Year: 2007

I've been picking up some small items on eBay lately — a new antenna bracket, a network card, HT battery, etc. But I'm always watching the market for CW keys, and I'm always amazed. Amazed? […]

While I've not hit eBay hard in quite some time, a much-delayed key finally did arrive today. A very nice looking 1957 Vibroplex Original DeLuxe was listed late one Sunday night many weeks ago with […]

NEW KEY ARRIVES (FINALLY). After nearly 8 weeks, a much-awaited box was in my mailbox today — an iambic cw paddle I had won in an auction from a guy in Brazil. Brazil?? Iambic? What […]

No, I'm not referring to a fellow ham. I'm referring to my “new” 1938 McElroy Mac Key Standard semi-automatic bug that showed up on my front porch. To the collector community, it's a 1938B Mac […]

I've taken some time the last couple of days to watch some interesting auctions on eBay. I'm on a kind of streak of really liking the Les Logan Speed-X “T-Bar” bugs produced in the late […]

My bargain basement Speed-X Model 500 bug took some additional cleaning, a little adjustment, and some Tarn-X on the silver dot and dash contacts, but it was all worth the effort. Not only does the […]

I've not been very active, at least on HF, for the last couple of weeks. Most of my activity has been limited to nets on VHF and 6 meters. I've made some headway on straightening […]

The ARRL DX Contest was this past weekend, and I missed most of it. I traveled out of town for a hamfest, and didn't arrive back home until midafternoon Saturday. By the time I was […]

Code key collectors had some prime keys to chase the last few days on eBay. I was tempted to chase some Vibroplex models, but how many Original DeLuxes keys does one guy need? If I […]

A couple of pre-eBay moratorium purchases finally arrived today, both of them semi-automatic bugs. The first was a mint-in-the-box Lafayette version of the Japanese Skillman “coffin” bug. This key was not only spotless, but it […]