It was like Christmas in September today at my home … between FedEx and the USPS, I wound up with lots of stuff today.
It's been a ham radio Saturday today, too. My daughter and I went to the Louisville, Ky. Hamfest and had a great time. I bought a few connectors and other assorted and sundry odds and ends. I saw a few really good deals but passed them up. I'm pretty much radio poor anyway, and I'm really wanting to buy a new Icom IC-756 PROIII rather than yet another old rig.
A guy had a complete Kenwood TS-520 station there for $350. I could have parted it out on eBay for much more — TS-520s are bringing more than $200 every day. All the accessories made it a really sweet deal, but no takers as of the time I left.
One boatanchor that caught my eye was a Hammarlund HQ-145 … it looked fair enough, but the guy had a price of $265 on it — way more than I wanted to spend for a so-so receiver.
There was quite a bit of Drake gear there this year. Several TR-4s, L4Bs, C-lines and such. I saw a couple of nice looking Ten-Tecs — an Omni V and a Paragon, but I wasn't interested in them, at least not with a new Icom in my sights.
As I mentioned earlier, today was a “key” day for me. In one package, I received the Skillman/Hi-Mound single paddle bug that was marketed by Radio Shack, Lafayette and othe electronic stores. It's in decent shape, but the paddle had been broken off at one time, and it's been glued back on rather messily with what looks like hot glue. I would like to clean that crap off and fix it better.
Fortunately the key's action is complete and smooth. I like these Skillman bugs, they are very, very smooth to use, and can operate fine with speeds under 20 wpm.
Another key I picked up is a Hi-Mound HS-706. This is the double paddle iambic keyer that Hi-Mound made. This is the early version with the grey base. The later ones selling now have black bases. I was surprised with how sweet a key the HS 706 really is. The paddles are very close together, which appears to be common with Japanese keys. I've tried it out momentarily, and like it — which surprised even me! I cranked up the speed, and boy howdy, I can tell you that this would be a great high-speed key. Unfortunately, I'll never be a high-speed operator, hi hi. Anyway, the key is surprising in how nice it feels — superior to my other iambic paddles. I want to give the key a good workout this winter on the air.
The third and final key is the Electric Specialty Manufacturing key, aka “The Cedar Rapids Bug.” This key arrives in good shape, but not pristine. There was some sort of extension added to the pendulum, and there's only one weight on it. For a lesser-known bug, it's really not in bad shape. The kit was created by George Wilson and was first offered as a kit in 1938. This makes the second Cedar Rapids Bug I own; the first is in pristine condition. This one isn't bad, either, just not as complete.
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I didn't see a single Vibroplex bug at the hamfest today. I saw a new Bencher BY-2 for a $100 price — not too shabby. But I'm not in the market for one, even though I like the look.
I'm hoping to start restoration of some of my Vibroplex bugs. I realize this would send some collectors into fits, as they seem to want to keep the keys “as found.”
I figure that since they're my keys, they're here for me to enjoy. Some I am going to try to restore. Others I won't. End of discussion.
I think the first one will be my latest Vibroplex acquisition, the 1926 black jappaned-base Original model I got in the mail Friday. The base has some of the original pinstriping visible, but the paint is really bad. There are chips all around it, and rust spots that are popping up under the finish. I need to strip it and repaint it.
The next question will be — what to paint it with?
I don't have a problem using lacquer, since that's what they used in Japan for the “black japanned” finish. Some U.S. reproduction finishes used asphaltum and linseed oil, and this mixture was painted on. I've decided I want to just prime the base for rust resistance and shoot it with black acrylic lacquer. The only difference between the traditional “organic” lacquer and acrylic is the acrylic will wear longer, resist cracking better, and just plain look better for a longer period of time.
The original finish was laid over the steel with no primer coat. I don't really want to do that with my restorations, since the primer coat is where you'll get to improve the finish by block sanding. I'm going to try it using my traditional body shop methods and then see where it needs to go from there.
I'm also contemplating pinstriping the base and then shooting a clear coat of urethane over the whole thing — to protect the pinstriping and add luster to the lacquer basecoat. I shot a Z-28 for a guy –a bright red one — using lacquer with a uerthane clear, and man oh man! What a deep shine it had! The clear coat was activated with a hardener, so it was no problem to sand and buff, either.
It's a lot of trouble for a 3 1/2 by 6 1/2-inch base plate for a morse code key, granted!
The easy thing would be to simply strip and repaint the base, pinstripe it with some good 1-Shot metallic gold and be done with it. It'll all wear just fine.
The next thing I need to look at is nickel and chrome plating the key's parts, something I can do from home. More about that later. Now I've got to check on my eBay auctions.
73,
Jim