On 2010-04-02, Jeffrey Angus wrote:
On 4/1/2010 7:41 PM, notbob wrote:
I figure one is not truly a ham until one can cw

Out of curiosity, could explain why not?

Fifty years ago, My buddy and I (in jr high, then) were going to become
hams. Short story, my family moved, my new surroundings opened up new
vistas and I put all my energies into becoming a rock musician. While my
buddy went on to get his license, I did not. I now want to. As for the cw
thing, I'm a romantic and from a different time.

I was gonna buy a Vibroplex Know Code key, but the reviews
are less than heartening.

I own the Standard version and I haven't had any issues with
it. What exactly were the faults with this?

eHam had one review where the owner described the key as having a "soft" feel:

"The only thing I didn't like is the feel of the contacts. It has a 'soft'
feel due to the upper contact being mounted to a tab, instead of directly to
the lever. The tab bends as contact is made, acting like a leaf spring. I
suspect this is the same situation on all versions of the Vibroplex straight
key.

The solution was simple. I placed a #4 flat washer between the contact tab
and the lever, beside the existing screw and washer. It was necessary to
remove the lever assembly to accomplish this. The new washer is held in
place by the top protrusion of the upper contact. It fills the gap between
the tab and the lever and prevents any spring action from occuring in the
contact tab, providing a more typical feel to the key's action." --N0NV

I don't want a "soft" feel and think spending almost $200 on a key I may
need to modify is not in my best interests.

It's been pointed out that Vibroplex has a new owner and perhaps some
design and/or quality control issues will improve. We'll see.

nb