[CW] Mr Houdini

[David J. Ring, Jr.]

Alberto,

I sent to you on FOUR different TYPES of morse keys!

My wife, KB0RQN and myself have five keys sitting side by side for use on
the air.  One of each type of morse key, plus HER paddle!

Marconi 365A pump handle straight key (long lever with roller bearings) -
made in 1940s.

A hacksaw blade cootie key - you call it a "maniflex" that was a gift from
Radio Officer Hank Swan from Gothenburg, (Sweden) Radio/SAG.  As far as I
know, J.H. Bunnell of New York made the first key of this type, and he
called his a "Double Speed Key" because you could send "twice as fast as a
hand key".  In France they call this type of key a "Lame de Scie" which
means "saw blade" - Dyna of Paris made this type of key until the middle
1980s.  They advertised in QST just one time; I should have bought one!
This key is used by swinging the blade back and forth between two contacts.
It is a single pole, double throw switch, but no vibrator or electronics at
all.  It is a purely mechanical key with no machine or electronics.  Hank
wrote "it was a thrill at the beginning of every watch to caress the wooden
handle. The ability to switch between sending very very slowly or very very
fast made you feel totally in command. You created your own style and
therefore you were greeted by name by the other ships calling in".


A Vibroplex Presentation which has an adjustable main spring, I've set it up
so that it runs very fast, but I can extend the spring and make it send very
slowly.

A WBL V22L iambic keyer (W9WBL) that has a very close spacing.

A Bencher Iambic paddle (wider spacing) that my wife prefers.

During our QSO, I set up the keys ALL for about 22 wpm, so that I  could
jump from one key to the other.

Sometimes I sent one LETTER on one key, then went to the next key and sent a
letter.

You did very well to copy all those keys!

I call such a QSO as being in my "Four Key Club" - you've worked every type
of morse key ever made.

I have some sound files of  sending on different types of keys on my web
page, and ftp site.

http://www.qsl.net/n1ea
ftp://ftp.qsl.net/pub/n1ea

I also have many historical recordings of ship CW.

73

David J. Ring, Jr., N1EA