Sunday, Nov. 15, 2015 — As luck would have it, no sooner than I post yesterday’s rambling entry in this space, I happened to visit eBay and — lo and behold — there’s a second Martin Rotoplex listed.
I’m not sure what turn of events have transpired to cause such an event to take place … was it some uniquely rare alignment of planets? Some otherworldly decision by the ethereal Supreme Council of the Spirits of Telegraphy to release such an event on us mere mortals? Or just the Philosophers of Old say in Latin, perhaps it was plain old “Dumbus Lucki.”
Whatever the causation, at the end of the day it is purely an academic discussion that makes little difference. As we all know, such an occurrence cannot be duplicated by the likes of mortal men (or women). The event is ours to enjoy, ours to celebrate, ours over which to salivate.
SIGNAL CORP. ROTOPLEX NO. 29 LISTED WHILE NO. 78 SOLD. This Rotoplex auction was listed a couple of days ago; at this writing, there’s just over 1 day and 5 hours left in the 3-day auction. To have two Rotoplexes appear on eBay back-to-back is indeed a rare occasion.
The appearance of this one makes the first one’s sale price of just under $1000 appear to be a bargain — this one has a Buy It Now price of $2,500 (or submit a best offer).
What I did not realize until last night, but this latest Rotoplex, the one that just sold on eBay, and the one I own are all siblings; my Rotoplex has the identical Signal Corp nomenclature on it, the same manufacture date (4-5-43), same contract number, the same order number. Where this latest one is No. 29, mine is Serial No. 18. No. 78 is the key that sold earlier (Nov. 12, 2015) for $992.
In comparing my Rotoplex and the latest one for sale, mine appears to have either spent more time in a case or just saw less usage. No. 29 isn’t a rough key at all, don’t get me wrong. I would certainly love to own it! But the chrome parts and the name plates appear to show more handling and probable use than mine.
My Rotoplex and No. 78 are very similar in wear patterns; for some reason, the left side of the large Rotoplex name plate seems to show wear, a commonality among Rotoplexes I’ve seen. Perhaps that’s the spot many CW ops would place their hand to steady the key.
I actually got my Rotoplex out and set it up at the operating position … it might be a kick to put it on the air for Straight Key Night. I hadn’t really tried it out as the adjustments were all whacked out. But its a very fast and smooth key, despite its ripe old age of 72. My Rotoplex has a non-original weight, so I needed to add my homebrew bug tamer to bring her back down to the speeds I’m comfortable working.
Given the fact the latest seller has the listing indicating they consider offers, I wondered to myself last night if I the seller would accept an offer I could afford, along with my sworn promise to shelter, pamper and keep said Rotoplex in its honored place among the elite of the rarest of species, Keyus Unobtainimous. Nay, I strongly suspect my meager offer would likely insult the seller, who apparently knows what he or she wants from their Rotoplex.
MISSED IT BY THAT MUCH, CHIEF. With the WAE RTTY DX contest underway last night and the CQ WE CW contest filling the cw subbands, I had to look around a bit to find the Kentucky CW Net (KYN). My plan was to check in but I was late getting to the party. Willis, AD4DX was NCS, and he cleared the last two stations and before I could get my antenna tuner set, he cleared the net. Willis was one of the ops I met nearly 10 years ago on the Kentucky Slow CW Net (KSN). He was a guy always happy to slow down to help a newer CW op get on the air. I guess I’ll look for the net again and check in, there won’t be a contest underway tonight.
73 es CUL de KY4Z … sk CL … dit dit