Hi all,

Just acquired a beautifully built late 1950's electronic keyer - I have
seldom seen construction of this caliber.

I'm thinking someone might be able to ID it based on a circuit description.
I don't have a large vintage library, so I'd like to find out if it appeared
as a project in QST or Handbook or some other publication....

Unique in that it uses 2 12AU7s plus a 6AS7 as the electronic key
on the output. There is a 'bias' and 'balance' control on the front that
determine the switch characteristics. Oddly, I can make it key my
VOM 'toner' function just fine, but it won't key my old tube code
oscillator. Haven't tried it on a rig just yet - but there are NO relays in
the output.
The keying output is by the 6AS7 only. There is a neon 'indicator' light
on the front that shows dots and dashes. No sidetone.


Whoever built it even built in a
Vibroplex-esque brass keyer paddle into the base, so it's self contained.

Does this design sound familiar to anyone? Long shot, but who knows...

Dave WB7AWK

Weren't the "TO" keyers popular in those days? I believe it was so popular that
Hallicrafters made them for a while.

jw
K9RZZ
(not that old)

Weren't the "TO" keyers popular in those days? I believe it was so popular
that
Hallicrafters made them for a while.


That's my thought - but alas I don't have an old Halli to compare to. But
I don't recall the Hallicrafters having the balance and bias controls - or
the 6AS7 (BIG tube) for output. Seems to me they used a small relay??

Have since tried this on a rig and it works great! REALLY fun keyer to
use and neat to look at! I'll have to hunt down some old Handbooks and
see if it's maybe one of the early TO keyer designs.

What years did they do those?

The 1961 Handbook shows a simple keyer, with a 12AU7 as the "clock"
and rectifier, and another 12AU7 for the rest of the keyer. A relay
actually keys the transmitter. That seems to be closer to the level
of the keyer the original poster is asking about.

Yes (original poster here) - that's the only handbook I have, and it's
the closest I've found. Could be the original builder devised a way to
key the output with the 6AS7 (which is the size of a 6L6 - he cleverly
recessed the base of the tube into the chassis, below the paddle 'deck').

Makes me want to homebrew again! Just can't get over how well this
thing is built - and it works so doggone perfect I can't believe it! Acts
and looks like it was built yesterday. Of course, it may be just a few
years old built from an old schematic... hard to say.

Anyway, thanks for the input

Dave WB7AWK

J999w ) writes:
Weren't the "TO" keyers popular in those days? I believe it was so popular that
Hallicrafters made them for a while.

jw
K9RZZ
(not that old)

That would have been my guess, because it made such a splash that it
would seem to have been common.

Oddly, though, I don't see it in the 1961 Handbook, though I would have
expected it. By 1968, the next one I have, it's gone solid state. There
is an IC version of the '9TO keyer, and I know I've seen plenty of
references to it, but unless I start digging I can't tell what tube
lineup the original used.

On the other hand, the IC version seems to suggest more than a couple
of tubes. There are a couple of flip flops, and you'd need a dual
triode for each one.

The 1961 Handbook shows a simple keyer, with a 12AU7 as the "clock"
and rectifier, and another 12AU7 for the rest of the keyer. A relay
actually keys the transmitter. That seems to be closer to the level
of the keyer the original poster is asking about.

Michael VE2BVW

"Dave" ) writes:
The 1961 Handbook shows a simple keyer, with a 12AU7 as the "clock"
and rectifier, and another 12AU7 for the rest of the keyer. A relay
actually keys the transmitter. That seems to be closer to the level
of the keyer the original poster is asking about.

Yes (original poster here) - that's the only handbook I have, and it's
the closest I've found. Could be the original builder devised a way to
key the output with the 6AS7 (which is the size of a 6L6 - he cleverly
recessed the base of the tube into the chassis, below the paddle 'deck').

Makes me want to homebrew again! Just can't get over how well this
thing is built - and it works so doggone perfect I can't believe it! Acts
and looks like it was built yesterday. Of course, it may be just a few
years old built from an old schematic... hard to say.

Anyway, thanks for the input

Dave WB7AWK



But that's the thing. With home made stuff, you can never count on
someone building it just like the article. Obviously, there were some
articles over the years that somehow became highly popular, maybe because
they were intended to be duplicated rather than a write up of something
someone built, but those are the exceptions. I sometimes find it amusing
to see people ask about "a two tube radio that was in one of the hobby
magazines around 1965", because something that generic would have appeared
a whole bunch of times, with different tubes, in different magazines, even
different years, and even because someone wound coils on pillboxes instead
of using Airdux coils.

It's the more complicated things that tend to be unique. And of course
even then, there is no guarantee that someone built it from a magazine
article After all, someone has to build them in the first place before
they get into a magazine, and even then not everything that was built
made it into a magazine, or was a copy of a magazine article.

Use the 1961 schematic to trace the keyer, and maybe you'll find a match.
I know it's often easier to start with assumptions such as that when tracing,
and soon you'll find whether it is the same thing, or close.

Michael VE2BVW

There was another front-cover-of-QStreeT-in-the-'50s 12AU7 keyer called the
"Ultimatic" by a gent named Turrin, W2IMU, who, I think, is still around.
73, Dave, N3HE

"Dave" wrote in message
news.com...
Hi all,

Just acquired a beautifully built late 1950's electronic keyer - I have
seldom seen construction of this caliber.

I'm thinking someone might be able to ID it based on a circuit
description.
I don't have a large vintage library, so I'd like to find out if it
appeared
as a project in QST or Handbook or some other publication....

Unique in that it uses 2 12AU7s plus a 6AS7 as the electronic key
on the output. There is a 'bias' and 'balance' control on the front that
determine the switch characteristics. Oddly, I can make it key my
VOM 'toner' function just fine, but it won't key my old tube code
oscillator. Haven't tried it on a rig just yet - but there are NO relays
in
the output.
The keying output is by the 6AS7 only. There is a neon 'indicator' light
on the front that shows dots and dashes. No sidetone.


Whoever built it even built in a
Vibroplex-esque brass keyer paddle into the base, so it's self contained.

Does this design sound familiar to anyone? Long shot, but who knows...

Dave WB7AWK

This is NOT the TO keyer. iF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS KEYER ASK ME.
iF YOU HAVE any FIRST HAND INFORMATION ABOUT jIM rICKS, w9to, please EMAIL
ME WITH IT SO WE CAN TALK. i AM PART OF A TEAM WRITING HIS STORY.

DAMN "Caps reverse" key!




"J999w" wrote in message
...
Weren't the "TO" keyers popular in those days? I believe it was so popular
that
Hallicrafters made them for a while.

jw
K9RZZ
(not that old)

I should have added. The full TO Keyer has the dual triodes (don't remember
if they were 12AX7;'s or 12AT7's. Have to look at the schematic) and TWO
murcury relays. There is also the similar Woodfuff, W9UE, Keyer. Don't
remember if he put a weight control.

My dad designed & built a keyer about the same time, but it was based on RC
timing and charging waveforms rather that Jim's flip-flops.

--
Steve N, K,9;d, c. i My email has no u's.




"Steve Nosko" wrote in message
...

This is NOT the TO keyer. iF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS KEYER ASK ME.
iF YOU HAVE any FIRST HAND INFORMATION ABOUT jIM rICKS, w9to, please EMAIL
ME WITH IT SO WE CAN TALK. i AM PART OF A TEAM WRITING HIS STORY.

DAMN "Caps reverse" key!




"J999w" wrote in message
...
Weren't the "TO" keyers popular in those days? I believe it was so
popular
that
Hallicrafters made them for a while.

jw
K9RZZ
(not that old)

My email has no u's.


That is TOO weird. Mine has no u's either. Weird.