Hi Jerry.

It is legal only if it is a frequency where you have voice privileges.  A 
cheap and dirty code key is the easiest way to make these checks since you 
usually want a steady carrier for 5 seconds or so to make your 
measurements.  A string of dashes on the paddle just isn't as easy to work 
with.

Actually, I prefer straight keys, myself, although I do own a very nice 
keyboard keyer that was made by MFJ.  But what I did with my station, since 
I have several radios on various bands, I made up a switch box that uses a 
double pole 6 way rotary switch to select which radio I want to connect the 
radio or the keyboard keyer to.  Across the key, I wired a single pole 
single throw toggle switch which can be used to short the keying line, 
thereby effectively giving me a tune switch when I want to use both hands 
to adjust the antenna tuner.  I put a panel of six quarter inch phone jacks 
on the back of the switch box, and ran shielded audio patch cords between 
the jacks on the back of the switch box and the key jacks on each of the 
radios.  It was a simple project to build, yet it has made my station so 
much more functional.  Sometimes, it's the little things that make a big 
difference...

73, de Lou K2LKK



At 01:59 PM 6/20/2007 -0500, you wrote:
>             I want to see what the swr and forward and reflected power
>is on my radio.  I don't have a paddle to get a tone, is it ok to key on
>a frequency that I have a license for and ask for a radio check or say
>radio test and give my call sign?
>
>
>
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>2:18 PM

Louis Kim Kline
A.R.S. K2LKK
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Work Telephone:  (585) 697-5753