Friday, Oct. 6, 2017 –– Sharp-eyed readers may have already identified an interesting issue with a CW key I recently acquired.
I recently purchased a key I have wanted for years — a Vibroplex Square Racer. I can’t explain why, but I have never found the Brass Racer series attractive. It must be the wooden base, as I had no desire to owner the Brass Square Racer either. The action on Racer keys are identical versions of the well-established version of the FYO design.
Well, as fate would have it, opportunity knocked, and I wound up with an as-new Square Racer Deluxe. If I was buying new, I would have mostly likely opted for the Standard finish, simply to avoid having to clean off fingerprints all the time, but I digress. In my book, the Square Racer represents a great value, given the fact that the Bencher BY-1 is $30 higher (standard finish).
The new key arrived recently, and I decided to put the key on the air for that evening’s CW traffic net. I plugged the key in the jack while the IC-756PROII was booting, and when the rig came to life, so did the sidetone ” … dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah nauseum …” The key was set for very close contact spacing; was a lever jostled during transit? Nope, the contacts are very close but not touching.
I turned the key over and saw that the ground wire on the key’s three-conductor cable was connected to the dah contact post. What? The wiring, as shown in the photo, looks like brand new. I’m not convinced the key didn’t leave Knoxville with that wiring, but hey, mistakes can happen. The seller mentioned the key had “little use,” and I believe that … I suppose it could have been wired to operate in a fox hunt situation perhaps, or possibly to irritate some overpowered Freebanding ne’er-do-wells whose “bodacious” signals were trashing 25-30 MHz. We had a CB’er in out town who would have won the “Worked All Household Electronic Appliances” award due to his trashy-ass AM signals. I think every ham has his version of this guy.
After moving the ground off the dah contact, the key works perfectly — imagine that! Does it feel different than my old Brass Racer. Yes, but only because the return magnets on the older key are nearly touching the levers; the Square Racer has the magnets adjust away from the lever; after all, the magnet only needs to bring the lever back to its proper position. The new Racer has a much lighter feel for that reason. I’m going to have to find the proper allen wrench to adjust the 
Brass Racer.
EBAY OBSERVATIONS. There was a key sold recently on eBay that I suspect many collectors (myself included) were watching closely: A 1937 McElroy Navy-issue Mac Key. When I saw the listing show up in the key category, I suspected it was from Tom French’s estate and it indeed was one of Tom’s collection. And what a key! Bidding started at $495 and ended at $901. I considered pursuing it, but figured it would end up hitting $1,000. What a great key!
I’ll have a review of new little rig I purchased later, maybe even video (you’ve been warned!.
73 es CUL … de KY4Z SK … dit dit ….