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HaliKey
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HaliKey

$39.00

Now Shipping, both HaliKey MIDI and HaliKey Serial!

HaliKey is a small USB device that connects morse code paddles, or a physical PTT switch, to a computer.  This allows you to use physical controls when operating your radio remotely.  HaliKey is available in two variants: HaliKey Serial, and HaliKey MIDI.  See the table below to decide which one to get.

USB Adapter

Allows HaliKey to be inserted directly into a computer or hub like a conventional dongle. See below about USB adapter availability.

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Description:

HaliKey is an adapter that allows you to operate morse code with your favorite paddles, or to have a physical PTT switch, while operating at a remote station:

HaliKey is available in two variants:

  • HaliKey MIDI is designed to work with radio control software that uses MIDI events to trigger radio button presses, such as NetKeyer, the various Ham Radio Apps for MacOS and iOS by Marcus DL8MRE and Jan Roskosch, Remote Ham Radio, and others.
  • HaliKey Serial is designed to work with radio control software that uses serial port flow control signals (CTS/RTS and DTS/DSR) to trigger radio button presses, such as SmartSDR for Windows.

Here’s a table of the applications I know about, and which ones support which HaliKeys:

Product: Flex SmartSDR for Windows Marcus & Jan Roskosch apps (like SmartSDR for MacOS) Marcus & Jan Roskosch apps (like SmartSDR for iOS) NetKeyer for all platforms Remote Ham Radio Software Defined Connectors (SDC) QK4
HaliKey MIDI No (Use NetKeyer) PTT + Morse PTT + Morse PTT + Morse PTT + Morse PTT + Morse PTT + Morse
HaliKey Serial PTT Only PTT + Morse No PTT + Morse No PTT + Morse PTT + Morse

Documentation

The HaliKey User Guide covers both HaliKey MIDI and HaliKey Serial.

Update Firmware for HaliKey MIDI

A web-based firmware flasher tool for HaliKey MIDI is at: https://electronics.halibut.com/halikey-flasher/ .  (HaliKey Serial doesn’t have firmware to upgrade, so no flasher tool is available for it.)

Weight 0.02 lbs
Pinout

Tip to CTS, Dit
Ring to DCD, Dah
Sleeve to Ground
Type

Serial, MIDI

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Documentation

HaliKey User Guide: https://halibut-electronics.github.io/HaliKey/User%20Guide.pdf All Halibut Electronics documentation can be found at: https://electronics.halibut.com/docs/

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Why does HaliKey only do CW on MacOS, and not Windows?

A: SmartSDR for Windows and SmartSDR for MacOS are written by different developers: Windows written by Flex Radio, and MacOS written my Marcus Roskosch.  They have different feature sets.  As of 2024-03-15, SmartSDR for MacOS includes a CW Keyer, but SmartSDR for Windows does not. All HaliKey does is convert left and right paddles (or straight key, or PTT) switch closures, to CTS and DSR/DCD (both) signals on a serial port.  It’s up to the software to decide what to do with those signals.  All SmartSDR for Windows knows what to do with those signals is to trigger PTT.  SmartSDR for MacOS will use them as PTT while in voice modes, or iambic paddles while in CW mode.  Full details how to configure both applications can be found in the HaliKey User Guide. It is possible to use a 3rd-party application in Windows to do CW keying.  Remote Keyer Interface (RKI) is one such program that is ALMOST there.  As of 2024-03-15, RKI v1.0.5: 1) has an iambic keyer built-in for use with the keyboard, and 2) can trigger a straight-key from CTS on the serial port.  All that needs to happen is connect those two: take events from the serial port, and trigger the existing keyer functions.  However, the current developer of RKI is uninterested in continuing development.  Some in the community are trying to get him to release the code into open source to let us continue development.  Assuming we can make that happen, then adding support for HaliKey to RKI should be simple. This entry was written on 2024-03-15.  If any of the above information has changed and I (N6MTS) haven’t updated this, please Contact Us to poke me to update this FAQ.  Thank you. 🙂

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