RockmiteII PicoKeyer chip ver. 45

Price: $10.00 - By Special Request. Please email


FLASH! Dateline 3/18/2017...

Dale Botkin, N0XAS, of Ham Gadgets JUST sent me a new version of the custom PicoKeyer_RM chip used in the RockmiteII kits from QRPme and can also be used in the original SWL Rockmite kits. I requested a couple more changes and he came through with the changes!


VERSION 45 3/18/2016

The NEW version 45 chip encompasses all the features of version 44Q below and a new addition plus a little technical fix.. FIRST, the new addition: When using the pushbutton to change the T/R frequency swap, the PicoKeyer will now sound a little short tone to identify the transmit statue. A LOW tone indicates that the Transmit frequency will be the shifted (lower) frequency while a HIGH tone indicates that the transmit frequency will be the unshifted (higher) frequency. Now You dont need a frequency counter to know the status of the T/R frequencies.
And the FIX: Chuck Carpenter, W5USJ, undertook the development task of putting the RockmiteII on the 60m band. The PicoKeyer chip (versions 44Q and earlier) had a little quirk where the T/R frequencies were opposite of what you needed to use for the 60m ban operation. While it wasnt a problem for regular CW operation, it was a problem for 60m operation there the transmit frequency is assigned as a specific frequency for each channel. The NEW version 45 PicoKeyer_RM chip, upon power up, has the receive frequency as the high or unshifted frequency and the transmit frequency is the lower or shifted frequency.

VERSION 44Q 9/1/2015

The timing for pressing the combination of the button and a paddle for sending a message was problematic for many. I suggested loosening the timing to help make selecting messages easier.

New operation:

press & hold the push button

select either message memory by keying and holding the dit or dah lever

release the push button

Whichever lever is held on when the push button is release is the message that will be sent. Sounds like the old process? Well the NEW process is MUCH more forgiving about the push button timing. The OLD version code required the overall process to be fairly quick or else the chip would go into the command mode. The new chip wont go into the command mode unless the push button is held for about two seconds. This allows for a much more *relaxed* operation for sending a message.

A quick press of the pushbutton without a simultaneous paddle closure switches the T/R logic as usual.
A long press & HOLD causes the PicoKeyer to enter the command mode for changing any of the operation parameters.
Another addition is that either message can now *call* the other instead of chaining to the other. *Calling* means that you can now send the entire called message within the first message. A simple example might be to have a CQ message in the dit memory and your call sign in the dah memory. If the dah memory was *called* in the dit memory whenever you wanted it to send your call sign, your message memory would be used more efficiently.

You should check out the PicoKeyer RM (Rockmite) and PicoKeyer Plus operation guides at Ham Gadgets for full details.

Documentation
  • PicoKeyer-RM-ver45

    Related Links
  • http://www.hamgadgets.com/index.php?route=product/download/download&download_id=80
  • http://www.hamgadgets.com/pdf/PicoKeyer-RM-060106.pdf