It's Saturday, Oct. 14th and I was surprised to get a new bug in the mail today. I had won an auction before I left for vacation but neglected to pay for it … yikes!! The seller was good enough to not have dinged me for my oversight. I paid as soon as I could earlier this week, and was rewarded with an wonderful addition to my Vibroplex collection.
The key that arrived is a 1934 Vibroplex Original Standard. This key has a lot of documented history, so that makes it more special as I know its history.
This key was purchased new by a Western Union telegrapher in Lincoln, Neb. in 1934. He used the key until he retired in 1972. His son was ham operator who received the key next, and he used it off-and-on for several years. He decided to sell it on eBay, and I was delighted to snap it up!
To be such a well-documented part of history, the key was incredibly cheap. It's an interesting key in other ways too.
The base of the key is a factory black wrinkle finish — complete with the gold pinstriping from the factory. Such a finish may not be rare, but its the first I've seen. I don't recall seeing similar ones on eBay before.
The base has a mounting hole drilled into it, right between the ID tag and the terminals. The hole actually nicks the ID tag, and the washer/screwhead has left an imprint on the base/tag.
The rest of the key shows wear consistent with a working key; the thumbpiece is original and has the op's thumb imprint worn into the bakelite. The contacts on the vibrating arm and the dot contact have been replaced with larger, non-factory contacts. The contacts on the adjusting screws are very small in diameter and very long in length. I have seen these contacts on other “working” bugs, and I assume they made them that way to ensure long life and service.
The main spring is bent slightly to the right, which kinda skews the key's adjustment. I need to fix that. The dot lever is very loose, just simply from wear I guess. It has a lot of play in it, but its still serviceable.
The photo of this bug doesn't do it justice, and it's probably why I got it so cheaply. People took a look at the key and didn't really read the seller's description. I'm tickled to death with this key, and its probably the best bang-for-the-buck I've gotten in some time (certainly better than the premium price paid for the Electro Bug).
MAIN KEY THE SAME. My main key at the operating position is still my 1920 Vibroplex Blue Racer. The second key is my Speed-X “T-Bar” 501 black wrinkle-based key. I've got several Vibroplex bugs laying around the desk, but they're not serious contenders for the moment. This new bug may join the crowd, lol!
I've been checking into the KSN, the slow-speed Kentucky CW net that operates daily at 3.721 MHz. On Thursday night, Glen, KO4OL, the net manager told the NCS that maybe it's time to consider a new frequency in light of the FCC's “Omnibus” Report & Order that was released this week.
It appears that on 80 Meters, the CW band will be simply 3500-3600, with Extra's having the bottom 25 kHz. The FCC has said that Novices and Tech Pluses will now have the same CW privileges on 80, 40 and 15 as do General licensees.
I will give my philosphical comments on the loss of the Novice subbands later; for now I'm going to enjoy my new bug.
I've been making a list of parts for an order from Vibroplex. This is going to be a rather pricey order too. The finger and thumb pieces have jumped from $5 to $8 each. I need the usual parts — finger pieces, weights, screws, feet and screws, etc. About a $100 worth.
I better run for now. Heck, I might be missing something on eBay!
73 es CU AGN on CW … de KY4Z … dit dit