Vibroplex morse key

[hge1930]

Well , this effort beats all , effort being the operative word ! . I wish Vibroplex would teach people how to adjust their keys .

Why do people think that colossal contact spacing is the way to go ?

[Techh76]

CQ CQ H H or sumthing was the beginning.

[FastDashEight]

Nice vid!

I've always wondered though... what is that lever you pull in the beginning of the vid? What is it's purpose?

[martin2lo]

Dear Fast Dash . The little red lever on the base is a very basic sliding switch that makes the contacts active. To stop accidental transmissions I suspect.

All the best . Martin.

[FastDashEight]

Thanks a lot for the response! That switch is still one of the things that boggle me about morse keys, as they are found on almost all of them. The reason I ask is because I work at a railroad museum, and one of the artifacts I'm working on restoring is an old bug key (one of the 'bastard bugs', so it's not a real vibroplex [close though]), and I want to be able to explain everything to the general public when I get it up and running.

[EdK8]

@FastDashEight

The whole idea is to use a key to make/break a d.c. battery circuit to control the sounders, wired in series with the keys. The key not in use must be shorted with its shorting bar, to complete the circuit. Look up "telegraph sounder" on Youtube to see and hear examples of the lost art of landline telegraphy.

[FastDashEight]

And also, the sound; what do I need to get the key to make the sidetone? I don't need it to actually transmit, only to make the sound, for demonstration purposes.

Thanks again!

Mylow

[Shock1224]

It's a shorting bar. It was used to lock the transmitter on for direction finding.

[pn2222a]

In the olden days (before about 1980) it was necessary to send a steady carrier for a few seconds and adjust the transmitter output network, This involved two interacting controls (peak the drive current with one and find the 'dip' in the plate current with the other). sliding the shorting switch turns the transmit carrier on for this purpose. 73!

[Zarra1950]

good key. ;)