On Mar 21, 12:41 pm, Klystron wrote:
Most base-type radios, especially HF radios, have keyer circuitry
built in. On those radios where it has been optional (Icom 970, e.g.),
it has been a fairly expensive option.

That's because hardware is involved when it's made an option. The
basic logic
of a keyer, even the fancy iambic ones, is pretty simple.

Can anyone estimate the amount
that it adds to the price of an HF radio?
What would we save if it were
left off?

In most rigs with built-in keyers, the keyer circuitry is nothing more
than the paddle inputs. The actual implementation is in software,
and the savings (if any) would be small, if any. Couple of dollars at
most.

Considering the ever shrinking role of Morse, does it really
make sense to insist that all HF radios include it?

I disagree that the role of Morse is "ever shrinking" on the amateur
HF bands.
Judging by the use of the mode in contests, DXpeditions, QRP, homebrew
projects and the sale of paddles and Morse-only HF rigs, the mode's
role
in amateur radio hasn't really changed.

It almost seems as
if the various manufacturers are afraid to go first in making it an
option.

Why should they make it an option, given that it costs almost
nothing to include? Leaving it out would probably hurt sales to the
point
of negative return.

It seems like it is more of an ideological issue than a
practical one.

Not at all.

The "ideology" of most current HF amateur rig designs is to include as
many features as
possible, particularly if those features can be implemented in
software. So we have rigs
with lots of memories, multiple VFOs, lots of selectivity/AGC/NB
choices, lots of computer-control features, real-time clocks, data
mode encoding and decoding, and much more - all in software, not
hardware. They add very little to the
cost of the rig, and nothing to its basic-radio performance numbers,
but hams seem to like them.

From the standpoint of the manufacturers, it would not be practical to
remove a feature most customers have come to expect, whether they use
it much or not.

73 de Jim, N2EY