Friday, Aug. 5, 2022
While I’ve been on a sales tear of late in regard to my CW key collection, I did do something a little unusual — I purchased a new key for my collection on eBay.
This key is the QRP J-36 key handcrafted by KA6IRL. I can’t find much info out about when it was produced. The maker’s QRZ page doesn’t mention the keys he’s made, which also includes a scaled down J-38 key.
The little J-36 actually works! Its very small, like on the order of less than half size. It came with the original metal case and foam padding. The key is in as-new condition. I remember seeing these reviewed in a magazine or website some years back. Anyway, I just happened to see this one on ebay several weeks back and had to have it.
JOHN, WA4FRI SK. One of the first hams I met when I started checking in on the Georgia CW Training Net (GTN) was John Coleman, WA4FRI, of Dublin, Georia, located about halfway between Atlanta and Savannah.
Ironically, I knew nothing about the Georgia CW net. I found it quite by accident. One night I was tuning around on 80 CW and heard a fist I recognized — Willis Asher, AD4DX.
Willis was an NCS years ago on the Kentucky Slow Net (KSN), and I knew his fist intimately. And it was what caught my ear one night and prompted me to stop and listen a while. By that time, a Kentucky Section Manager (my predecessor) had discontinued the KSN and I lost track of him. But that night, I noticed Willis and tuned in and listened to the Georgia CW Net.
Willis was NCS at that time, but the net was suffering from dwindling participation. Some nights there were only 3 or 4 stations participating. I started checking in regularly, and in the years since, the net now regularly has 10-13 stations, which is a pretty healthy number.
Anyway, John was one of the first regulars I met on the Georgia CW Net.
John had a quirky CW fist. When he sent his call, his “4” always had five dits and a dah rather than 4 dits and a dah. Day in, and day out, John always sent a 4 with five dits. I nicknamed him “5 Dit John.”
Well, I learned today via email that John is now a Silent Key. He had some cardiac issues and blockages, but his condition worsened before he could get to surgery.
Tonight on the Georgia CW net, the NCS honored John with a final net call, and there was a moment of silence in his honor. Resit in peace, OM.
KEY TALKING POINTS. After the CW net, I was browsing eBay on my phone while in the bathroom and ran across a very battered looking Bencher BY-1 for sale cheap. As much as I love the Bencher series, I thought to myself, “Self, what the heck! Why don’t you buy this key and rehab the poor thing!” And that’s what I did — I punched the Buy It Now button and will now wait for it to arrive.
The spacing of the Bencher paddles is the perfect spacing for me, I’ve found. Any wider spacing feels unnatural. Perhaps its due to the fact my hands are small and my fingers are short.
Another key I have at the operating position is an all brass Chinese version of a Vibroplex Code Warrior Jr. It isn’t a perfect copy, of course; the keying levers are fatter, so the paddle spacing is wider than a true Code Warrior Jr. But the feel is very similar.
I played with the key tonight, but the wide spacing on the paddles just didn’t feel right. I could operate the key, no problem, but the Bencher is just a more comfortable “fit”, if that makes sense.
Oh, one disadvantage of the Chinese Code Warrior Jr. clone is the same problem you have with all chrome iambic keys like the Bencher BY–2 and Vibroplex Square Racer Deluxe. The downside is the fingerprints and smudges you get on those beautiful chrome and brass finishes. My Chinese key works reasonably well, but damn, its a bitch to keep looking nice. They should have made a version available with a painted base. I haven’t seen the key on eBay for several years now, so it may never have become very popular in the U.S., China, or the rest of the world.
OBITUARY. WA4FRI has a nice write up on his QRZ page. It reminded me I need to update mine. At the last update, my main rig was a Ten-Tec Paragon.
That’s it for tonight. I’ll probably fire up an SDR web receiver and monitor some of my favorite 75 meter roundtables tonight.
73 es CUL … de KY4Z …. SK … SK …. (dit dit)