April 6, 2011 — My on-air operating time seems to be caught up in the whirlwind of life the past few days. Gone are the carefree, freewheeling moments of a week ago, when I had time to spend actually operating my equipment doing fun stuff (OK, contesting IS technically FUN STUFF in my book).
I’ll kick in the WHINE filter to save us both some time; life’s just gotten busy, and my operating has been relegated to nets and emcomm exercises. We (meaning “ham operators of the state) participated in an excellent exercise this past weekend. The interesting part was that the state put up an airborne crossband VHF/UHF repeater, which worked solidly.
The goal of this weekend’s COMEX was to prepare for the 2011 NLE (National Level Exercise) coming the week of Hamvention. A multi-state consortium of midwestern states are taking part in an NLE scenario involving a major quake in the New Madrid Seismic Zone. Western portions of the state will undoubtedly be devastated, so establishing communications with the affected areas is paramount.
Ham radio showed its usefulness in the 2009 ice storm that struck wide areas of the western half of the state. We’ve learned from that experience, and in the past two years, Amateur Radio has been working much more in concern with state EM.
In the middle of all of this, I had a sick child on Friday and a hamfest on Saturday to attend as part of my official duties. Fortunately, the COMEX organizers had planned to have the EOC operate as main NCS, and that worked well the first day of the exercise on 75 meters. There’s some issues on 40 meters at the EOC, and I ended up helping relay stations and traffic to the EOC from stations on 40.
All the while, a “new” 1924 Vibroplex Original bug has been waiting for me to unpack it, clean and adjust it and put it on the air.
The key caught my eye due to its condition; the paint on the base is in excellent shape, with only minor chips. The nickel plating shows little wear. The gold carriage striping — often one of the first visible signs of wear on these pre-1939 Vibroplex keys — showed little wear and looked great.
The key has been here since last week, and I’ve done little with it … yet. Yeah, like I need another Vibroplex bug, eh? I was watching (emphasis on watching) several auctions featuring highly collectible bugs, including the British-made Eddystone bug (complete with original box and paperwork!); the rotatable Dow Key bug, and several others. These keys live in the rarified air of the Upper Echelon of Key Collectors; without hundreds of dollars burning holes in my pockets, I’m content to sit by the sidelines and watch the Big Boys bid.
SPEAKING OF VIBROPLEX KEYS … At the hamfest this weekend I ran across a couple who travel the hamfest circuit selling a variety of goods, including Vibroplex keys and parts. My son and I made a trip over to see their wares; unfortunately I didn’t have a list of parts that I needed for my keys. The lady behind the counter was nice enough to offer to give me the boxes of spares for me to peruse and pull out parts I spotted that I wanted to buy. I jumped on the chance, since buying spare parts by phone usually involves shipping charges that amount to more than the individual parts.
I picked up some of the more common parts, as well as a couple of weights with screws. All in all about $50 spent — which fit into a rather small plastic bag. I was happy to find the parts, and have them on hand ready to install.
I probably should consider spending less time blogging and more time operating, eh? Might get a chance to use that key yet!