May 9, 2021
Saturday’s mail included something of a surprise — a key I bought on eBay this week.
Now if you’ve followed this blog any length of time, you know that I have more Vibroplex bugs than Carter’s got liver pills (if you don’t know about Carter’s, then just trust me, its a lot of liver pills).
HAMCO IAMBIC KEYS. But today I added a key you just don’t see come across eBay very often — the Hamco Trinidad iambic paddle. At first glance, you might think the key is a Vibroplex Brass Racer. Hamco sold its rights to the key design to Vibroplex.
There were three Hamco models — the Scotia, which had a brushed brass finish identical to the later Brass Racer. However, two of Hamco’s other versions were not continued by Vibroplex. This included the Trinidad, which featured engine turning on the brass parts, and the Carson model, which featured the key with a highly polished finish.
All Hamco models were variations of the original FYO iambic key design, and some collectors consider them rare. Of all the Hamco models I’ve seen on eBay, the Scotia appears to be the most common.
The key I received is in superb condition, and it really is striking in appearance compared to the typical Vibroplex Brass Racer or Hamco Scotia. The engine-turning would be a labor-intensive process, and required care to avoid messing up the pattern. I’m sure if you had a Bridgeport mill, it wouldn’t be difficult to set up a jig in order to make them uniform without flubbing up.
There’s a nice clear coat over the engine turning, which is on the top of the brass base and also on the vertical block that holds the lever-return magnets.
EASY TO SPOT HAMCO KEYS. The Hamco line of CW keys are easy to spot while you browse eBay. If you see what looks like a Brass Racer, check the block that holds the lever return magnets.
hold the lever-return magnets.
All the magnet-holder blocks are equipped with set screws that hold the magnets in place and prevent them from slipping. This feature was — for some reason — dropped by Vibroplex when they introduced the Brass Racer. The iambic keys based on the Brass Racer’s mechanicals — the Suare Racers — don’t have the set screws either, and to me, that is a mistake.
It might have saved a little money by not requiring drilling a hole, threading it and adding a set screw, but it creates a problem with all of the Vibroplex variants. All of the Brass Racers and variants I own allow the magnets to slip forward toward the keying lever. If that happens, it really messes up the lever’s ability to move, and often blocks the lever’s travel or worse, makes the lever contact the contact post.
Now on the Vibroplex keys, there’s a spring-loaded ball that is apparently designed to keep the magnets in place and keep them from sliding forward. Its my experience that the magnets slide anyway if the key is jostled much.
And if you make the mistake of removing the magnets from the blocks that hold them, the spring and the ball hidden in the holder block can shoot off into the place where odd socks and spare change live, never to be seen again. My fix would be to remove said ball and spring and drill the damn blocks for set screws. Once you set the magnets where you want them, they’ll never move again — at least without an allen wrench.
WIND DAMAGE. This was one very windy Mother’s Day, with wind gusts from 30 to 50 mph. I live on a hill without obstructions, so we received the brunt of the winds. The south end of my doublet that serves Studio C lost its support — or pulled the wiring in two — in this afternoon’s winds, and is laying on the ground. My rig therefore was mostly deaf, and I didn’t try to check-in to my CW traffic net.