KA8VIT Homebrew Single Lever Paddle

Here is a homebrew single lever paddle that I put together this past weekend. I got the idea from an article on www.eham.net by Mark Oring, AG4RQ. His original article http://www.eham.net/articles/7114 can be viewed by clicking on the link.

I had seen Mark's article back in December 2003 but had not given it much though.... that is... until a ham friend took back his paddles that I had been borrowing for quite a long time. It didn't take too many QSOs after that until I started getting a glass arm 15 minutes into a contact. Having already spent my ham radio budget for the next 20 years on my Kenwood TS-870S, I can't afford to buy a set of Bencher Paddles. That's when I remembered Mark's article.

After looking at Mark's article again I went out to the garage to see what kind of scrap I had that I might be able to use. I already knew I had a few of the computer card "L" brackets down in the basement. (The small "L" bracket that is removed from a computer when a new card is put into it is what is used as the paddle blade).

It doesn't take a lot to put the paddle together. I used a piece of 5" x 3" x 1/2" pine I had laying around in the garage along with a 6" piece of 3/4" x 3/4" stock, which I glued together to form the base. Also used were three 1-1/4" 8-32 machine screws and two 1-3/4" 8-32 machine screws. Each screw also had three small washers and associated hex nuts. A couple of short pieces of #18 solid copper hook up wire completed the unit.

The biggest cost in this project was the shielded 1/4" stereo phone plug needed to plug the paddle into my TS-870S. That and 6 feet of shielded cable. Both together cost me about $3.95 at Radio Shack.

Adjusting the paddle wasn't hard. I adjusted it so that the contact screws were touching the paddle blade on both sides and then backed off about 3/4 of a turn on each screw leaving a small gap. I hooked it up to one of my keyers to see if it really worked and to check the action and gap. All seemed ok. I then hooked it up to my rig for the big test.

The biggest surprise came when I tried out my new paddle. Not only did it work. It worked so well that I doubt I will ever buy those Bencher Paddles now! I practiced with my new paddle using the sidetone on my rig for about five minutes and then went on the air. I made 16 contacts with it this weekend and am just tickled pink. One last thing I want to do is to hot glue some medium sized buttons or such to the paddle blade to act as the paddles and insulators.

Many thanks to Mark Oring, AG4RQ for his original idea.

73,

Bill KA8VIT