Not the best way to be greeted at your rural mailbox …. I'm referring to the discovery of a parcel post box in my mailbox that looked like it had been pulled down I-65 from the Louisville post office depot rather than riding in a truck.
And yes, it clunked. More of a thunk, really. I knew by the heft of the box it was a key, and feeling it bounce around inside brought me no joy. How bad is the damage? Needless damage at that. Grrrr.
The box had been pummeled by its contents, and had lost much of its shape. It only looked like a cube if you held three sides up; otherwise it kinda sprawled out. I haven't seen a box this bad in quite a while. Fortunately, the sender had taped it quite heavily. Without the benefit of the tape holding the box together, I suspect the bug and the box would have parted ways in transit.
Inside I found the key, wrapped in one layer of bubble wrap, and a woefully inadequate number of foam peanuts. Hell, they aren't that expensive, why not fill the box??
Fortunately, the bubble wrap was the “big bubble” kind, and it actually helped protect the key. The keying leve wasn't knocked loose as I suspected. The only damage was to the thumb piece (paddle).
The key, shown at right, is a 1942 Vibroplex Original DeLuxe. The bug looks a bit hazy in the photos, and that hazy is nicotine. The chrome is actually pretty good, its just coated with a lifetime of smoke. I sprayed some 409 on the base and it ran off a deep, sickly brown color. Ugh. I haven't cleaned it up thoroughly yet, I was more interested in check it for damage.
Other than the red paddle broken in the middle, the key suffered no other damage — a minor miracle considering how it was thunking around in the box. I have Krazy Glued the paddle (I'm getting pretty good at fixing them at this point, that's 2 in the last 10 days) and adjusted the key. The contacts did not need cleaning, they looked pretty good. The key plays quite well.
It arrived with just one weight, so I'm thinking the owner was a CW op with a good fist. I don't know if it is age or just the material used, but comparing the speed of this key and the 1945 key I recently received, there's a notable difference. The 1945 key is a good deal faster than its earlier brethren. Maybe its the spring steel used in the main spring. I can put my bug tamer on the key that arrived today and work just fine with just the single weight. The newer key operates at that speed with 2 weights and the tamer.
Other than the paddle, the 1942 key is in very good original condition. The base isn't perfect, but few DeLuxe keys from the WWII era are perfect. It's very good, but some minor flaws are there.
THE 'OTHER THAN KEYS' DEPT. I will soon be getting a Hy-Gain TH3MK4 from a local ham who moved to a deed-restricted property. It's in great shape and not too old. I already have 4 sections of Rohn 25G, and I will bracket that tower to the south side of our house. I've never had an HF yagi up in the air, so it would be great to operate with it. I'll add a 6 meter yagi to that as well.
I may have to cull through my duplicate keys and see what I can sell to finance a rotor and related parts.