Thursday, Dec. 12, 2013, 11:06 p.m. — I’ve been slaving away at my final exam due tomorrow, so much so that I’ve pretty much ignored my hobby interests — ham radio and morse keys.
GOLD BUG UPDATE. My Bunnell Gold Bug arrived today in a small USPS Priority Mail box … a very small one at that. The key had a single wrap of small bubble bubble wrap; if it weren’t for the strength of the packing tape over both ends I suspect the bug would have beaten its way out of the box. I was non too pleased to see such inadequate packing; I’ve had too many keys in the past suffer at the hands of the gorillas at UPS, etc., and even my kids know the difference between a key that’s packed one and one that is not. I’m not sure if I should credit Bunnell or Lady Luck, but the only affect the key suffered was the lollipop finger piece, which was slightly loosened in the shaky transit.
I have not had much time yet to play with the key. As noted yesterday, the key is missing the original weight and the circuit closer. I’m assuming it came with a circuit closer, though there is no evidence the key had one … no scratches or wear pattern to indicate the presence of a circuit closer. There’s also no “clip” to receive the shorting lever as shown above.
On closer inspection, I believe the key DID have a Gold Bug name plate. The holes are there in the base, though I can’t exactly tell that a nameplate was ever there. The base has the same wear and tear in that spot as anywhere else on the base. Maybe cleaning it up some will show more.
I have been thinking about duplicating the Gold Bug logo … not in metal, but by making a mold and using resin to cast a duplicate. The duplicate could be painted to look like brass in a similar manner Vibroplex painted the tin nameplates to look like brass during World War II. Anyway, just an idea.
VIBROPLEX ZN ULTIMATE. I may regret writing this, but I find myself a little 
underwhelmed by the just-released photos of the Vibroplex ZN Ultimate magnetic return iambic key. The key uses ball bearings instead of jeweled movements, and magnets instead of springs.
Why underwhelmed? I guess that it goes back to my anticipation for this key. The one thing I did not anticipate when I first read about this key was that it would use the typical Vibroplex mainframe for mounting the key levers. Of course, this is what makes it uniquely Vibroplex, I guess. While this is selling the key short, when you look at it it looks a LOT like a Vibroplex Iambic on a round base with the K6JW paddles. All the parts other than the round base look largely like stock Vibroplex parts. Of course, I know the mainframe uses ball bearings and magnets rather than jeweled movements and springs.
While the key uses the standard Vibroplex main frame, from the photo it looks like there’s nothing really to “dress up” the top of the frame; the jeweled movements have the red decorative “jewel” to dress up the top and cover the tops of the threaded holes. I may be wrong, but without something on top of the mainframe, it looks a little naked. I might be all wet, and I’ll have to give the key a closer look.
When Vibroplex announced it would have a ZN collaborative key, I wondered what how much would be ZN and how much would be Vibroplex. I’m assuming Vibroplex could pretty easily “upgrade” the Vibroplex Iambic by swapping out the regular iambic frame and levers with the ZN parts. That would create an interesting one-of-a-kind key, and a true collectible. Anyone want to order one??
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