So much DXing these days is via FT8 (or some variant), for which the use of a shack computer and keyboard are essential. But once upon a time, the use of a computer keyboard in your ham shack was a novelty. For example, exactly 50 years ago this month – September 1973 – our cover story was an article on turning a spare keyboard into a Morse code sending machine. No microprocessers “under the hood,” though. This keyboard Morse machine used a diode matrix to generate the characters. And speaking of Morse machines, make sure to check out “The CW Receiving Machine” in this month’s DX column. It goes back a lot more than 50 years!
growing popularity of low cost digital integrated circuits has inspired
