; almost like a word space feature. This is very random and does not occur very often. At first I thought rf might be sneaking into the MK-1 however, this happens at very low power levels. My only other guess is that the Ten-Tec switching power supply, that powers the MK-1, may be introducing some noise into the keyer—I’ll let you know what I find. Worthy of note is that my Pico-Keyer, which is powered from several ‘AAA’ cells does not exhibit this same pause but once every few weeks of use.

I found the TIMING (T) function extremely interesting. If the range could be extended a few more steps, to say, 10 or 12 this would help prevent an extra
unintentioned dot from being sent. I use type ‘A’ keying and on occasion when sending a character that ends in a dash I neglect to release the dot paddle in time resulting in an extra dot (i.e. the letter ‘A’ comes out as a ‘R’). The Pico-Keyer (V3.6) that I use is set up perfectly in this area.

Dale, I know you are very busy and for this reason I don’t expect an answer to the above; just check out things and see what you can do.

I appreciate your efforts in marketing and refining keyers. When Mr. Curtis passed on I thought this was the end for REAL keyers cw ops could enjoy.

Thanks/73, Roy, WA2SON
e-mail wa2son@toast.net

73 – Petr, OK1RP

I woul sure like to beta test v1.22 for my MK-1 masterkeyer. If i beg for many weeks can I become one?

Thanks in advance!!

Kirby, K7EC

BEG, BEG, BEG, BEG

thank You for reply.

In fact fixed spacing for different speed is unusable I guess.
I tested it during years ago on several keyers like LogiKey K3, K4CMOS, PicoKeyer, OK2TEJ also on internal keyers like Orion 565, Elecraft K2, K3 and in all cases there were the same problem…keyers did not followed manually inserted/recorded spacing from the paddle when replyed the messages from memory. In all cases kayers shortened spaces or in better cases “standardized” spaces between letters, words and sentences to fix programmed length.
The problem is that spacing must be variable and fully depending to the operator and his paddle inputs ans actual speed I think. You know it is the same like the speaker will try to record the speech where somewhere between the words he have to have “dramatic pause” to express some important feeling and recording machine will shortening this pause to standard one as same as the other pauses in the speech.
Well if the fixed spacing is pre-defined between dots & dashes = 1 dit, between letters = 3 dits, between words = 6 dits then the keyer need to be able to recognize where I would like to put words space, where letters space and where sentences long space…in most cases long pause causes the keyer going out of the recording mode.
Do You know that there is some chance to test the MK-1 s/w?
If You would like to get help then I am ready to support You with the development.

My best regards,

73 – Petr, OK1RP
FOC 1745
VHSC 315

Actually, “fixed spacing” is possible at any speed. Spacing between dots & dashes = 1 dit, between letters = 3 dits, between words = 6 dits. While it’s very common to use longer spaces when sending by hand, you can’t really fault the keyer for sending Morse properly spaced and timed.

With the MK-1 (and, to a certain degree, the PicoKeyer as well) you can insert half-spaces and extra letter spaces, or use Farnsworth spacing to send characters with longer gaps between letters and words. Of course that is only needed when recording messages; when sending by hand you can use whatever spacing you please.

73,
Dale – N0XAS

the keyers on the market has pb with recording the messages…
As I found all of them does not accepting the manually added different lengths pauses between letters, words and sentences during the recording the messages. All letters are always glued together or eventually they are separated by internal fix spacing. Unfortunately the spacing need to be changed for different speed of course to have smooth and crystal clear CW so it’s impossible to put just fix spacing for 5wpm and 45wpm speeds isn’t it?

How it is solved in MK-1 s/w please?

Thank You for support before purchasing the MK-1…

73 – Petr, OK1RP