Some of you are old enough to remember that back in the mid 50s my "nemesis" in the old ARRL CD Parties was my fellow Western New Yorker, Keith, W2FEB. But Keith also gave me what is probably a collector's item for my old garden-variety Vibroplex bug -- a special weight.
I, too, had a Vibroplex that didn't like to go down low enough in speed to suit me. I, too, tried using _two_ of the standard Vibroplex weights, with unexciting results. I, too, tried wrapping turns of solder around the standard weight. Keith worked at a machine shop in Lockport, north of Buffalo. He designed and fabricated a special weight that was narrower than the the stock Vibroplex weight, but had a much larger diameter (and perhaps higher density, as well). His primary purpose in designing it was not the lower speed but, rather, the desire to be able to change speed without messing around with the knurled set screw on the normal weight. So he built into it a spring-loaded ball bearing that kept it in position on the shaft, yet allowed it to be slid farther in or out on the shaft with two fingers and a thumb (generally on the same hand). Really cool. (Kewl?) This is not totally off-topic, since I occasionally hook up my old Vibroplex with W2FEB's weight and try sending with a bug using the sidetone on my K3 with the VOX disabled. (I decline to comment on whether I'm keying my amplifier when I do that....) Bud, W2RU (ex-K2KIR) ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
