Old Telegraph key, new use, Help

[KK6YBJ]

I received an old telegraph key (from a post office or something that was destroyed in an earthquake around 1964) from my grandfather for Christmas, along with a small wooden box that has two wire nuts on the back labbeled ANT and GND (I'm assuming antenna and ground), two jacks of some sort on the front, and what appears to be a magnet and an arm with a spring on top. (Pictures are bellow.) Can anyone tell me what the box is, and is it possible to wire the key into the mike jack on a handheld transceiver for transmitting CW?
Thanks in advance.

 

[rfradioconsult]

The first device is more interesting, it is a very early crystal detector, the jacks on the front is where the operator would connect his headphones. They would move the fine wire on the end of the arm to find the sweet spot on the chunk of germanium (called the Cat Wisker) until he could hear the radio transmissions. We are talking early 1900's. Something along the lines that R O Philips on board the RMS Titanic could have used. The Titanic used a rotary alternator to generate CW, most older ships still had spark gap transmitters. Ships were not permitted to fire up their transmitters while in port, to do so would destroy the crystal detectors in the receivers, most ship operators kept extra detectors with the sweet spot marked by a drop of India ink.

 

[WA0CBW]

And the other interesting device is indeed a telegraph key. This is basically an on/off switch used to "key" a transmitter on and off creating the basic elements of the morse code.
BB

 

[KK4JUG]

The first device is more interesting, it is a very early crystal detector, the jacks on the front is where the operator would connect his headphones. They would move the fine wire on the end of the arm to find the sweet spot on the chunk of germanium (called the Cat Wisker) until he could hear the radio transmissions. We are talking early 1900's. Something along the lines that R O Philips on board the RMS Titanic could have used. The Titanic used a rotary alternator to generate CW, most older ships still had spark gap transmitters. Ships were not permitted to fire up their transmitters while in port, to do so would destroy the crystal detectors in the receivers, most ship operators kept extra detectors with the sweet spot marked by a drop of India ink.

Good stuff!

 

[KK6YBJ]

The first device is more interesting, it is a very early crystal detector, the jacks on the front is where the operator would connect his headphones. They would move the fine wire on the end of the arm to find the sweet spot on the chunk of germanium (called the Cat Wisker) until he could hear the radio transmissions. We are talking early 1900's. Something along the lines that R O Philips on board the RMS Titanic could have used. The Titanic used a rotary alternator to generate CW, most older ships still had spark gap transmitters. Ships were not permitted to fire up their transmitters while in port, to do so would destroy the crystal detectors in the receivers, most ship operators kept extra detectors with the sweet spot marked by a drop of India ink.

Thanks for the information, that is really interesting. Do you know how to hook it up? (Either through the mike jack on my HT, or old school?)
Thanks again

 

[KK6YBJ]

And the other interesting device is indeed a telegraph key. This is basically an on/off switch used to "key" a transmitter on and off creating the basic elements of the morse code.
BB

Thanks for the reply.

 

[K4EET]

<snip> Can anyone tell me what the box is, and is it possible to wire the key into the mike jack on a handheld transceiver for transmitting CW? <snip>.

What "handheld transceiver" do you have? Make and Model. Generally speaking, the CW key would go in a jack specifically for a CW key and not the microphone jack. Keying the PTT line in the microphone jack will not produce CW. It would key the transceiver but only in the voice mode it was set to. So please let us know more about your transceiver.

73, Dave K4EET

 

[KK6YBJ]

What "handheld transceiver" do you have? Make and Model. Generally speaking, the CW key would go in a jack specifically for a CW key and not the microphone jack. Keying the PTT line in the microphone jack will not produce CW. It would key the transceiver but only in the voice mode it was set to. So please let us know more about your transceiver.

73, Dave K4EET

I have a Baofeng UV-82, and can make a cable or circuit if needed, or adjust settings to change the PTT or something. Let me know if need any other info.

**edit**
Or if I can use the earlier mentioned little wooden box or a computer somehow.

 

[paulears]

You need to build an oscillator first. The Morse key is a switch - that's all. If you press the PTT on your radio you don't send tones. So you need to generate a tone, then chop it with the key contacts. You also would need some method of putting the radio into transmit - which could be a switch, or something automatic that detects the first tone, switches to transmit and then after a second or so of no turn, witches back to receive. I have never seen a ready made device, as few people send CW as audio on an FM transmission. Most CW cable radios have a specific socket for connection of a key.

 

[jwt873]

Like paulears says, you can't connect the key to the Baofeng, you need an oscillator. You would key the oscillator and hold the Baofeng mic near it so the sound went over the air.

Look up 'Code practice oscillator' on Google.. If you don't want to build one, there are many for sale on eBay.

But you'd need someone on the other end to hear you... CW is not often used on 2m/70cm FM, (other than to identify repeaters), so unless you have a friend willing to listen, it won't be of much use.

 

[K7MEM]

I have a Baofeng UV-82, and can make a cable or circuit if needed, or adjust settings to change the PTT or something. Let me know if need any other info.

**edit**
Or if I can use the earlier mentioned little wooden box or a computer somehow.

One possibility would be software known as EhoCW. this is a free program that allows for an external key, hooked up to a serial port. It can handle straight keys or paddles. I have used it with a set of paddles. Of course, it can also be used with a keyboard, but that isn't the point.

If you don't have a serial port available, you can use a USB to Serial Port converter cable. Then you can plug the audio out from the computer into your radio. You could switch manually from RX to TX or the USB to Serial Port converter cable can also be used to toggle the PTT.

Attached is the circuit that I used with paddles and direct CW keying. However, it can be modified to provide PTT instead of CW Keying. It should be in the instructions.

I believe F8EHO removed the CW decoder from the latest version. But earlier versions are available and still have the decoder. IIRC, the decoder works as well as any other decoder.

Martin - K7MEM

 

[KK6YBJ]

Thanks for all of the replies. In my engineering class last year, in our EE unit, we were doing bread-boarding for various circuits. One of them was an oscillator with a speaker attached, when power was applied, it produced a steady tone. (it is similar to the one below). This year we did a more advanced one using several IC chips that caused a LED to blink. Would it be possible to use one of those as an oscillator with the telegraph key wired into the circuit along with a cord wiring into the 3.5mm jack?

I will also look into your other suggestions such as Echo and code practice oscillator.

Thanks again for the help.

 

[K7MEM]

Would it be possible to use one of those as an oscillator with the telegraph key wired into the circuit along with a cord wiring into the 3.5mm jack?

Absolutely. Here are a couple that would work just fine. One uses a 555 timer and the other uses two cheap transistors.

http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Technology/tis/info/pdf/NYT.pdf

http://www.arrl.org/files/file/QST%20Binaries/GardnerCheaperBeeper.pdf

You can find dozens of circuits that would fit the bill by doing a google search on "code practice oscillators".

https://www.google.com/search?q=code+practice+oscillator+schematic&espv=2&biw=1245&bih=626&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjfxf2sxYnKAhUC6mMKHTYNAV4QsAQIJQ

I will also look into your other suggestions such as Echo and code practice oscillator.

That's "EhoCW" not "Echo". "Eho" is part of the authors call sign, "F8EHO". But I only suggested that because tone generation is already built into the program. All you need to do is add a few wires.

I'm not sure how effective this will be on VHF FM. People are not used to hearing CW in the FM area. It was common to use it with VHF AM. But note that Modulated CW (MCW) is not legal below 30 MHz. HF digital modes use computer generated tones. but that requires a transceiver capable of SSB.

Martin - K7MEM

 

[KK6YBJ]

Absolutely. Here are a couple that would work just fine. One uses a 555 timer and the other uses two cheap transistors.

http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Technology/tis/info/pdf/NYT.pdf

http://www.arrl.org/files/file/QST%20Binaries/GardnerCheaperBeeper.pdf

You can find dozens of circuits that would fit the bill by doing a google search on "code practice oscillators".

https://www.google.com/search?q=code+practice+oscillator+schematic&espv=2&biw=1245&bih=626&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjfxf2sxYnKAhUC6mMKHTYNAV4QsAQIJQ




That's "EhoCW" not "Echo". "Eho" is part of the authors call sign, "F8EHO". But I only suggested that because tone generation is already built into the program. All you need to do is add a few wires.

I'm not sure how effective this will be on VHF FM. People are not used to hearing CW in the FM area. It was common to use it with VHF AM. But note that Modulated CW (MCW) is not legal below 30 MHz. HF digital modes use computer generated tones. but that requires a transceiver capable of SSB.

Martin - K7MEM

Thanks for the clarification on the EhoCW software. I found one that fits inside an altoids tin ( NT7S Code Practice Oscillator ), but it doesn't have many instructions, so I will keep looking. For that one, or something similar, I would just use a male to male 3.5mm cord in the "phones" jack of the code practice oscillator to the headphone jack on my radio? what would be the best way to connect my telegraph key to the oscillator?

 

[KK6YBJ]

Regarding those who are saying that there may not be people to hear me on 2m and 70cm, I appreciate your concern, but have hear several CW conversations on a local repeater.

 

[jwt873]

Regarding those who are saying that there may not be people to hear me on 2m and 70cm, I appreciate your concern, but have hear several CW conversations on a local repeater.

That's good! Some places have CW practice sessions on local repeaters to help people learn code. They aren't that common, but it appears that you are lucky enough to be in a region where this is done.

All the more reason to go ahead with the project.

 

[WA0CBW]

The code oscillator would plug into the microphone jack on your radio and the code key would connect to the keying input on the oscillator. To operate you would press the PTT on the radio and then key the oscillator to produce Morse code. Release the PTT on the radio and listen for someone to respond.
BB

 

[WA0CBW]

The actual connection of the key would be two wires one from each of the two posts on the key to the keying terminals on the oscillator. The audio output of the oscillator would connect via two wires to a miniature phone plug that would fit your radio microphone jack. You will need the schematic of that jack to determine which pins are PTT and which are audio. You would need to connect the plug to the audio inputs. It may also be necessary to match the impedance and amplitude of the output of the audio oscillator to the input impedance and amplitude requirements of the external microphone input jack on the radio.
BB

 

[K7MEM]

I found one that fits inside an altoids tin ( NT7S Code Practice Oscillator ), but it doesn't have many instructions, so I will keep looking.

Instructions?? What do you need instructions for?

Instructions are only going to give you a list of parts and a possible layout. The schematic gives all the component names and values. It's a simple circuit and can be built any way you choose. It doesn't have to exactly match the original item to work.

Just about anything can fit in a Altoids tin. Here is an example, although it isn't useful for a straight key. This is iambic keyer complete with built in character memory and a set of paddles. It all runs on on a single button cell. I don't have a power switch on it because it will run for years on that battery. The keyer chip is a "Tick-2". A toggle switch allows me to disconnect the paddles from the keyer so I can connect to a computer for EhoCW. Except for a pinout of the chip, there were no instructions telling me how to assemble it.

The paddles came from a Heathkit HD-1410 Iambic keyer. I bought two of them for a total of $10 at a ham fest. They were dirty and broken, but were easily cleaned and fixed.

Martin - K7MEM

 

[KK6YBJ]

Thanks for the replies.

K7MEM, that's a fair point about instructions, I didn't notice that the schematic had all of the resistor values and such, but I found them now. Would you recommend trying to make a pcb, or just using a perfboard?

WA0CBW, Thanks, I was kind of confused because I have seen some 3.5mm jacks with 2, 3, and 4 bands, so I'll have to find one that matches the radio.