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Making the Palm Mini Paddle Stay Put

Posted: 01 Mar 2016 04:13 AM PST
http://www.k8gu.com/?p=1658




In my on-going quest to produce a lightweight yet good-performing kit of
portable equipment to carry along on my exotic work travels, I set my
sights once again upon the Morse keying paddles.Â* When I was a student, I
carried what I had: a black-base Bencher BY-1.Â* This caught the attention
of nearly every airport security screener and was obviously quite heavy,
but it stayed put on the table (for the most part) when I aggressively
worked a pileup.Â* A few years back, my wonderful, loving, and patient wife,
solicited suggestions for Christmas gifts and I suggested a Palm Radio Mini
Paddle.Â* (Shes grateful when I provide a link to a web site with a shopping
cart in these situations.)

The Palm is really a joy to use and is extraordinarily lightweight, which
is perfect for travel.Â* However, Ive always struggled with how to keep it
steady on a table.Â* I have the magnetic base, but that presupposes a
ferromagnetic surface to which it will mount.Â* Since both the Elecraft K3
and K2 have aluminum panels, I cant count on the radio.Â* I tried a variety
of additional things, up to and including, trying to design a 3D-printed
carrier that is akin to the Begali Traveler.Â* So, I shelved the project,
only using the Palm key for casual portable operating when mass trumped
long-term operating comfort and efficiency.Â* Good fortune happened upon me
and I built this.

When I decided to add an amplifier (more on this in the future) to my
portable setup, again pressure set in on the mass of everything.Â* So, I
revisited the Palm Mini project.Â* I had purchased a number of mounting
clips for the key (hedging my bets against the ephemeral nature of ham
radio businesses); so, I set out to attach one to the K2.Â* Id seen the
photo of the base attached to the right-hand side panel of the K2 by the
power switch.Â* But, I really didnt want to drill holes in the panel, plus
that puts the paddles too high when the tilt bail is raised (which is
necessary to see the display).

So, I fabricated two strips of 3/16-inch aluminum plate (leftover from the
hexagonal beam I built a few years ago) with a hole bored down between them
to clamp on the tilt bail of the K2 or the K3.Â* Theres nothing particularly
critical about the construction of it, although I used a Bridgeport mill to
do all the cutting; you might be able to do it in a drill press.Â* I think I
ended up with a #14 drill for the clamp hole.Â* I used 6-32 hardware because
I had it on-hand and I like the bigger stuff.Â* I had to enlarge the
adjustment slot in the Palm base to handle the bigger diameter.