[CW] Vibroplex Use on Ships, Coastal Radio Stations & Aircraft

Sun Mar 20 21:29:57 EDT 2022

In the late 1960's being a ham since 1958, I used to use a bug with close
spacing. Then I was braking in at KOK ITT Coast station in Los Angeles. The
main operator there was an excellent bug operator and I noticed his spacing
was quite wide.I began sailing shortly after that and kept my bug with a
wide spacing.3/32 inch. I still use it that way on the ham bands. When
sailing I was on a roller of a ship and never had problems with sending
with the bug. The whole point is to send good code and not run things
together. In the Navy I used to copy a lot of coded groups. In the early
1970's I was hired by the US Govt and was Radio Officer on the Hughes
Glomar Explorer. Again good code sending and receiving. Enjoy your bugs.

73
Dick Singer/K6KSG

On Sun, Mar 20, 2022 at 5:43 PM spud roscoe <spudrve1bc at outlook.com> wrote:

> Hi:
>
>
>
> 99% of the Canadian Coast Guard Radio Officers used Vibroplex bugs in the
> Coast Guard Ships with no trouble at all. They all had beautiful fists of
> around 20-25 WPM and I would give anything to be able to sit down and work
> anyone of them today. The weather around here is never the best and I have
> no knowledge of that ever presenting a problem with any of them.
>
>
>
> My two cents worth!
>
>
>
> 73
>
> Spud VE1BC
>
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> Sent from Mail <https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for
> Windows
>
>
>
> *From: *Richard Knoppow <1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com>
> *Sent: *March 20, 2022 6:05 PM
> *To: *cw at mailman.qth.net
> *Subject: *Re: [CW] Vibroplex Use on Ships, Coastal Radio Stations &
> Aircraft
>
>
>
>      Interesting but I wonder about the number of dots.
> Somewhere, perhaps in a military handbook, I read that a properly
> adjusted key should produce at least 15 dots of reasonable
> spacing. My experience is that if there is some energy loss
> somewhere the key will produce fewer dots. The number of dots of
> course depends on the amount of energy imparted to the vibrator
> and that depends on the amount of swing the lever gives to the
> vibrator. The larger the displacement of the lever, as set by the
> stop, the more energy is imparted to the vibrator and the more
> dots it will produce. This is within some limits because if the
> displacement is too large the dots become irregular for some reason.
>     It is interesting to tilt the key to see how much difference
> it makes. If tilted in the direction the dot paddle moves it,
> counter clockwise on a normal right -handed key, of course it
> will move the vibrator toward the dot contact. Eventually if you
> tilt it far enough it will hit the contact and of course will not
> vibrate. Tilted in the other direction it will reach a point
> where the vibrator just doesn't vibrate because it is locked to
> the stop. I find the amount of tilt either way is not very large.
> To a limited degree the tilt can be compensated by compressing
> the dot spring. I mean the coil spring that regulates the amount
> of force it takes to move the lever toward the dot side, not the
> U spring on the dot contact, which is not adjustable.
>      I have never operated a key on board ship but it seems to me
> that the ship would not have to roll very much to make a bug
> useless. Its been too long since I read the mail on commercial
> stations and ships to remember what I heard exactly. But from my
> little experiment just now I suspect a sideswiper is a better
> choice for use on board ship. I suspect that no adjustment can
> make a bug work on a strongly rolling ship.
>     I will of course take Dave's opinion over mine on this since
> he has the experience and I am mostly guessing.
>
> On 3/20/2022 12:26 PM, Edward Tanton wrote:
> > Interesting David!!!
> >
> >
> >
> > Sent from my T-Mobile 4G LTE Device
> >
> >
> > -------- Original message --------
> > From: "D.J.J. Ring, Jr." <n1ea at arrl.net>
> > Date: 3/20/22 12:40 PM (GMT-05:00)
> > To: CW Reflector <cw at mailman.qth.net>
> > Subject: Re: [CW] Vibroplex Use on Ships, Coastal Radio Stations
> > & Aircraft
> >
> > Dennis,
> >
> > I just saw your email.
> >
> > Commercial radiotelegraphers adjusted their semi-automatic keys
> > to produce 8 to 10 dots, and when they sent on their straight
> > keys they made the dots heavy to counteract tropical static.  I
> > have heard from UK operators who were seeking employment that
> > they sent their dots too lightly and weren't hired!
> >
> > The close spacing that some Amateurs use for their semi-automatic
> > keys wasn't used at sea because on the average day there was
> > enough mechanical vibrations from the ship's engines, that the
> > spacing had to be wider.  When rougher weather was encountered,
> > we learned to widen the vibrator gap even more and lastly when we
> > were in a violent storm we had to abandon the Vibroplex and use a
> > straight key - or if you had some foresight, a sideswiper which
> > was faster than the straight key for many operators.
> >
> > 73
> >
> > DR
> > N1EA
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On Thu, Mar 10, 2022 at 3:11 PM Dennis Berry <dennisberry at att.net
> > <mailto:dennisberry at att.net <dennisberry at att.net>>> wrote:
> >
> >     You always have fascinating stories in this forum. I have
> >     never been a shipboard op. But your comment here made me have
> >     to ask the question.
> >     Did shipboard ops learn to have the spacing wider on the bug
> >     keys to further compensate for ship movement?  Or was it
> >     fairly standard spacing for the most part as the seas were
> >     “calm” on average?  I can understand you comment about
> >     storing the key and only using a hand key with really rough
> >     seas.
> >     Just curious if any other adjustments to the key spacing were
> >     developed out of necessity
> >     Thanks in advance if you can reply.
> >
> >     Dennis, NU8S
> >
> >
> > ______________________________________________________________
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> > =30=
>
> --
> Richard Knoppow
> 1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com
> WB6KBL
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