[GreenKeys] Paper tape handling

[Eric Scace K3NA]

Another approach is to coil the tape into a figure-8 as 
follows (assuming you are right-handed):

1.  Hold your left hand in the air, palm facing to the 
right, and fingers spread apart.  Place the start (first 
characters to be sent) of the tape between the index finger 
and 3rd finger of your left hand, with the tape hanging in 
front of the palm, and grasp the end with these two fingers.

2.  With the right hand, pick up the tape at the point next 
to the palm and loop it around the left hand's thumb, top to 
bottom.

3.  Allowing the tape to slide through the fingers of the 
right hand, continue to guide the tape back across the left 
palm and around the little finger, top to bottom.  Continue 
back across the palm over the thumb, so that you are weaving 
a figure 8 shape.

4.  Continue wrapping the tape over the previous layers 
around the little finger and thumb until you reach a point 
about 1 ft from the end.

5.  Carefully remove the figure-8 collection of tape from 
the thumb and little finger.  Wrap the remaining "tail" of 
tape a couple of times around the neck (middle) of the 
figure 8, and then stick the last few inches through one of 
the holes of the figure-8.  You can now hang the tape from a 
wire (e.g., paper clip) or store it in a box.

To read the tape, just undo the wrap made in step 5, place 
the bundle on the floor, and left the start of the tape out 
of the middle.  Place the start in the TD.  The tape will 
feed out of the center of the bundle without twisting.

This method works great on chad tape (holes punched clear 
through), but chadless tape will coil up fine this way (a 
little bulkier) if you smooth the lids down between the 
fingers of the right hand while winding.

I coiled many miles in this way.  It's quick and does not 
require a machine.

-- Eric K3NA