Monday, Jan. 18, 2016 — I spent some time in the shack this weekend tuning the CW bands, but also took a little time to work some of the North American QSO Party. It is one of my favorite contests — largely due to the fact it is a little more laid back. I only worked a few stations on 40 and 15, but I wasn’t planning on contesting, so had a pretty full slate of stuff going on anyway.
Last night I made it into the shack in time for the Georgia Training Net. K3Y/8 was operating 1 kc above the net, but it wasn’t causing a problem. The KYN was operating on 3535; I switched memories back and forth once I checked in … KO4OL was NCS on KYN.
While I was in the shack earlier Sunday, I dug out the 1913 Vibroplex Original shown above. It is in as-found condition .. I’ve had it for four or five years and haven’t done anything with it — beyond testing it.
Looking back in my blog, I found that I was having trouble with scratchy dots with this key. This one worked very hard for a living, judging by the wear and tear and the amount of wear on the contacts. At any rate, I had one of my RCA jack thingie-do’s already on it from way back when, so I decided to get the key on the air last night. I spent about 15 minutes messing with the contact post and the dot contact on the lever, but finally got it adjusted so the dots were clean.
I should have gotten a close-up of the dot post contact …. the wear is significant. The double paddle arrangement probably isn’t stock, and I can say without a doubt the electrical friction tape wasn’t standard equipment, hi hi. The nameplate is the early style known as B4 … six lines, four patents listed and “Others Pending.”
The nameplate was unique to 1913 models; the 1912 nameplates (dubbed the B3 plates) had five lines with three patent dates and the usual “others pending.” Vibroplex nameplates seemed to evolve frequently in the early days.
The key performed fine, though I had to adjust the orientation of the dot contact; the wear on the contact screw seemed to create scratchy dots depending largely on how the screw contact met with the dot contact on the lever arm … just one of the quirks of using a 103-year-old bug I suppose.
When I bought the key I though it might be a candidate for refurbishing, starting with the removal of the friction tape from the business end of the lever. I haven’t done anything to it, and the truth is the taped-up finger pieces have an interesting feel.
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