Sunday, Aug. 13, 2017 — It has been a while since my last update, but summer activities have taken their toll on my blogging and key collecting — at least temporarily.
I’ve been following a list of interesting eBay auctions, as I’m sure you have. My wife and I spent a week in Michigan a week or so back, so that kept me off the CW nets, but I had plenty of things to keep me occupied while we were visiting our daughter in Grand Rapids.
My route to GR takes us through the suburbs of Benton Harbor, and I couldn’t help but think of the things I had back home in the shack that are Heathkit green. My second transceiver — after “Ironsides,” my Hallicrafters SR-150 — was a Heathkit SB-102, and it was a really great transceiver. Equipped with the 400 Hz CW filter, it gave me a great introduction to the Novice CW bands, and I was active on mostly 80 and 40. My goal at the time was to eventually put together what I called “my Benton Harbor S-line.” In addition to the transceiver and speaker/power supply, I added the external VFO and the station monitor. What I didn’t have was a desk large enough to sit up the entire station. But I digress.
At a consignment shop in GR, we ran across some net old electronics, including an early Lampkin frequency meter and some military test equipment that looked like it was assembled yesterday. I didn’t buy anything however — I have too much “stuff” in my shack as it is without adding to it. (Besides, my wife was with me and she was watching, lol)
But during the week out of state — and during the week before we left — I was having Morse key withdrawal symptoms, and I picked up several keys during the week before we left and the week we were gone. I had the mail held at the post office, and I think the clerk was happy to see me show up to pick up our load of mail. So lets get to a review of the keys I picked up on eBay.
HOMEBREW IAMBIC. The eBay listing on this key mentioned it was homemade but appeared to be a quality key. I can’t dispute its homemade or quality, but it is unusual. For starters, the diameter of the base is huge; the length of the levers is … well, lengthy. In addition to the keying lever length, the key is striking in its finish — the engine-turned base and related parts show that the maker was going for an unusual finish. I have yet to clean the base, and I’m assuming the corrosion will probably clean up. The brass keying levers have engine-turning too, its just hard to see due to the patina.
The contact posts — which are askew in the pic — were loose and misaligned. Once I lined them up correctly, the key actually has a pretty good feel. The contacts have close spacing and there’s not a lot of room for the levers to move anyway.
I haven’t had the key on the air, but other than its size, there’s no reason not to use it. Just don’t let it fall on your foot.
VIBROPLEX BLUE RACER. This Vibroplex Blue Racer has the pinned box hinge on the keying lever, indicating it was made prior to about 1922. I haven’t had time to closely examine the key, but judging by the photos it looks like a genuine Vibroplex. I’ll replace the post-war finger and thumb piece with the correct style later. Do I need another early Blue Racer? Probably not, but I wanted it. Nuff said.
MCELROY MODEL 600. It is easy to confuse the Model 600 designation and the S-600, but the Model 600 preceded the S-600. The Model 600 closely resembles the prior year’s deluxe Mac Key. The biggest difference is the 600 lacks the metal nameplate prior keys had. The keys have a small decal that is usually placed on the base in the area where the earlier keys had their name plate, and also on the top middle part of the pivot frame.
The marbelite finish is in pretty good shape on this key. There’s rust or corrosion evident on some of the adjustment screws, and the thumb piece is broken. It has the original finger knob and screws, so that’s a plus. The weights are also original. This key should clean up well.
MCELROY MODEL S-600 SUPER STREAM KEY. This key languished on eBay for a week or more with a fairly attractive Buy It Now price. I say “fairly attractive” because I’ve chased the S-600 models to higher price points in the past. As the photo shows, there’s some rust and corrosion to the chrome plating. Some of it may be on the surface, but much of it looks like rust beneath the plating. The clean will still clean up pretty well I think. It has a homebrew weight that’s going to be the first thing to go. I only own one of the McElroy S-600s, and this one has three mounting holes. As Tom French notes in his book on Mac, the S-600 base was available without any holes, with two holes and as in my latest key’s case, three mounting holes.
CURTIS KEYER. Another eBay goodie I bought recently but never took out of the box was a Curtis electronic keyer model EK-420, circa about 1972. It is a solid keyer from the Curtis company with an option to add an extra memory keyer. The keyer is in great shape and works fine. Picked it up for little to nothing as the seller didn’t know if it worked.
I’ve rambled on so long I’m about to bore myself to sleep. Time to post this thing and get ready for bed. More to come in the near future!
73 es CUL … de KY4Z SK …. dit dit ….