I was looking for a cheap set of paddles that I could use to test a prototype keyer that I have been designing. After asking the good folks at my local ham radio store if they hand any used paddles and searching the Internet to no avail, I decided to build my own.

I wanted a key that had an "up-and-down" motion instead of the traditional side-to-side action. This piano-like action seemed natural, and I was hoping that this idea was "patentable" but Kit Raymond (K9RAY), inventor of the Kitano Key, beat me to it by a few years.

To build the two keys shown you will need the following materials:

• One coat hanger
• 2 blocks of 2-1/2"W ´ 5"L ´ 3/4"H pre-cut pine molding from your local hardware store
• Fine steel wool
• six #4 or #6 ´ 1/2" brass wood screws
• Surplus stereo "Y" adapter cable (2 RCA plugs into one 3-contact 1/8" diameter stereo plug) from your local "dollar parlor" or electronic surplus store (This is optional, use the plug and cables that complement your rig or keyer.)
• Two 1/8" communication staples (GAMPAK #56080)
• Electrical tape
• Your imagination!

The tools you need are already in your toolbox: needle nose and Lineman's pliers, wire cutters and a screwdriver.

The preparatory steps for building both coat hanger key #1 and #2 follow:

1. Cut two 10" to 12" pieces of wire from a straightened coat hanger
2. Polish both wires with steel wool to remove the lacquer
3. Cut off the RCA plugs and strip the ends of the "Y" cable to expose the shield and center wires. Twist and solder-tin the shields and center wires.

1. Bend the one of the wires in half, then fold both ends over to form the curved arms you see in the images.
2. Make loops at the ends of the wire to act as handles and cover each one with electrical tape.
3. Mount the arms to the block at their center point with one screw and position the two other screws beneath the contact points on each arm. (The steel spacer shown in picture is not required.)
4. Attach one or both of the shields (connected the 1/8" stereo plug’s sleeve contact) of the "Y" cable to the center point between the arms. I chose to solder the shields to hanger wire; however, screwing the shields down with the brass center screw should be fine.
5. Remove the insulation and solder the red wire (connected to the 1/8" plug’s ring) to the right screw and the white wire (connected to the plug’s tip) to the left screw.
6. Install a communication staple to hold the cable in place on the block and to provide strain relief.

1. Cut the other piece of 9-10" long coat hanger wire in half to make two separate arms.
2. Then bend each arm as shown in the pictures; making loops for mounting screws at the ends
3. Line up the finished arms on the block and position the 4 screws: 2 in front to act as the contacts and 2 in the rear to affix the arms to the block.
4. Attach the red wire to the right screw and the white wire to the left screw.
5. Screw the shields to the ends of the hanger wires that are attached to the block.
6. As above, install a staple to hold the cable in place on the block.

For my homebrew keyer, the position of the dah versus the dit paddle is not important because I can "swap" them in software; however, you may want to reverse the connections of the red and white wires to meet the requirements of your keyer.

Adjustment is relatively easy: just bend each wire to create the desired tension and gap. The only rules are that the paddles should be sufficiently stiff so that you can rest your index and middle fingers on them comfortably without making contact, and that the gap between the wires, and their respective contact screws should be small enough so that you don’t have to work very hard to make elements.

The paddle structure is only limited by your imagination. What a great project for kids!

Who says you have to buy expensive paddles? Of course, these paddles can’t compete with a finely tuned set of expensive paddles, but for fooling around in the shack (and for geek-bragging rights) you just can’t beat the coat hanger paddles!

73s and GUD LUK