Yes! My long-awaited 1955 Vibroplex Lightning Bug De Luxe arrived today by USPS! I was delighted to find it in my mailbox, and let me tell you, the seller did an absolutely wonderful job of packing the key.
I probably should have taken photos of the job he did. First he encased the key in a cardboard wrap (making a triangular “tent” around the key). Then that was wrapped with bubble wrap, and packed tightly into a box. That box was then packed in a larger box that had hard styrofoam packing all around it. There was no way that key was going to get damaged, unless it was the force of a very hard hit.
The key? It looks fantastic! I love Lightning Bugs anyway, and this honey is just perfect. The only defect I can find are some very minor and very tiny pits in the chrome near the frame. Honestly, there's only a couple and they look like dust, even up close.
The key has very fast action. I used my trust “bug tamer” (solder wrapped around an alligator clip) to add a tad more weight. This worked well with the key, though the dits are still fairly rapid. The key's contacts are dirty, but still even without cleaning them it still works well.
It's hard to imagine how a key like this — 51 years old — can look this darn good sitting on my desk. The feet look like brand new, everything looks immaculate on the thing. I can't help but believe the key spent most of the last 50 years in a box or in a case. Even the factory stamp on the bottom looks fresh. Of any key I have, this is one of the ones that most deserves to find a home in a Vibroplex carrying case.
SOLAR ACTIVITY. I'm listening to 75 meters this evening, and the band is quite literally dead. The solar A index is 70, so I suspect we've had one helluva geomagnetic storm. The entire band sounds dead, though I'm hearing some activity in some areas. The band is very long, as I'm hearing distant stations on RTTY working a contest.
THE BIGGEST NEWS. My new key comes on the day that the FCC announced the end to the Morse code requirement for amateur radio. This is another historic item that eclipses the end of the Novice bands. The FCC announced the change in a public notice, though the changes won't be effective for 30 days after its published in the Federal Register. It will likely be mid to late January 2007, according to the ARRL web site.
Technicians will get the same privileges as Technician Plus, which means CW on HF as well as phone on 10-meters.
I heard this on 80 meters an hour or so ago and didn't believe it. This kind of came without warning, and without the usual Report & Order, so that will probably have to come in the next week.
The change means you won't need CW to be a get a General or Amateur Extra Class license. While I've been generally supportive of dropping the code, I believe it is still something that's a historic part of our hobby and knowledge of it is still good to have.
That's about all for now, I'm going back to the rig and tune around to see if I hear more reaction to the news. I'm a little underwhelmed; I understand how it holds folks back, but I still enjoy it. I don't think it has ever kept out the riff-raff, though it may have forced some of the undesireables to think twice — or to believe they couldn't get their ticket. Hell, it did that to me when I was 18 — took me 8 years to believe I could actually learn the code.
That's all for this time … CUL es Happy Holidays!
de KY4Z …. SK …. dit dit ….