I've had a busy Wednesday with a busy Thursday already penciled in. I have been checking the 80 meter Novice band but haven't heard much so far this evening. The static crashes have returned, though not deafening like they in summer. Checking the weather radar, there are some storms coming this way from the Plains, some as close as southcentral Illinois. I suspect that's what I'm hearing, as there's nothing else much across the southeast, save for Hurricane Wilma.
My daughter got a look at my new Vibroplex Original DeLuxe, and she was very, very impressed. It really is a nice key.
I realized today that I had ordered a dash contact screw for an Original some months ago, along with a red thumb piece for another older DeLuxe key I have. I finally found it tonight, and I just finished replacing it, and boy howdy, what a nice key! The jeweled pivots are “like buttah …”! There's not a single flaw on this key anywhere.
This key, one of the Maine bugs, has the glued-on ID tag. It's lifted slightly in the middle, but that's OK. If I need to re-affix it, I will.
I tell you, after seeing what how nice a perfect chrome base looks on this new key, I really want to buy a new chrome base for the Original DeLuxe I have on the desk top. A new base is $70, which is pricey.
If you could see the two keys side-by-side — my new Original DeLuxe and my 1961DeLuxe — you would see how impressive the new chrome base looks. It really IS worth that $70, I'm convinced. See my 1961 Vibroplex DeLuxe at right.
My daughter was the first to suggest it, really. I told her how expensive a new base is, but even she thought it would be worthwhile. If I sell some stuff on eBay, maybe I can finance the purchase of a new base.
I still have some parts to order from Vibroplex, but I don't need anything for my new bug. I've been working on a list and plan to order sometime soon. I just won't have to rush the order, which is good.
I've decided not to run the Zephyr for my CW contacts for the next week or so. I've put a well-worn 1925 Vibroplex Orignal on the desk, and while it looks rough around the edges, it has a pretty nice action.
The dash contact is actually worn to damn near nothing. All the contacts on this key are worn thin, thin, thin. After I cleaned the contacts and adjusted the key, it works quite well — a fact that no 
longer surprises me about old Vibroplex keys. It just never fails to impress me how well these old keys work with just a little bit of TLC.
I've got to get up early in the morning, so I won't take time for a CW QSO tonight.
In the mail today I did receive a couple of goodies. I received a Ham-Key straight key today in the mail. It was a “Buy It Now” eBay item – $25, which I thought was a pretty good deal considering I've seem them sell for a good bit more. This one was a later one with the modified base. I have one of the first ones, with the “tippy” base. Ham-Key changed the base later in the key's production run.
The later key also has a gray hammertone finish, compared to the earlier key's black crinkle finish.
Earlier in the week I received the Ham-Key HK-2, the iambic paddles sold by the Ham-Key company. Again, both of these purchases were items that I always wanted to buy back when they were selling them new, but couldn't afford or justify them. I still can't justify the purchases, but at least I'm getting a heck of a lot better price!
It's interesting when you look online for information on the Ham-Key keys. People mistakenly believe that Ham-Key keys were clones or descendants of the Brown Bros. line of keys. This is NOT TRUE at all.
Both company's straight keys and iambic keys were completely different designs. Ham-Key keys all had pivot points near the far end of the keying lever. Brown Bros. keys had pivot points nearer the middle of the keying lever or paddle lever.
It's my opinion that the Brown Bros. iambic paddles more closely resemble the Vibroplex Iambic key than any other iambic paddle. The frame on the Brown Bros. is nearly identical in construction to the Vibroplex. The pivots are different, but the method is essentially the same. I didn't notice the similarity until this evening.
My brother has the frame for an abused 1951 Presentation key I picked up cheap on eBay. This key had two twisted-off screws. One I removed, the other I could not. I'm hoping my brother (N4SQA) will successfully extract the screw. He's a tool and die guy by trade, so I suspect this is a simple job for him.
This particular key — the Presentation — is a basket case of a key. If I get the frame back in one piece, the gold plated brass Presentation plate needs replating or replacement. The mainspring has been ground on to make it run slower, I suppose. I don't know if I'll replace the gold plate or not. It's a $80 doo-dad, not cheap by any means. If I do, it'll be one of those things I don't tell my wife about.
I've considered just stripping the rest of the gold plating, and then just polishing up the plate and running it that way. I really don't think that would look too awful. It's a lot cheaper too.
Back to the new Original DeLuxe: I want to get some good wax and wax the key. It's just too pretty to run, really. I ought to be shot for saying that. I really want a new base for my 1961 DeLuxe. I really bought that new key worth the money, considering it was only slightly more expensive that a new chromed replacement base.
That's all for now … 73 and CU AGN … SK … de KY4Z …. dit dit …