Hello to all my ham radio friends! Welcome to my blog, which is focused entirely on my obsession with amateur radio.
I probably should say my hobby is enabled by eBay, because the two are inextricably linked the way I see it. eBay is like a 24-hour-a-day, 365-days-a-year Dayton Hamvention.
As noted earlier, I promised some photos of my more recent acquisitions (meaning telegraph keys and the like). So on with the program!
The first key at right is actually a recent version of an old 1940s way of homebrewing an iambic keyer. QST and CQ magazines both showed how hams were taking war surplus J-37s and J-38 straight keys, turning them on edge and bolting them together to create a set of paddles for use with electronic keyers, which were just coming on the scene commerciallly.
QST had featured experiments with fully automatic keyers since the early 1930s, so the idea wasn't new. But the the first commercial ham keyer, the Mon-Key, appeared just after the war. Soon, other commercial keyers followed. By 1960, you had your pick of a number of different electonic keyers.
This homebrewed key is actually pretty nicely done. The keys are painted red, the base was appropriated from some other piece of hardware, possible a clock?
Following this device is another homebrew iambic keyer that uses Radio Shack-style perf board for the paddle levers. Plastic paddles bolt on to this as an extension, but the perf board is flexible. Contacts are mounted on the perfboard, and a center post between the two levers closes the contact with the appropriate lever touches it.
The workmanship on this paddle is pretty nice. When I recieved it, one of the two paddle adjustment fixtures (the big chrome knobs on each side) had been knocked loose. They were epoxied on the base, and the keyers had knocked around some in the box. The other one came off easily, so I cleaned the base and reglued them back down. The paddle is surprisingly heavy, and it doesn't move around on the desk. The feel of it is mush however, due mostly to the flex that's part and parcel to the perf board levers. I prefer a key with a more solid feel. The key can be adjusted for a very light touch with close spacing. I wonder if I could replace the levers with something more solid?
Next on the photo list is a project I just completed tonight — refurbishing a 1951 Vibroplex Presentation. This was a rather derelict key when I purchased it off eBay some months ago. It looked very rough, due mostly to the loss of gold plating on the gold-plated plate that adorns the top of the key's base.
The key was very dirty, very covered with nicotine stains and even mud. Two adjustment screws were twisted off. One I had to get extracted by a machinst, the other I removed myself.
Once I disassembled and cleaned the key, the basics looked pretty good. The gold plate was trashed, and I pondered if I should spend the $80 for a new one. I thought about just leaving it off, but Vibroplex uses special bases on Presentations (or they did then) — the chrom plating on the base is not polished nor complete on the top where the plate goes! In other words, I was stuck! I had to have the plate on the key to make it look presentable. (A presentable Presentation, no less!)
Once I had all the parts ready (and ordered replacements for what needed replacing). it was decision time. Order an $80 gold-plated brass plate nor not??
The key won't look worth a hoot without it. But I can't afford nearly a $100 for a pretty gee-gaw! My cheapskateness took over, and I decided to play my hunch.
I broke out some sandpaper — some very, very find sandpaper — and gently began sanding the top side of the plate. The gold plating was missing in about 40 percent of the key and discolored in the rest, so there was little to lose.
The sanding was working! It actually was smoothing the brass plate, and by using long, straight strokes, was giving the brass a rather nice “brushed” finish. If I had had some 600 grit wet/dry, I would have continued with that.
I broke out some automotive rubbing compound, and with quite a bit of elbow grease, polished the brass plate to a nice satin finish. I'm convinced with the right grit paper, I could have it mirror sharp, but a satin finish more closely resembles the original gold plating finish, so I thought I would leave it at that. I polished the plate with more elbow grease and some FLITZ. Boy howdy, you see the results. It ain't gold, but it doesn't look to shabby either.
One of the more interesting aspects of the 1951 Presentation is that this one has the adjustable main spring. This feature was deleted on the Presentation model some years ago. It's supposed to allow for greater variations in speed, though I have not played with it.
The previous owner modified the main spring by grinding it down into nearly an hour-glass shape. I guess this was to deaden the action and slow the key down some.
Another very interesting addition to this key is something that was seen previously on keys manufactured by McElroy — a pretensioning device for the dot contact. A copper arm pre-tensions the dot contact, which allegedly improves the CW sent and reduces half-dits and misfires at high speeds. Since I'm not a high-speed CW op, I can't say what the heck difference it might make. But Ted McElroy was a speed king, so I would bet that it made a difference.
The final two photos are of my current bug that I'm using at my operating position, a 1925 Vibroplex Original. Other than cleaning the contacts and a drop of oil on the pivot point, I've not done much with this key. This key had to WORK for a living, the contacts are nearly worn clean away.
One interesting note about this key is the fact the base, near the damper on the left side, has been inscribed with WAR, the call letters of the old government station. Was this bug used by one of the WAR operators?? It's an interesting theory to consider. I purchased this key with the intentions of 
disassembling it and repainting the base. I have put those plans on hold after noting the WAR inscription. Ultimately I may go ahead and strip the base and refinish it. I also plan on doing some home nickel plating and replaing the bright parts of some of my old keys. That's something I hope to do in the next year … we'll see!
That's all for this trip to the computer. I'm going to prowl around 80 CW and see what I can find. Maybe I'll use my 1951 Presentation! Yeah, that's the ticket!!
73 es CUL GE …. de KY4Z SK …. dit dit ….