The Society of Amateur Radio Operators (SARO), formed in 1937 in the San 
Francisco Bay Area, has recently reached back into the far distant past 
to come up with a "Sideswiper Net."

Old-timers may know what a sideswiper is, but for the younger members of 
the fraternity, it is a key that operates somewhat like a bug or an 
electronic keyer. On such keys - as you probably know - a push of the 
thumb produces a series of dots, and a push of the first finger produces 
a dash on a bug, or a series of dashes with an electronic keyer. But the 
sideswiper, or "cootie" key, makes a dash with either the thumb or first 
finger.

To make a dot, you just tap either side of the paddle(s) lightly. To 
make two dots, you tap first the left side and then the right side. To 
make an "S" you tap left-right-left, or you may make it by tapping 
right-left-right, and so on. For a "K" you can make a dash with the 
finger, a dot with the thumb, and the second dash with the finger; or 
again, you can reverse it and make a dash with the thumb, dot with the 
finger and dash with the thumb.

Sounds easy, doesn't it? Well it isn't. If you don't believe me, try it.

To try to send with a cootie key, you can use one of several types of 
keys. One of the easiest is to use an electronic key paddle that has a 
center lead and two outside leads (to the right and left contacts). By 
tying these two outside leads together, the center and outside leads 
make up a cootie key circuit. Or you can homebrew a short piece of 
hacksaw blade held at one end above a base board, that can be pushed 
against a contact to the right or against a contact to the left.

You can fashion your own paddle out of a piece of 1/8" 3-ply and glue or 
bolt it to the end of the hacksaw blade. You can also bolt two hand keys 
together, base-to-base, and fix them so the bases are at 90º from a 
wooden - or better yet, a heavy metal - base.

By far the simplest cootie key is made by tying the end of the vibrating 
end of a bug to its backstop with a rubber band so that the rod cannot 
move off of the backstop. Then with the thumb pushed to its stop, adjust 
the dot contact until it makes a solid electrical connection - and you 
have an excellent working sideswiper.

These keys were used 100 years ago by telegraphers, and later by the 
early-day radio operators. Around the '30s they began to disappear, and 
it is unusual to hear an old-timer pounding brass on a sidewinder any 
more. Once in a while you will hear one, probably on 40 or 80 M. They 
have a distinctive sound because it is extremely hard to make similar 
dots with both thumb and first finger, or similar dashes with thumb and 
finger. In most cases, a computer will not copy transmissions made by 
cootie key because of the "swing" of the sending. It tends to separate 
the men from the boys as operators. You usually can't cheat by copying 
cootie key operators with a computer; you have to be able to read the 
stuff by ear.

Actually, it requires many hours of practice on THE QUICK BROWN FOX 
JUMPED OVER THE LAZY DOGS BACK 1234567890.?, BT AR AS and SK before an 
operator dares to put his sending on the air. However, if you are one 
who enjoys a challenge, you will find your match in a sideswiper.

The SARO Sideswiper Net is on 3668.5 kHz at 9 a.m. Pacific Time on 
Tuesday mornings if you are interested and live in the central 
California area. If out of the area, you might try setting up a net of 
your own, if you can find any people crazy enough to check in with you.

It is a little painful to transmit with these keys. It is surprising how 
hard it is for an old-time bug or electronic key operator to train the 
part of his brain that the cootie key operates from. That old thumb just 
won't make dashes correctly!

NOTE:  Bob, W6BNB is a silent key now, but the Side Swiper Net lives on, 
see http://sideswipernet.org for times and frequencies.  The net has 
sessions in Europe/Africa, USA, Far East/Australia, and International.  
Bob was a major force in this net before he passed.  Others who helped 
this net along were Yann, F5LAW, Ben N6SL, David N1EA, and others.  Join 
us or just listen in to the fun.

73

SSN