Keyers; Can I Hook My Straight Key To The Front "Elec Key" Jack; Can I Connect My Own Electronic Keyer To The Ic-746; How Do I Wire Up My Paddles For Use With The Internal Keyer - Icom IC-746 Faq

3.4

Keyers

3.4.1

Can I hook my straight key to the front "Elec Key" Jack?

3.4.2

Can I connect my own Electronic Keyer to the IC-746?

3.4.3

How do I wire up my paddles for use with the internal keyer?

Short Answer
Yes, virtually any type of key/keyer can be connected to the IC-746 via either the front "Elec
Key" jack or the back key jack. However, the two jacks require different wiring, and only
the front jack will give access to the internal electronic keyer.
The front "Elec Key" jack on the radio accepts a 3-conductor 1/4-inch stereo phone plug and
can be wired for use with anything. The back "key" jack accepts a 2-conductor 1/4-inch
mono phone plug and can be wired for use with either a straight key or an external keyer, but
not for the internal keyer.
See page 68 in the operator's manual for wiring details and pages 23 and 27 for the
programming details.
Long Answer

FOR A STRAIGHT KEY OR EXTERNAL KEYER:

For a diagram on how to wire the stereo plug see page 68 of the Instruction Manual. For a
straight Key or keyer, wire only the tip and the Sleeve, and leave the ring as No-Connect.
tip ring sleeve
oooo ==== ]]]]]]} --------->
(+) (nc)
The back "key" jack is a mono 1/4 inch phone plug and is easy to wire.
When using the front Jack, You also have to set the radio to recognize that the ring is not
used. To set the radio, You do have to go to the "key", "set" menu and tell it you will be
using a straight key. See Page 23 and page 27 in the operation manual. While in CW mode
press KEY(F4), then press SET(F5), Press the down arrow(F2) until you reach the sixth
menu (KEYER TYPE), Use the Main tuning knob to set the type of keyer to "Straight Key".

TO USE THE BUILT IN ELECTRONIC KEYER WITH PADDLES:

Wire the 3cond Stereo plug (use the front jack) so that the "Dit" is the tip, the "Dash" is the
ring and the sleeve is common (-). (You can also wire up a "bug" this way (without electronic
keyer))
IC-746 FAQ
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Page 40 of 113
2003-02-08
2 cond wire to key/keyer