Monday, Feb. 8, 2016 — There’s been some really nice keys pass through the portals of eBay the last few days … several I chased but came down with an acute case of lackacashia to come away a winner. Here’s a few items I thought stood out (in quality, value, price).
1944 LIGHTNING BUG. I missed the end of the auction for this key, but I guarantee you I would have snapped it up. Beautiful chrome, base is nearly flawless, what a nearly mint example of a WWII-era standard finish Lightning Bug! Sold for a high bid of $88.
MINT VIBROPLEX CASE. I don’t recall seeing another Vibroplex carrying case is such perfect condition. I thought initially this one went to the 1944 bug mentioned above, but different sellers. Complete and beautiful with the key, no less! This one attracted a LOT of attention — and bids — selling for $126. Worth every penny.
1938B MCELROY MAC KEY DELUXE. This isn’t that rare a Mac Key, but you just have to love the “marbleite” finish the deluxe keys have. This one isn’t mint, but worth the final bid of $80, particularly with the large dot stabilizer. My wife might have killed me, but it would have been mine had I the opportunity!
1935 MAC-KEY. We go from “fairly common” to “fairly rare” — boy howdy — with the 1935 Mac-Key that showed up on eBay recently. Oh, it came with a very neat Hallicrafters/McElory pamphlet too. I don’t own a 1935 Mac-Key and I expected a lot of competition for this one — they just don’t show up very often. There were some other items I decided not to pursue so I could pursue this one (and not earn excessive QRM from the XYL, HI). Thirteen of the 18 bids were submitted in the auction’s final eight minutes. I was ready to jump in, but my bid was eclipsed long before I had a chance to actually bid. The winning bid of $670 shows how competitive things were — and how few of the earliest Mac-Keys show up for sale on eBay.
HAMCO SCOTIA. The predecessor to the Vibroplex Brass Racer. Vibroplex bought the rights to the keys in 1982 and sold them as Racers. One change that Vibroplex made that I never understood. Hamco had three models of the Racer-type keys: the Scotia, the Carson and the Trinidad, each feature a different finish on the brass base. The Scotia had the satin brass finish, the Carson was polished brass and the Trinidad had an engine turned finish. A Scotia key in excellent condition sold for $46. Had it been one of the other two variations, I might have been interested. I have a Brass Racer, and unless there’s something really unique about one, I’m unlikely to buy a second (with the exception of the Chrome Racer!).
100TH ANNIVERSARY REDUX. I was a little surprised to see another 100th Anniversary Vibroplex show up on eBay this week. It started out at $49.99 and is already up to $191.38 — with more than 4-1/2 days to go! This one is SN 100A-150.
When I called about ordering one when the company was in Knoxville, Betsy told me I could request a serial number if I wanted a certain number. I did not request a special one, but kinda wish I did. The one thing I learned is that there of my 100th Anniversary keys, one of them has a twin with the exact same serial number. I would have to check on it, but wouldn’t it be a hoot to own both keys?
I’ve seen more of the Anniversary keys in the past few weeks than I’ve seen in a long time. If the “match” to mine showed up, I would have no other choice but pursue it, naturally.
SPEAKING OF 100TH ANNVERSARY KEYS. S/N 100A-365 is my go-to key now at my operating desk — I’ve made it official. Just don’t tell the 1913 Original, the Gold Bug under the desk, the two Speed-X Model 500s or the two 1938B Mac Key Deluxe keys sitting within reach, hi hi. Just can’t get enough of the key … makes me want to operate, lol.
SCREECHY SIDETONE. I know I recently mentioned firing up my Heathkit HW-16 transceiver, which is basically a simple crystal-controlled transmitter and a three-band receiver in the same case. What killed me was the “quality” of the sidetone! Holy smokes, like fingernails on a chalkboard — no, worse: A nun’s fingernails on a chalkboard.
Found a mod to reduce the sidetone level, and I’m going to have to give it a try. There’s a lot of mods and fixes for the HW-16. Mine chirps like the dickens on 15.
I also need to correct my previous statements on the HW-16’s CW filter; I wrong assumed it was an audio filter, but I read tonight that it is indeed a 500 Hz crystal lattice filter. My rig has the popular mod to switch the filter in and out, and its pretty effective. I haven’t touched the rig as far as checking its alignment since I bought it. Might want to do that.
73 ES CUL … de KY4Z SK … .dit dit ..