It's been nearly a month since a new arrival to my Key Club. With prices trending upward, there's just not been a lot of auctions I really wanted to pursue.
But this key was different. Pictured here is a 1923 Vibroplex Original. The seller wrote in his description that the key was in “pretty rough condition.” Actually it is in much better condition than he believed!
The obvious flaws in the key are the broken thumb piece (paddle) and the fact it has just one weight on the pendulum. The remaining piece of the paddle indicates that it was an aftermarket bakelite or homebrewed paddle crafted many years ago.
The finger piece (the round knob) is original issue Vibroplex. Overall, the key just doesn't show much wear.
The finish on the base, other than a few small chips, is superb. The black japanned finish still has tremendous sheen, and is smooth as glass. The original carriage striping has wear, but is still visible even if its faint.
The nickle-plated parts are dirty, but the plating is very good to excellent. I hope to photograph the key again after its disassembled, cleaned and reassembled. I would have to say that this key is probably one of the best original examples I own.
It's in such good shape I would suspect it has been housed in a carry case for many years. There wasn't a case included in the auction, so perhaps the key was boxed or stored somewhere for the past 40 years. Getting a great key like this makes it feel like Chrismas in July — er, August.
CW ON SIX My usual rig for 6 meters is my IC-706. I leave it monitoring the 50.125 calling frequency most every day, particularly during potential e-skip seaon. As chronicled some weeks ago, I finally got the cabling (and settings) correct to run the rig on CW.
Over the weekend, there were a few phone stations operating between 50.125 and 50.200. I tuned down to about 50.090 and found several stations working what must have been some pretty good pileups. I made several CW contacts on 6, which were the first in some time. Now that I have the cabling straightened out, I'm hoping to work some more before the e-skip season fades totally away. There's always December, right?
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