CW for Beginners: PaddleStick Keyer and the Icom 7300

I've been licensed for a bit over a year now, and have some experience with various bands and modes.  My first radio was a Yaesu handheld, the VX-5R.  This is one durable little radio. It's physical toughness is matched by operating difficulty.  If you don't have a manual... good luck!  Anyhow, the VHF/UHF repeaters around me are pretty active, and are a great way to meet local hams.

I moved up license classes and set up a station with an Icom 7300. I've made a few voice contacts, and used RTTY and FT8.  I've dabbled with PSK31.  But I'd like to get into CW.  I picked up a program or two for learning Morse code to practice learning the characters.  I figured at some point, though, I'd need to send some code, and get on the air.  I needed a paddle to send with, and possibly a keyer.  The 7300 has a built in keyer, but maybe I'd want to be away from it and still send.

There are lots of options for separate paddles and keyers.  I wanted:

• low cost
• combined paddle / keyer
• built in speaker

The PSB2 from K1EL / Hamcrafters seemed to fit the bill.  (It is missing a few features, though: there's no volume control or jack for an external speaker.  Also, it also does not have a computer interface, so you can't use it as a Winkeyer.)

Building the kit

The PaddleStick kit is a pretty straightforward build.   The instructions are clearly written.  The parts are well packaged, and nothing was missing.  My only hiccup was a resistor mixup.  I always check components with a multimeter or capacitor tester before soldering. Still I got confused and mistook a 470 ohm resistor for a 47 ohm resistor because I didn't read the multimeter carefully.  (The color bands are nearly identical, and impossible for me to decipher even with a magnifier.)  Still, the kit went together in about an hour and worked without a hitch. 

Using the Keyer

I'm a complete amateur at this, so I was happy to turn the thing on and hear it make tones.  

• The potentiometer turns the unit on and adjusts speed.  There's a neat setting to store your preferred speed. If you turn it on, but keep the pot all the way counterclockwise, it recalls that speed.
• There is no sidetone volume control or headphone jack. I find the sidetone pleasant and the volume perfect.  It's right about 600 Hz, which I like. It's easy to disable the sidetone.
• I was confused about rig interfacing.  The schematic says the red RCA jack is "key" and the white RCA jack is "PTT." The Icom 7300 has a stereo key jack.  Where should the "key" and "PTT" lines go?  I'm interested in using the PaddleStick in two ways:

1. Use the PaddleStick as paddle and external keyer
1. Set the Icom 7300 to breakin mode and straight key.  Use the settings on the PaddleStick for your keying preference such as speed.  The red jack controls rig keying.
2. Use the PaddleStick as an external paddle only; the 7300 keyer is used.
1. Again, Icom 7300 is in breakin mode, but select Paddle instead of Straight Key.  When the PaddleStick is in paddle mode, the red jack is the left paddle and the white jack is the right paddle.  

To interface with the 7300, I chopped a stereo RCA patch cable in half, tied the grounds together, and then wired the three resulting leads to the 1/4" plug that came with my Icom.  Here's the diagram from the Icom manual:

A few programming hints:

• Hold down the left-most button to enter command mode.  The keyer responds with "r" for ready.
• Turn the sidetone off or on with "a" for audio.  So enter command mode, then send "a" and the keyer should respond with "a" to acknowledge the command was entered.
• Hold down the right-most button and then tap the left-most button to enter tuning mode.  This will "key down" your rig, for tuning.  Press either paddle to exit.
• "s" followed by a two digit number set the default speed.  So "s" "1" "3" would set default WPM to 13.  Select the default keyer speed by turning the pot all the way counterclockwise.
• "x" enters extended command mode. 
• "x" "o" "p" sets the unit to pass through mode
•  "x" then "s" will save current configuration to EEPROM.

Update: 

Overall, I like the kit and the keyer for practice sending.  For on-air work, I had some issues with RFI.  It's also nice to be able to adjust the feel of the paddle.  I've since been mostly using a dual paddle key, with the internal keyer of the 7300.