Bug Page
Bug Story
It
was 1971 and I was a
poor 15 yr. old. I'd just gotten my general class license and wanted to
QRQ
with the big boys. Back then electronic keyers where still cutting edge
and
rather expensive. Bugs were relatively cheap ($10 - $12). So I got a
bug. A
post war, gray based Vibroplex original with black knobs. Guess what? I
totally
stunk with it. I hated it so much that once I could afford an
electronic keyer
(Eico 717 & Brown Brothers paddle) I swore I'd never touch a
bug again.
Since then I have graduated to a squeeze keyer and a better Brown
Brothers
paddle.
Fast forward to the 2002 Dayton flea market. I'm walking along looking
for who
knows what, and this old, somewhat broken bug tells me that I should
take it
home. $50 later its sitting on the back seat of my car on its way to 9
land. It
had no weights for the dot pendulum and the plastic thumb knob was
snapped off.
Otherwise it cleaned up nicely. I looked up the replacement parts from
Vibroplex.
The parts plus shipping came to another $50. Forget it!
So I home brewed a new thumb knob made from the handle of a plastic
spoon. I
made a set of weights from the shaft of a ½ inch bolt. These
looked good but
weren’t heavy enough to get the bug below 30 wpm. So I next
used an
entire ½ inch bold with the head left on, tapped the head
for the setscrew and
had the option to add nuts for additional weight. This worked great,
calming
the bug down to about 23 wpm.
The bug is a 1949 Vibroplex original with a black crinkle finish.
So how did the bug like it’s new home? Just great! I took to
it like a
fish takes to water. And for some unknown reason, which I
can’t take
credit for, I have no problem moving back and forth between the bug and
my
squeeze keyer.
Bug
Pictures
Before
Here
is the
configuration I used for the first few years.
More
pictures.
I
couldn't fine
the plastic spoon I used to make the thumb knob, but this fork is from
the same
flatware set.
After
A
friend of mine (John K9KEU) went to Dayton in
2005 and kindly picked up a few odds-n-ends for me while he was there.
He
got the
black plastic knob set from the Vibroplex booth and saved me the
shipping cost.
It
looks
better and feels better, though I had gotten accustomed to the spoon
handle
Home
Brew Weights
The
two little weights were my first attempt.
They look good, but just didn’t weigh enough.
The
bolt
with the two nuts has worked out great.
I kind of like the way they look. I bet there one of a kind.
