K3NG Arduino CW Keyer Part I

 As I have mentioned in an earlier post, I would really like to start participating in the world of CW (Morse Code) but I do not have the physical ability to send the code. For most people, sending is the easiest part of CW. In my case, I have neurological issues that greatly hinder my sending. Then I discovered the K3NG Arduino CW Keyer. The K3NG Arduino CW Keyer is a CW Keyer that is based and built around the Arduino Mega. It was developed by Anthony Good K3N. Other Arduino models can be used but because of the huge number of features that are available for this keyer the Mega is the preferred model.  I'm not going to set here and list every feature that can be had with this keyer as so many others have already done it before. I will give you a couple of links to follow here:

• Radioartisan.com This is Anthony Good K3NG's blog, this is where it all started. Anthony has several other projects that he has done listed here. Mr. Good has also provided several must-see videos on his keyer here. 
• K3NG CW Keyer Wiki The K3NG Arduino CW Keyer is so popular that it has its own wiki page. Here you will find the huge list of features plus individual pages on each feature. Here you will find the Arduino Code, the wiring, and the hardware for building this keyer. 
  
• Radioartisan IO Group This is the IO Group for the K3NG projects, it is mostly about the Arduino Keyer and rotator. Please join this group and post your builds and experiences here. 

The greatest things about this very capable CW keyer is that the Arduino is an open-source platform and Anthony K3NG put in A LOT of effort in freely sharing his projects with the world. This allows people like me and you to build these projects ourselves. The only way this is possible is if people take the time to share their own experiences. I will be putting here on this blog all of my experiences, successes, and failures on building this keyer, at the same time I will be putting everything in a K3NG Arduino Build Thread in the IO Group. 

For me the most important feature will be the keyboard feature so I will be starting with that and moving forward. At the bottom of the wiki page listed above, you will find a great manual that was written by Cees PA3CVI. I will mostly follow that manual and I will also use information that has been shared by the members of the IO Group. 

The recommended method of building this keyer is to build it with a breadboard to build the prototype and after you have achieved the desired success you can then build the finished product. So I put together a breadboard setup:

This was made using a cutting board from a store called The Dollar Tree where everything costs just a dollar. Then I attached three solderless breadboards giving me about 2,500 points to work from. Using nylon nuts and bolts I attached an Arduino Mega 2560.  Hopefully, that will give me enough room to prototype most of the features on the K3NG Arduino CW keyer. 

Well that gives you a pretty good idea as to what I will be attempting to do here. If you would like to contact me then please email me at Aaron@K5ATG.com