Wilcox Engineering

Fifty years ago I designed and built a tube keyer to replace my Vibroplex. Then a transistor keyer. All this before the iambic keyers came along. As Murphy's Law would have it, I learned a unique keying mode that became a technical orphan.

Steve, KC2VNI, sent me some project boxes to build him a couple portable battery packs ... something that would go nicely with the SWL Rock-Mite. The primary concerns were weight and the amount of time that the radio would be used for RX and TX. Here's the result, a project you can build too if you like the concept.

This was posted on the Elecraft Reflector 2/16/08, but added a few updates since then. It needs more updates (as of 12/23/09), but I'm getting it posted on this new site as is for now. See the K3 photos under Amateur Radio.

After building a few kits, I eventually decided that breathing fumes from my soldering was not especially healthy. There are a number of commercial fume-extraction systems on the market, but why buy when the parts are already in the shop?