No, I'm not referring to the Chevrolet 409 in the subject line of this post, but to my favorite spray cleaner 409.
I've never really understood the name; were there 408 versions of the formula that failed before they got the mixture right? My former favorite from many years ago (back when I flew gas-powered airplanes) was a similar spray cleaner Fantastik. Fantastik was originally owned by Dow Chemical but is today part of the S. C. Johnson family of products.
I just looked up 409 on Wikipedia, and yes, the Formula 409 name came from the fact it was the 409th version of the formula. It was invented in 1957 by Morris D. Rouff and originally was sold only in 40-gallon drums. The product is sold by the Chlorox Co.
Enough history of spray cleaners, now just where the hell was I going with this?? Oh, yeah! Semi-automatic Morse code keys.
The 1936 McElroy Mac Key standard shown at right shows lots and lots of dust and dirt on the base. The base is black krinkled paint, it's hard as a rock, and a very durable surface. Tonight I used this key to check into the Kentucky Slow CW Net, and I've finally tinkered with the key long enough to get it adjust so it operates very smoothly and with a gentle touch. It's not quite as smooth as the DeLuxe jeweled pivot Vibroplex keys, but still very nice.
I have been operting the key for a long time but never took time to clean it. Last night, it was time. I broke out my towels, the 409, the toothbrush and went to town on the key.
It really cleaned up nicely, too. The base looks so clean and black you would swear I painted it. Everything had quite a bit of crud on it, though the key would really benefit from disassembly and some work on the brass parts. I don't think I'm going to monkey with it at all, frankly. I like the way it operates, and I don't mind that it has that patina of “old age” — hell, it IS 70-plus years old. I would rather have it as-is and feel free enough to use it rather than keep it boxed up as a museum piece.
I have a couple of keys like that too — I keep them boxed up and safely out of the way. One of them is my 100th Anniversary Vibroples Original. The key is in mint condition, and adding to its rarity is the fact that it is a serial number dupe — Vibroplex manufactured two of these special keys with the same number. Another key I have boxed and tucked away is an as-new Les Logan Speed-x Model 501 key — that's the T-bar bug that has the chrome-plated base. That key was kept in its original box and doesn't appear to have ever been used. I ask myself what good is it to have a “garage queen” key that I never use. One of these days I'll figure out an answer to that!
I have several others like that. I get more enjoyment from the ones I can actually throw on the operating desk and use — and I have dozens of those.
I really like my 1936 Mac Key, its a chunky-funky piece of history, not something you'll find in every ham shack.
One of the things I had to figure out was how to hook up some wiring to the key. The early Mac Keys did not have terminals on the base like a Vibroplex bug did. There was a “hot” terminal that was right below the dash contact; this “terminal” was nothing more than a knurled nut attached the end of the bolt that held the front end of the “hot” contact bus at the front of the key. There was not ground terminal on the key; you had to pick a spot on the base that was grounded and go with that.
On the 1936 Mac Key, I wanted to add a female RCA jack to the base in order to make it easier to hook the key up to my wiring harness. I wound up using one of the bolts on the damper assembly for the ground lug on the RCA jack. I ran the “hot” wire to the terminal on the contact post using a thin black wire. It would have looked cleaner to have drilled the base for the wire to come up right next to its attachment point by the front contact post, but I don't have the desire to go drilling on the old keys.
Ted McElroy promoted his keys for use on radio and landline telegraphy, but I don't know that I've ran across a Mac Key that showed the wear that some of the Vibroplexes I have show. That's probably because as a group, there were many more Vibroplex keys made, so more of them would survive the ages.
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I made several contacts during the Russian DX Contest today. What an easy contest to operate — just a signal report and serial number. I probably worked a dozen contacts before I heard someone reference this was the Russian contest. Had I thought about it sooner, I would have operated a little more seriously. I mostly worked Europeans, though I did hear a West Coast station work a guy signing portable KH9, Wake Island. Not a bad catch. I'm still happy with catching the Tonga station on 15 meters during the ARRL DX test.
I'm going to listen around on 40. The noise was fairly heavy on 80 tonight, and there were only two QNI for the KSN, myself and Willis, AD4DX. G'nite … 73 de KY4Z … sk … dit dit …