[Heath] HD-8999 keyboard.

[Kenneth G. Gordon]

I have the subject keyboard, and use it regularly. It is a very nice unit and 
works flawlessly.

I bought it originally because I have very bad rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and 
anticipated having increasing difficulty using my 75 year old MacKey bug as 
my condition gets worse. So far, that hasn't happened, although my wrist and 
fingers do hurt after heavy use of the bug. This, of course, effects the quality 
of my sending.

I also bought a Bencher paddle and a Heathkit HD-1410 keyer, but, at least 
so far, have been completely unable to train my ancient body to use the 
combo with any competence at all.

There are several things I would like to do with the HD-8999. First of all, and 
what I consider the most important, is that the straight keyboard also hurts 
my wrists and fingers after prolonged use. Therefore, I cannot use it for 
extended periods.

For my computer, I have used the so-called "natural" or "curvy" keyboard for 
the past several years with considerable success, as that very significantly 
reduces the pain of typing versus the straight type of keyboard.

I would like to modify the HD-8999 to be able to plug one of the "curvy" 
keyboards into it while using it.

Secondly, I am wondering if it would be possible to somehow modify the HD-
8999 to accept the input of a text file of some sort from an external source, 
like a computer, so that the keyboard would automatically send that text file 
as perfect machine-sent CW.

The built-in memory is much too small to be effectively used for what I have 
in mind.

The HD-8999 contains some built-in code practice that is quite extensive, so 
I would think that what I propose could be done fairly easily, if a proper 
interface could be designed and built.

Has anyone here done anything like this, or, has had extensive experience 
with the HD-8999?

I welcome any comments.

Ken Gordon W7EKB