It's been prime time for DX on 10 and 6 meters the last few days. I'm listening to a Florida ham in QSO with a guy in the Midwest. I can hear both sides of the QSO, and the guy in Fla. is running 10 watts QRP and he's booming in nearly 10 over S9 on peaks.
The static crashes on 80 were particularly bad last night, I had a hard time copying all the stations on the KSN. I'm still using the TS-430S and it does a very good job. I am going to refinish the cabinet at some point, I bought a can of the proper color spray paint off eBay. The top cover of the TS-430 needs painting, and I'll probably do both covers at the same time.
A fellow who lists related parts on QTH said he would exchange my covers for $25 — I have to give him my old ones in return. The covers he has are — surprise — recently repainted. I'm sure he simply paints them and resells them. Heck, I can do that, and that's just what I'm going to do. I've not yet bought any additional filters for the rig, though I see why the AM filter is a necessity. I've been doing some SWL'ing with the rig, and the audio quality without the filter is just awful.
I'm hoping to do a program at an upcoming club meeting on SWL'ing, so I was trying to log a few of the easier-to-find stations. I switched from the Kenwood to the Icom simply because I couldn't stand the receive audio the Kenwood offers without the filter.
I hope to also do a little discussion of utility SWL'ing, which to me was always a fascinating part of the hobby. I used to listen to the ship-to-shore telephone stations running phone calls to all of the cruise ships. While divulging the contents of the comms is illegal, it was certainly some interesting listening.
KEY ARRIVAL. A new key I won on eBay arrived yesterday — a 1944 Vibroplex WWII DeLuxe. The key is mint, having spent most of its life inside a Vibroplex case. The seller, unfortunately, sold the key and its case separately. I didn't catch the case before it sold, but I did get the key.
The “WWII DeLuxe” keys are unique because the base is not chrome plated like the normal “DeLuxe” model. Due to materials shortages, the base was painted a special color; Vibroplex called it “battleship grey,” and they noted in their ads that they were suspending the use of chrome on the DeLuxe bases. The chrome bases returned the following year, making the WWII DeLuxe a bit of a rare item.
The key pictured is not the one I bought, but mine is just like it (other than it does not have the paint chips shown). The listing photo the seller had was dark and the key really looked bad. I was very pleased at the key's appearance,
The DeLuxe key has all the features of the usual DeLuxe, save for the chrome base. I've always wondered how Vibroplex managed to keep using chrome plating on the small parts if they couldn't use it on the bases. They never suspended the manufacture of keys during the war. In fact, according to the Elwood list, production jumped significantly during the war years.
Vibroplex produced approximately 2,300 keys during 1941, jumping to 4,100 in 1942, 3,100 in 1943, 11,000 in 1944 and about the same for 1945. Producton dropped back to about 4,000 a year following the war. These totals don't include the totals for the military versions of Vibroplex keys.
I didn't have time to put the key on the air last night, but I did check it out for function and its in great shape.
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The 10 meter band is calling me… just copied the mail on a QSO between a guy in North Carolina and one in New Jersey, and now a guy in Texas is in QSO with a guy in Alabama. Get it while its hot!