Saturday, Oct. 31, 2020
After 10 days of waiting, the two-pin molex connector finally arrived a couple of days ago, and I connected my Heathkit HD-8999 UltraPro CW keyboard to 12vdc power.
The keyboard works great; the only drawback I can find is the top row of keys; they’re printed in a very, very dark red/maroon color, and unless you have very good lighting, those keys are difficult to read.
The keyboard — circa 1983 — is a true mechanical ASCII keyboard, and the thing is really built like a tank. Powering the keyboard is really interesting too, because you can power it with either 8.5 v AC or 12-15 v DC. Despite the fact the connector will only plug in one way, the polarity of the DC voltage doesn’t matter.
The keyboard keys my Heathkit SB-102 just fine, too. The only problem I’ve run into is that I’m powering the keyboard from my 35-amp 12vdc power supply, and at full output in an extended key-down, RF is getting into the power supply and triggering the crowbar circuit. As you might imagine, that wreaks havoc with the keyboard. Tonight when I was trying to clear my CW traffic net, the power supply shut completely down due to the RF; from the NCS’ perspective, it probably sounded like the Zed Man drifted off into the ether after a combination of half-characters. On testing after the net wrapped up, I found that operating at about 80 percent of full power didn’t trigger the crowbar and I could operate without issue. Lesson learned.
I found some interesting history about the HD-8999 CW keyboard. Its origins were actually a Zenith Data Systems ZTX-11-Z ASCII terminal unit. The case is identical to the HD-8999 unit; in the area where the CW keyboard has an LED display, the Zenith unit has the Zenith Data Systems logo.
The Zenith terminal was a full-fledged old school terminal; think Tandy 100 and 200 terminal units, complete with a built in modem. The keyboard required an external composite monitor, and it also had an RS-232 connector to allow it to interface directly with a computer system — as a terminal, of course.
Unlike the Tandy 100 and 200 terminal models I used in my early days of newspaper journalism, the Zenith ZTX-11Z lacked a built-in LCD display, so it wasn’t a very portable system.
HEATHKIT FILTER FOLLY. My long-awaited Heathkit CW filter for my SB-102 arrived today. I opened the box and was immediately disappointed — the part number of the CW filter was wrong. ARRGH!
The filter I received was the standard 2.1 kHz SSB filter, NOT the 400 Hz CW filter I was expecting. I immediately sent a message to the seller — being nice and polite. He responded with the explanation I was hoping to hear — he put the wrong filter in the box — the 400 Hz filter is still at his house, and he would ship it out the first of the week. It was the best outcome I could have hoped for; the filter will still arrive, that’s all that matters.
Tonight I put the Daiwa filter to good use due to a couple of close CW signals. The filter did just fine, though I think the 400 Hz filter is still preferable.
NEW KEYS NABBED. Tonight on eBay, on kind of a whim, I bought two CW keys.
The first is what appears to be a Chinese knock-off on the Vibroplex Code Warrior Jr. I haven’t seen this type of key on eBay before, and the price was cheap enough to make it worth trying. Its finished in polished brass, and appears to be about the same size as the Code Warrior Jr. The key is unique because it has a 3.5 mm connector for the wiring, no need to attach the wiring underneath the base. That’s nice touch.
The key may arrive by Thanksgiving, but I’m not holding my breath. Full report once it arrives.
I also picked up an Eddystone S-69 bug, The bug is missing some parts, but seeing an Eddystone bug for sale on eBay in ANY condition is a fairly rare occurance. The key is mostly complete, and I’m pretty sure I can get it operational with little effort. The price was right, given the scarcity of the key.
73 es CUL … de KY4Z …. SK …. SK …. (dit dit) ….