W2LJ's Blog - QRP - Do More With Less.

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Psssst! ..... Hey Buddy, wanna key?

Posted: 18 Jul 2016 05:22 PM PDT
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Yesterday, I spent part of the morning at the Sussex County Amateur Radio
Club Hamfest, in Augusta NJ, at the Sussex County Fairgrounds. The weather
was superb and that was probably the main reason for the huge turnout of
vendors. This year's iteration of the SCARC Hamfest was the biggest I've
seen in years. There was so much to take in! I was not able to spend as
much time there as I would have liked, as I had to be home in order to make
11:30 AM Church services. In the 90 minutes that I was there, I was able
to make two complete trips of all the tables, inside and out.

The first trip was a cursory glance, the second more in depth. I really
could have made at least two more circuits easily. Yes, there was a lot of
non-Ham related junk; but there were also plenty of treasures if you had
the time to really look. As it was, I purchased a few knobs for future
models of my magnetic loop antenna experiments, and I also purchased some
silver and Teflon SO-239 chassis mount connectors. I was the big spender
of the day, parting with $10.25 of my hard earned cash-ola.

I was kind of surprised to see a good Ham buddy, Bill Koeth W2WK at a
selling table. I've known Bill since he was President of the Piscataway
Amateur Radio Club, when I was Secretary and then, eventually
Vice-President. Bill is a master machinist and mechanic, who worked for
over 20 years repairing road surfacing equipment. Bill is so good with all
things mechanical that he restored a Model A Ford, fabricating most of the
unavailable parts that he required, himself.

Luckily, Bill is also a CW aficionado and as of late, has turned his skills
and talents towards making beautiful straight keys. I was honored to test
one of his prototypes and liked what I saw (and used), very much! He
listened to my suggestions and those that others have made and now has a
finished product that he offers for sale:





So.... if you're in the market for a high quality straight key, dtrop me a
line and I'll send you Bill's e-mail address and you and him can
discuss "particulars".
72 de Larry W2LJQRP - When you care to send the very least!