[GreenKeys] Telegraph...

[Lee Mushel]

Fascinating and accurate comments from Scott!   Of course amateur radio operators have "clubs."   And those clubs try to have meetings with entertaining topics.  A little more than a year ago one of the local club members were entertained by one of the last railroad telegraphers still living.   He was long retired but he still had his genuine key and sounder!   And these were not only duly demonstrated but he also "tested" the older club members who were long-time users of morse code.  While I am "old" enough at 74 to know the code I tend to think in terms of a "note" and not a "click."   And so it was fascinating for me to see that very few of those ham operators had any trouble following the old "sounder."

And while I don't have a Vibroplex "bug" I do have one of their products that is one notch up from a simple telegraph "key."   And it has red knobs.   I will also admit to having a very fine "straight key" made in Italy that looks very much like the image most folks have of a "telegraph key."   I can tell you that the quality of the "bearings" in a telegraph key has a lot to do with it's ability to generate accurate code in the hands of a skilled operator!

Sincerest best regards of the Season,

Lee    K9WRU
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Scott Clark 
  To: greenkeys at mailman.qth.net 
  Sent: Friday, December 20, 2013 9:21 AM
  Subject: [GreenKeys] Telegraph...




  > 
  > As Jeff Angus says the key is a Vibroplex "bug" or 
  > semi-automatic key. Yours is a fairly late one if it has red 
  > knobs on it. The deluxe versions were chrome plated all over 
  > and had red knobs. The external design was modernized 
  > slightly after about 1945.  >

    
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