Early Thursday, July 23, 2020
I have been checking in lately on my CW traffic net with a mid-1960s Vibroplex Lightning Bug Deluxe and enjoying getting my bug fist back in practice (as much as it can be anyway). Tonight I returned to my main shack and checked in on my Yaesu FT-2000 with my Vibrocube Standard. I have two of these keys, one here in the library, and my original one in the main shack.
A previous owner of my first Vibrocube bought a second set of paddles, and basically installed two paddles on each lever. I suspect the paddles as they come from Vibroplex tend to have some flex, and I’m betting it could be pretty easy to break one of those paddles off with a sharp hit from moving a rig or accessory around. I didn’t notice the double paddles until I got the key out of the box. The paddles don’t flex, and I suspect they’re less susceptible to damage.
My radio fund is continuing to build as I sell my rigs on eBay. I have several more to sell of my modern rigs, i.e., IC-756PRO, IC-746, Yaesu FT-950, etc.
A NEW MAC-KEY IN MY FUTURE. I ran across a 1936A McElroy Mac-Key for sale on eBay with a very reasonable Buy It Now price. The key is very clean and very complete. I figured, “what the heck!” and purchased it earlier tonight. The key is S/N 6603, and even comes with a dot stabilizer and a couple of non-original but large brass weights. Like Tom French told me once, “A man can never have too many T.R. McElroy keys.” (hi hi!)
IS THERE A NEW YAESU IN MY FUTURE? While I had been seriously considering the IC-7610 as my next rig, I’m actually leaning more now toward the Yaesu FTDX-101D. There are some excellent comparison videos on YouTube that do a great job comparing their features.
Truth be told, I doubt that my kind of operating would notice any difference between the two transceivers. I just like the look of the new Yaesu. It is priced a little higher than the IC-7610, but that’s OK.
SELL, SELL, SELL. I’ve decided that I won’t quit selling radio “stuff” when I have enough cash-in-hand to buy a new radio. I still have rigs in the attic that have never been taken out of the shipping box that I purchased over the past 10 or more years via eBay.
I expect that after I purchase a rig, I’ll use future auction proceeds to pursue some of the rarer CW keys for my collection. And there’s always the new Icom QRP rig that I’m really fascinated by, the IC-705. I would love to have one of those here in the library simply to have a smaller rig. I would get a power amp for the rig to boost it closer to 100 watts, I think. Well, it doesn’t cost anything to dream, hi hi!
SWAN SONG. Don’t ask me why, but I got a wild hair last week and decided to send an offer to a seller with a Swan 350 with the power supply. Admittedly, I low-balled the seller, and was surprised when he accepted my offer.
I ALWAYS get nervous when people list an auction with both the rig and power supply with a fairly low shipping cost listed. What this means is that they’re probably going to ship the rig and power supply in the same box, which is an invitation for disaster.
The rig arrived today, and I unboxed it. Everything looks pretty good, thankfully. I did plug the rig up and give it a try, but the speaker wire connnect was cut, so I need to make some repairs on that. I’ve owned a Swan 350 in the past, and I never could get the bandswitch clean to my satisfaction. The rig seemed to drive a hell of a lot. Anyway, I ended up buying the rig and power supply for the price of a used Swan power supply. I have a Swan 500 in the basement, and I would like to put that rig on the air. I have a Swan 250 6 meter rig down there too, and 30 years ago I made a hell of a lot of QSOs on it with a Hilltopper portable beam in the next room mounted on a floor mike stand, lol!
I think once I get my modern rigs sold, I’m going to take a break from selling and spend some time working on my Heathkits, the SB-102 and the HW-101. I’m anxious to spend time getting those rigs operational. The SB-102 was my first real CW rig, and I can’t wait to spend some time working CW on it.
73 es CUL … de KY4Z … SK SK …. (dit dit) …