Saturday, Aug. 20, 2011, 11:18 p.m. — I’ve been enjoying some quality time in the shack today, cleaning up a key I’ve had a while, and enjoying a new surprise key I sniped on eBay last weekend.
1978 VIBROPLEX LIGHTNING BUG STANDARD. I have had this key around for more than a week, but its been on the back burner. It’s one of the keys from Vibroplex’s days in Maine … a very late Lightning Bug that was offered right before the key was discontinued … it makes it one of the final keys in that model. It makes it somewhat rare and collectible, though from the price I paid that clearly wasn’t on anyone’s mind!
The notion that the “Maine” keys are collectible really hasn’t settled into my cranium … I have not found those keys to be anything beyond “run-of-the-mill” … with the exception of the glued-on nameplates … those things are terrible! This key has one, and one edge of it has lifted. I’m not gluing it back; in fact, I would like to remove it and re-position it. If you look at the photo, you’ll notice the nameplate butts against the terminal screws. On the Lightning Bugs with the riveted nameplates, they were more centered on the base. That’s my second-biggest 
gripe with the glued-on nameplates, they were positioned poorly.
I disassembled this key entirely and cleaned a not of grime off the base and chrome parts. It cleaned up pretty well; the base is what it is, but it only has minor paint loss along one edge. I just do not like the light gray color.
I bought this key with the notion of possibly repainting the base to look like the old black japanned base, like the 100th Anniversary Original. I’ve decided NOT to do that right now, though that option is out there. This being one of the last Lightning Bugs produced, I’m not sure I want to strip it down and make it lose its “originality.”
NORCAL QRP PADDLE. The compact iambic paddles pictured here may look like the Vibroplex Code Warrior Jr, but it isn’t — this key is its predecessor.
It’s the K8FF paddle, a kit offered by the Northern California QRP club. The key was the winner of the 1997 NorCal Design Contest, and the club kitted it and sold them that year. I don’t know the date, but sometime the following year (I believe) Vibroplex bought the design for the key. Vibroplex refined the key and dubbed it the “Code Warrior Jr.,” later coming out with the chrome-plated base “Chrome Warrior” and the aluminum base key, the “Lite Warrior.”
I purchased a NorCal K8FF key at the last Northern Kentucky hamfest they had 6 or 7 years ago. The Code Warrior Jr. had been out a number of years, and I knew this key was its kit-version predecessor. You don’t see many of these for sale on eBay.
I saw this key the first time a few weeks ago; it was first sold on Aug. 4, 2011, by a seller in Glen Cove, NY. My seller bought it for $40, kept it about a week, then listed it on eBay himself. He took a small loss on the sale to me.
I’m not sure what he didn’t like about the key; I don’t particularly like the color of the base, but that’s just me. I had to adjust the contacts a bit, but it played very well once I adjusted it; in fact, it’s a “tighter” paddle than the first one I bought some years ago.
Maybe he thought he was getting the Code Warrior Jr.? All I know is he sure was quick to put it back on eBay.
-30-