First we picture the "Bug" key used for many years in the station G3NVK and below it the "straight" key (the well-known Services WT 8 AMP key of which many versions were made) used by Alan Scudamore, G3YEV.
"The Story of the Key" by Louise Ramsey Moreau, W3WRE is virtually the definitive work on the subject of Morse keys - it was published in 1987 (ISBN 1 898805 07 5) by G C Arnold Partners and comprised reprints from Morsum Magnificat magazine.
Louise was a highly respected telegraph historian and collector and the suthor/editor of several publications. She was nominated to the Telegraph Hall of Fame in 1976 and received many other accolades. She became a Silent Key on 15th April 1994, aged 77, and her own historic key collection was passed to the Antique Wireless Association/s Museum at East Bloomfield, New York.
Akin in some respects to stamp collecting, the hobby of collecting keys is worldwide but covers an almost infinite variety that short of specialisation the hobby knows no bounds.
The popular
MORSUM MAGNIFICAT
homepage contains extracts and articles from earlier issues
of the magazine; a full summary of the contents of the current issue; details
and reviews of scarce telegraphy books available from the MM Bookshelf;
a special page for beginners and improvers; and ever-increasing links to
other sites of Morse interest on the World Wide Web. The index of all MMs, produced in English since 1986 up to issue No.64 of July 1999 is now available on the Web site.
The Morse Magazine itself "is
for all Morse enthusiasts, amateur or professional, active or retired. It brings
together material which would otherwise be lost to posterity, providing an invaluable
source of interest, reference and record relating to the traditions and practice of
Morse" (© The Nilski Partnership MM). The Editor of this quarterly magazine
(motto "Flying the flag for Morse") is Zyg Nilski G3OKD and the Editorial and Subscription Offices are at The Poplars, Wistanswick,
Market Drayton, Shropshire TF9 2BA.
One other type of Morse key is the paddle - shown here as made by Bencher - and used mainly with electronic keyers in several modes including 'iambic' keying.
For the right-handed operator the left-hand side of the twin Perspex paddles is pressed towards the right, giving a series of dots, and the right-hand side, pressed towards the left by the extremity of the index finger gives a series of dashes. Squeezing the paddles produces the dot-dash-dot sequence or dash-dot-dash as set by the initiating motion.
