My First Keys

February 26, 2021

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Taste P

The first key I had was a German World War II vintage key. I received it from my father. He received it from a friend of his who had just returned from working on a construction site in Europe. I was too young to appreciate it and set it aside until after I earned my radio license.
I finally searched on the Internet and found the key's name to be the "Taste P" key. I discuss this key further in the military key section of the articles.

Japanese Ball Bearing Key

In the mid-nineties, I caught the radio bug again with the help of a ham coworker. Before taking my test for my license, I went to a local ham shop to see what was available to help me learn Morse code. I bought a common Japanese ball bearing key. I believe the key was the Ameco K-4 key.
This key was in production from the early 1950s until 2010. The base is plated metal and its contacts are stainless steel. The key also had a shorting switch and ball bearing lever supports. Compared to a clean J-30, the advantage of the K-4's ball bearings is slight. This is because the lever normally only rotates a short distance. I recently gave my original K-4 to a new ham who is interested in working A1A mode. I bought the key in the photos from eBay a few years ago.

Bencher RJ-1

Several years later, I bought my second key from a ham shop in Lancaster County. It was a Bencher RJ-1 straight key. This is a sleek low-slung straight key with an interesting lever shape. This key has an added adjustment screw that allows for even greater flexibility for the operator. The adjustments need the Allen wrench stored in a clip on the key's bottom.