Vibroplex
| Vibroplex | |
|---|---|
| Type | Private company |
| Founded | 1905, in New York City |
| Founder | Horace G. Martin |
| Headquarters | Knoxville, Tennessee (since 2009) |
| Amateur radio | |
| Known for | Semi-automatic "bug" keys; paddles and straight keys |
| Brands | Vibroplex, Bencher, Inrad, Par EndFedz |
| Earlier homes | New York for many years; Mobile, Alabama, until 2009 |
| Owner from 2009 | Scott Robbins, W4PA |
| Today | |
| Status | Active |
| Website | vibroplex.com |
Vibroplex is an American maker of Morse code keys, known above all for the semi-automatic mechanical key called the "bug." It was founded in New York in 1905 by Horace G. Martin, the bug's inventor, and has been based in Knoxville, Tennessee, since the end of 2009. Both the company and ARRL news have described it as the oldest continuously operating business in amateur radio. Besides its own keys, it makes Bencher paddles, Inrad crystal filters and Par EndFedz antennas.
History
Martin was a telegrapher who had worked for the Associated Press and Western Union. Sending Morse code all day on a straight key could cause a painful overuse injury known as "glass arm" or telegrapher's paralysis, and in the early 1900s Martin worked on mechanical keys that would do part of the work. His design used a weighted pendulum: pushed sideways with the thumb, it swung back and forth and sent a string of evenly spaced dots, while the operator formed the dashes by hand. Sources give dates from 1902 to 1906 for his early patents and models, and the company dates its founding to 1905.
The keys were sold mainly to commercial telegraphers, through the J. E. Albright Company as sole agent. His broad patents held off most competitors until they expired in the mid-1930s. Once they lapsed, many similar semi-automatic keys appeared from other makers. He left the company in the 1930s and died in 1939. Models over the years included the Lightning Bug of the 1920s, the Martin Junior, introduced in 1934 with larger contacts for amateur radio use, and deluxe versions such as the Blue Racer.
The company changed hands several times after Martin's departure and eventually left New York. In 2009 its owner was Felton "Mitch" Mitchell, W4OA, and it was located in Mobile, Alabama. When Mitchell decided to retire, Scott Robbins, W4PA, then the amateur radio product manager at Ten-Tec, agreed to buy the business. The sale took effect on December 21, 2009, and Robbins moved Vibroplex to Knoxville, where it reopened in January 2010.
In Knoxville the company took over other established names. In March 2015 it bought the amateur radio product line of Bencher, Inc., known for its BY series iambic paddles, as Bencher's principals moved toward retirement. In September 2015 it acquired International Radio Corporation (Inrad) of Aptos, California, a maker of crystal filters for receivers and transceivers, and moved its operations to Tennessee.
Amateur radio products
- Bugs: the Original, made for more than a century with only minor cosmetic changes, and other semi-automatic models. On a typical Vibroplex the thumb pushes a flat paddle to send dots, and the index finger presses a knob on the other side to send dashes.
- Paddles: iambic (dual-lever) and single-lever paddles for use with electronic keyers, including the Vibrokeyer, a version of the Original built to drive a keyer instead of sending dots mechanically.
- Bencher paddles, including the BY series iambic and ST series single-lever paddles, and RJ series straight keys. Straight keys are also sold under the Vibroplex name.
- Inrad filters: aftermarket crystal filters and roofing filters for transceivers and receivers from the 1960s to the present, including the factory filters for the Elecraft K3S.
- Par EndFedz single-band and multiband end-fed antennas, which the company promotes for portable operating.
Vibroplex is also the United States and Canadian distributor for several other makers, among them Spiderbeam portable antennas and masts, Easy-Rotor-Control rotator interfaces, GHD and Hi-Mound Morse keys, and mAT-TUNER automatic antenna tuners. It also sells vintage equipment manuals under the W7FG name.
In the hobby today
The company makes its keys in the United States. Because the basic bug design changed little for decades, older Vibroplex keys are collected, and many can still be put on the air after cleaning and adjustment; used keys turn up at hamfests. A bug takes more practice than a straight key or a paddle, so newcomers to one should expect a learning period; see Learning Morse code.