Saturday, May 10, 2014, 11 p.m. — It has been much too long since I last wrote in this space, but life has a way of keeping distractions in the forefront despite one’s best efforts to stay on target. The target in this case, is blogging about ham radio and my beloved Morse keys.
Yesterday I successfully defended my master’s thesis in front of my thesis committee, which was the final act that completes the master’s of science degree I have been working on the past 2-1/2 years. To celebrate (in my own, eccentric way) was to seriously straighten up a portion of the shack, and to start figuring out what’s in all of those USPS Priority Mail boxes shoved under my computer desk.
This little jewel is one of those gems. This key was one I picked up on eBay in July 2012 (!) from Roy Herbert in Arizona and never opened the box until yesterday. As frequent readers may know, I have a soft spot in my heart (or head, my wife insists) for homebrew bugs. This 
one, my friends, is a dandy.
PRECISION HOMEBREW BUG. This key combines a variety of materials — brass, plated steel and … stainless steel?? Top it off with an interesting dot damper, and you have a first-rate bug.
The workmanship of this key is excellent … I’m still not sure if this is a vintage homebrew or a more recent key …. I tend to think it is of a more recent vintage. How recent? Hard to say. But note the pivot hinge — it closely resembles the old pinned-box hinge used on the early Vibroplex keys, but on closer inspection, you can see that it is not!
I really like the look of the pivot frame … the builder wisely used a wire to insure the electrical connection between the pivot frame and the lever. The base doesn’t appear to be painted or plated … it seems to be a natural finish metal, a satin finish. I haven’t looked closely at the bottom to check if the finish is natural or a coating. One thing worth mentioning is the weight of the base …. it is very heavy compared to a standard steel or cast base.
I may need to get more pics of the dot damper the maker designed. It make a large “U” but believe it or not, it works well. Right out of the box, I took it to the operating position and attached leads to it. It was out of adjustment, but once dialed it, it was as smooth as any the other high-quality keys I own.
The damper is a very simple disk, similar to that found on Speed-X keys. The finger and thumb pieces area also interesting … the thumb piece has recessed screws and is well 
finished. The workmanship of this key is excellent. Clearly someone cared about what they were doing.
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Now that my degree is complete, you can anticipate on more frequent entries in this space. I don’t know how many new keys I’ll be pursuing; I watch a bunch of them on eBay all the time, but haven’t been bidding much for several reasons (paying the last of my tuition to complete my degree among them!). I hope now I’ll spend more time behind the key too. I have a great many keys I’ve never had on the air more than once, and its time to rectify that situation.
Click the photos to enlarge them, and enjoy.
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