Morse code keyer in a really mint enclosure

A look under the hood at K1EL's K12 keyer kit in a hip-pack-friendly enclosure -- the ever popular Altoids tin!

With the Flight of the Bumble Bees coming up, as well as other summer opportunities for taking ham radio on the trail, I was looking for a keyer to accompany either of my two QRP radios — an Elecraft KX1 and Yaseu’s FT-817ND.

Yes, they have built-in keyers. But you have to wander through menus to make changes. And I find myself partial to K1EL’s K12 keyer, which I built last February and put into an industrial strength case for use at home.

This year’s Field Day and the limited space in the fanny pack that carries my portable station inspired me to try for a smaller, lighter version of the keyer. So off went another order to K1EL, and off I went to the local drug store for some Altoids, with their curiously useful tins.

“Useful” understates the case. For many hams who are low-power enthusiasts, these tins are indispensable project boxes. How about a $30,  1/2-watt, crystal-controlled transceiver, for instance? But, I digress.

Back on my workbench, the result: a keyer in a can.

The keyer set up to use three of the its six available memories. The red button doubles as the trigger for programming the key's many functions, including speed control, as well as triggering Memory 1.

And, like the original project, I set keyer up to operate with a straight key as well as a keyer. You never know during an outing whether you may come across operators want to swap Straight Key Century Club member numbers.

The backside of the keyer in a can -- from left to right, jacks for straight key, keyer paddle, and output cable that connects the keyer to the radio.

My trip to the drug store netted three candy-laden Altoids tins: Liquorice (used for this project), Wintergreen, and Peppermint. That means I’ve got to find two other projects to move like hermit crabs into the tins after I’ve downed all the mints!