Playing with Paddles in the Park

I headed down to Ridley Creek State Park (US-1414, KFF-1414) this morning for a pre-Thanksgiving POTA/WWFF activation. While I was there, I wanted to field test a couple of paddles, one new ‌and one I slightly modified.

I mentioned in a previous post (or two) that I somehow damaged the paddles that came with my Elecraft KH1. In searching for an alternative, I came across the KH1 Pressure Paddles from K6ARK. The kits were selling for a mere $22 on Amazon, so I fired off an order. 

I’m not as good at building kits with small parts as I used to be. My close-up vision hasn’t gotten any better with age. However, with the aid of my lighted magnifying glass, I assembled the kit in less than 30 minutes with no major issues. The only issue I ran into was the 3-D printed cover didn’t fit against the KH1 too well and needed a little sanding. Once I took care of that, the paddles worked great. Using pressure-sensitive paddles feels a little different at first, but I quickly adapted. 

The other thing I did was glue two more magnets onto the bottom of my CWMouse paddles. The four I glued on initially weren’t quite enough to keep the paddles from moving when attached to my clipboard. Two additional magnets seemed to do the trick. 

When I rolled into my usual spot in the park, the place was deserted. I wasn’t too surprised, since it was a weekday and drizzling to boot. My original plan was to operate the KH1 handheld to give the K6ARK paddles a good workout. Given the lousy weather, I abandoned that plan and set up in the truck. I used my trusty 12-foot loaded vertical on the back of the truck. 

I started off trying to use the K6ARK paddles with the KH1 on the center console. After two contacts, I decided that wasn’t the most comfortable way to operate. The pressure paddles worked fine, though. I switched over to the CWMouse paddles attached to my clipboard, and the magnets held nicely. It helps that the CWMouse paddles have a light touch, so I’m not slamming them side to side. 

On the air, the bands were as mediocre as the weather this morning. According to my band conditions app, we were experiencing an unsettled geomagnetic field. Starting out on 40M, it took longer than usual to make my first ten contacts. After I had 15 in the log, I switched to 20M and picked up a few more. I spent the rest of my time on 17M and 15M. As predicted, the band conditions up there were fair at best. I worked two domestic stations on 17M, and stations in Germany and Texas on 15M. 

I was getting ready to call it quits, but I wanted to adjust the KH1’s real-time clock before shutting down. It had gained a minute or two over the past couple of months, so it just needed a tweak. As I navigated through the menus to set the clock, I heard a very loud IK1LBL calling me. I quickly exited out of the menu and completed the contact. After that, I set the KH1’s clock and packed everything up.

As activations go, this one was nothing special. However, my new KH1 paddles and my modified CWMouse paddles were a rousing success.

And finally, I’ll leave you to ponder this curious AI-generated image of a turkey operating a radio. It appears the turkey might be keying with his left foot (QLF?). 

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

72, Craig WB3GCK