01-27-2006, 03:31 AM
This is a review of the Palstar Model CW50A Keyer ($119.95) Palstar CW50A (http://www.palstar.com/cw50a.php)
I received this keyer free of charge in March 2004 as an upgraded replacement for one of their older CW50 models that I was having some trouble with. It was a brand new model at the time, not even advertised on their website yet. I might even have received the very first one made for all I know. I am pleased that Paul Hrivnak, N8PH, went out of his way to back up Palstar's products.
The case is about 7" x 5" x 1.5" and has the same styling, which personally I find attractive, as their earlier CW50 keyer. It’s solidly built – I have no qualms about just tossing this thing into a bag to take with me for portable operations.
Front panel controls are Power On/Off, Tune, Speed, Volume and Pitch. The paddle input jack is on the front, also (personally, I’d prefer it on the rear … but it’s not a big issue). Rear panel has a separate jack for a straight-key, adjustments for Spacing and Weight, a power jack, and switches for selecting Iambic A/B, Normal or Bug Mode, and Normal or Autospace modes. There are three RCA-type jacks for keyed outputs, Cathode (+), Grid Block (-) and Radio Mute for use with a separate receiver. There's a small speaker grill on top.
Four cables were supplied, two with RCA jacks, one with mono phone plug and one stereo phone plug. Power requirements are either 12 VDC from a 2.1mm plug, a supplied adapter included, or it can be powered by an internal 9V battery.
Operated without the audio sidetone, current draw is supposed to only be 1.5mA, but I found that battery life seemed much shorter than I expected – only a couple weeks even with the unit turned on at most an hour or two a day. You have to take the cover off to change batteries.
I was pleased with how nice the audio sidetone sounds - clean with no clicks or chirps as I’ve heard on a couple of other keyers in this price range.
There is a radio mute relay. Not sure why I’d ever use it. Seems like an anachronism to me, but if you do happen to use a separate transmitter/reciever combination this keyer is set up for that. They relay click is rather annoying though. When I get around to it I’m going to figure if out if I can disable this relay.
Functioning is basically the same as any other non-memory keyer. The weight and space adjustments provide just enough variability to give your keying a unique sound. The Bug mode is nice feature allowing another way to add a somewhat different personal touch to your keying. You can plug in both a straight key and a paddle at the same time, and use either, which is a nice convenience.
Having the On/Off switch, even though not really necessary and some other keyers don’t have them, is a good idea in my opinion. When I leave the shack for moment it is easy to turn off the keyer to eliminate any risk of being an inadvertent "ditter" due to cats or grandkids in the shack.
I received this keyer free of charge in March 2004 as an upgraded replacement for one of their older CW50 models that I was having some trouble with. It was a brand new model at the time, not even advertised on their website yet. I might even have received the very first one made for all I know. I am pleased that Paul Hrivnak, N8PH, went out of his way to back up Palstar's products.
The case is about 7" x 5" x 1.5" and has the same styling, which personally I find attractive, as their earlier CW50 keyer. It’s solidly built – I have no qualms about just tossing this thing into a bag to take with me for portable operations.
Front panel controls are Power On/Off, Tune, Speed, Volume and Pitch. The paddle input jack is on the front, also (personally, I’d prefer it on the rear … but it’s not a big issue). Rear panel has a separate jack for a straight-key, adjustments for Spacing and Weight, a power jack, and switches for selecting Iambic A/B, Normal or Bug Mode, and Normal or Autospace modes. There are three RCA-type jacks for keyed outputs, Cathode (+), Grid Block (-) and Radio Mute for use with a separate receiver. There's a small speaker grill on top.
Four cables were supplied, two with RCA jacks, one with mono phone plug and one stereo phone plug. Power requirements are either 12 VDC from a 2.1mm plug, a supplied adapter included, or it can be powered by an internal 9V battery.
Operated without the audio sidetone, current draw is supposed to only be 1.5mA, but I found that battery life seemed much shorter than I expected – only a couple weeks even with the unit turned on at most an hour or two a day. You have to take the cover off to change batteries.
I was pleased with how nice the audio sidetone sounds - clean with no clicks or chirps as I’ve heard on a couple of other keyers in this price range.
There is a radio mute relay. Not sure why I’d ever use it. Seems like an anachronism to me, but if you do happen to use a separate transmitter/reciever combination this keyer is set up for that. They relay click is rather annoying though. When I get around to it I’m going to figure if out if I can disable this relay.
Functioning is basically the same as any other non-memory keyer. The weight and space adjustments provide just enough variability to give your keying a unique sound. The Bug mode is nice feature allowing another way to add a somewhat different personal touch to your keying. You can plug in both a straight key and a paddle at the same time, and use either, which is a nice convenience.
Having the On/Off switch, even though not really necessary and some other keyers don’t have them, is a good idea in my opinion. When I leave the shack for moment it is easy to turn off the keyer to eliminate any risk of being an inadvertent "ditter" due to cats or grandkids in the shack.