Garey Barrell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> made an utterance to the drakelist gang ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Jason -
Personally, I think the older bugs are much more "responsive" than the ones made later. I have heard that Mitch has improved the quality over what it was a few years ago, but don't have any personal experience.
I have four or five, mostly from the 60's and earlier, and one or two from the "down" years. Something that seems to me to be somewhat consistent is that the older ones have a more "lively" spring, that will produce a considerably longer string of "good" dots than the later ones.
The "Original" model is what I consider the workhorse of the bunch, probably the best overall for the most users. The "Lightning" bug is much less common than the others, but it and the Blue Racer are BOTH much happier at faster speeds, (25 wpm and up). The Original will run 20 comfortably. The "Champion" is the entry level bug, and will run down to 15 or so. Just adding weight to the existing arm is not very effective, and tends to further "kill" the vibrations even faster. To slow them down, you need to extend the arm, allowing the weight to be place further from the arbor. There are "Bug Tamers", (extensions with additional weights,) and "Vari-Speeds", (a pivoted extension with additional weight,) to slow down the faster ones.
The "bargains" are still out there, but generally NOT on EBay. I bought a like-new Blue Racer from the original owner (1958) at a hamfest about three years ago for $25. I asked if he had priced it, and he said it was what he paid for it new and just wanted it to go to a good home!
73, Garey - K4OAH Atlanta Drake C-Line Service Manual <http://www.k4oah.com> [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] made an utterance to the drakelist gang ---------------------------------------------------------------------- hi, I sent this to my CW mailing list but there's a much larger audience here so i'm sending it here as well... Just wondering if anyone could help me figure out the difference in some of the various Vibroplex bugs. I've found about 4 different variations: Lightning bug Original bug Blue Racer bug And then for the Lightning bug i've noticed some have a square looking damper for the arm, others just have a post for the arm to rest against. If I were going to find one of these to buy and USE are there any concerns using the really old bugs vs. using the new bugs? I've got a deluxe original made in 1986 that is quite nice but I thought i'd have a little fun with some of the really old ones... but I don't know if the old ones are more trouble than they are worth. Thanks for any advice and recommendations. Jason -- 73 Jason N1SU http://n1su.com/
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