While I've been too occupied with a variety of other chores, I had to put the rest of the world on hold when my new Kent TP-1 key arrived earlier this week.
The seller shipped it in a rather small box. My heart sank when I saw it was packed mostly with wadded newspaper. A healthy portion of the large bubble bubblewrap protected the key. After digging through the layers — in a manner reminiscent of Kasper Gutman (Sydney Greenstreet) tearing the packing from the fabled Maltese Falcon in the movie of the same name — there it was: In its brass and black epoxy beauty, a like-new Kent TP-1.
The key really is as new, too. No damage, no nicks, not even dust. There was no way I was going to put this beauty away — I immediately carried to the operating desk and plugged it into my Icom IC-746PRO.
First, let me confirm that this is a very smooth operating key. After adjusting it to my liking, I found that I was flubbing characters — not because I had lost my iambic fist, but because the key took so much less effort than I'm accustomed to on the bugs I've been using. The tension adjustments are fairly firm still, and it takes more pressure right now to operate the key compared to my Bencher BY-1. But I can adjust the tension on each paddle easily enough. Frankly, I really just want to get a feel for the key before I try to improve on the existing settings.
One thing I had to do was to widen the gap on the contacts a bit. I've become accustomed to a noisey key, and my original adjustments were very close and the key worked so smoothly I wouldn't realize I had held the paddle a little too long, and I would get an extra dit once in a while.
There's absolutely no slop, no play in this key. It really has a solid feel too, its one of the heaviest keys I own. I was surprised by its heft but overall smooth feel. I enjoy the shape of the paddles too — you don't have to raise your wrist or manuver your hand to find the paddles. The way they drop down close to the table top, the paddles probably the “right” position for most users.
The only real criticisms I've seen is that the key doesn't come with any protective coating on the brass parts. Over time, the bright brass will turn dark. Because of the brushed finish, too much polishing it will remove the brushed finish, so cleaning it would likely be a delicate process. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. Even the fellow who complained loudest said the key still works as well as ever, even if the brass was tarnished.
I've not used it extensively yet, but plan on some Q's with it over the weekend. Look for an update later.
73 …. de KY4Z …. dit dit