Ripples in the Ether

I got a bit of cash for my birthday last month and it was burning a hole in my pocket for a few weeks. I decided I needed a good set of CW paddles for my station, since the only keying devices that I have (that work) are all straight keys. It was a bit of a toss-up to decide what brand of key to get until I saw the Begali name mentioned; then I remembered lots of hams saying good stuff about their keys. There was enough goodwill on the Internet that I figured I would take the plunge and give the base model Simplex (with a palladium finish) a try. It took about 3 weeks for the paddles to get here, but it was well worth it. Here’s a little visual tour of my Begali unboxing experience.

Yes, I know, an “unboxing” blog post makes me an even greater geek. I’m at peace with that. Anyway, on with the show…

Let’s open the box…

Now to open it up

Some extras included

Christmas wishes

Two different sets of aluminum finger pieces sent along, although I only ordered one. A nice extra!

First peek at the key

The key together with the dust cover

Here it is unwrapped and with the stock finger pieces installed

Now to add the nice blue aluminum finger pieces…

I’m blinded! The palladium finish with gold accents is incredible.

A macro shot of the engraved logo

Finally, here’s the key with my cable installed, sitting next to the AA0ZZ EZKeyer

I hope you got a little vicarious enjoyment out of that! I haven’t made a QSO with it yet, but just from using it on the keyer with sidetone, I can tell that it has an incredible feel. This one will be a keeper for the rest of my ham radio days.