Saturday, Dec. 12, 2015 — Another night, another net check-in. Time snuck up on me this evening and the next thing I notice is that its 12 minutes to 9 p.m. — net time!
The key Iast used, the Les Logan Speed-X 500, was not at the operating desk because I have moved it out of the shack to photograph it for this blog. In fact, both of the keys I last photographed were missing in action from the desk. Yikes!
I decided to put the next key on my desk to work — my Vibroplex 100th Anniversary Original, Serial No. 100A-406. I didn’t have time to do much setup or cleaning, and thankfully, none was needed.
The key has been sitting on the operating desk tucked under the lowest shelf for most of the last 4 years, and is mostly suffering from dust and a little dirt since it arrived in May 2011.
So tonight was I used the key in any sort of contact, and of course, it worked fine.
Being a December weekend, the 80-meter CW subband was very active, and Willis, AD4DX had to slide in between two existing QSOs in order to run the next near its announced frequency. But the net went off without a hitch; I may go back in the shack to tune around some more.
The key felt very crisp; not necessarily better or worse than the Speed-X or the Mac Key, just different.
KEY UPDATE. Acoording to the USPS tracking data, my 1921 Vibroplex Original will arrive Monday, which means I’m going to have to get to the mailbox before my wife does! OK, maybe she won’t kill me, but I’ve already gotten some eBay goodies (headphones, 500GB portable hard drive, etc.) and told me “Merry Christmas.”
If I can, I plan to clean the contacts and perhaps get the key on the air in the next few nights. I am going to be busy Tuesday night, so we’ll see how things work out. I may be operating “doghouse remote” by then, you never know, lol.
73 es VY GN de KY4Z SK … dit … dit …