[CW] 5 finger key?

[Danny Douglas]

Welll   MAYBE!!!! All sorts of things have been used over the years. 
Personally, my all time best was while stationed in Greece, I was seconded 
to the embassy for a short period of time, to replace one of the normal ops 
who had a medical problem.  There were non-code  communicators normally 
stationed there, due all their communications were via landline tty.  There 
WAS a standby transmitter, with RTTY available (as well as CW) which they 
would normally use in case of land line outage.  I was standing, toward the 
end of the day, with two TTY machines running full bore (75 baud each) 
Suddenly one TTY machine just stopped printing, and the other started 
running "open" with REVs.  I checked out the LL and it appeared OK, as did 
my power to the machines.  I gave it a bit of time, then got on the phone 
and tried to contct the base station, since monitoring the "guard" cw freq, 
proved to be of no value.  Many regional embassies were attempting to raise 
them on cw, but were getting no response.  The operators of the 
telecommunications base we worked into didnt answer the phone.  Phones just 
seemed to ring, but no one answered.  Very odd - that!  I also attempted a 
voice call on a vhf/uhf (I forget which) that was set up- and again No 
Response!   Finally, about an hour after I was due to go home for the night, 
I got a call from a regional officer who told me the base station had been 
hit by lightning, and everything, from RF to phone lines, were down and out.

Since many other field embassies were still calling CW, I volunteered to 
"stand guard" and bring up the CW rig in the embassy,. - NO KEY!  I looked 
high and low - no key!  Remember - the other ops normally stationed there, 
were not Morse qualified.  (One of only a handfull in the whole world of US 
Embassies).  I finally pulled out a hank of wire, managed to find a plug, 
wired it up, and proceeded to SEND CW USING THE TWO BARE WIRES at the other 
end.  I managed to contact all the stations still calling, advised them of 
the situation, and called the regional officer back and advised him.  He 
said for me to go on home, and I did.
By the way - CAUTION - YOU CAN AND WILL GET BIT!  Dont try this at home!

Danny Douglas
N7DC
ex WN5QMX ET2US WA5UKR ET3USA
SV0WPP VS6DD N7DC/YV5 G5CTB










All 2 years or more (except Novice)
Pls QSL direct, buro, or LOTW preferred,
I Do not use, but as a courtesy do upload to eQSL for
those who do.

Moderator
DXandTALK
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DXandTalk
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Digital_modes
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/digital_modes/?yguid=341090159

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jeffrey Herman" <jeffreyh at hawaii.edu>
To: "CW Reflector" <cw at mailman.qth.net>
Cc: "Ham Radio History E-list" <ham-radio-history at yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, March 04, 2009 4:37 PM
Subject: [CW] 5 finger key?


> Continuing to browse through my '65 edition
> of Hinks and Kinks I came across an odd one:
> Five metal strips to be used as keys (one
> per finger), mounted on a wood base, connected
> in parallel. It's suggested that the metal strip
> key for the thumb be used to make dashes, with
> the other four fingers tapping out dots.
>
> I could see using two strips -- one for the index
> finger and the other for the thumb -- sort of a
> "cuddie key", but five?
>
> Kind of a poor man's "speed key" I guess. For example,
> sending the Morse "4", ....-, you could begin
> with your little finger and end with your thumb.
>
> If there was an award given for the oddest key, this
> surely would be a winner!
>
> 73,
> Jeff KH6O
>
>
>
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