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Ww2 keying machine

Carbsandcaps

Carbsandcaps

Super Member
Wasn’t sure if anyone would be interested in seeing this but this is a ww2 Morse code training keying machine.

I bought basically because it was cheap and I was considering turning it into some kind of amplifier but it’s just too cool to cut up. It has the original key and I just put a cheap speaker in the case. And it’s heavy! I could figure out why it had such a big amplifier just to make dots and dashes then I read that it was supposed to be used with up to 300 headphones.

The way it works is it has a light sensor that inside the brass bulb that reads the dots and dashes on the tape real. It has a tiny hole in the brass bulb to let light in. Then it converts it to dots and dashes. I had to repair the idler wheel I just used a few rubber o-rings. It works great and is super cool. Definitely a piece of American history.
 

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PLEASE don't cut that up! Those machines are very cool, and you got a tape with it. In the event you get tired of it or just want to give it away, most ham radio operators (and maybe a few WWII museums) would love to have it. I was a ham for more than 50 years, and Morse was one of my special interests. I could copy about 60 WPM by ear when I was in high school. Great find, congrats!

Jack
 
TriodeLuvr said:
PLEASE don't cut that up! Those machines are very cool, and you got a tape with it. In the event you get tired of it or just want to give it away, most ham radio operators (and maybe a few WWII museums) would love to have it. I was a ham for more than 50 years, and Morse was one of my special interests. I could copy about 60 WPM by ear when I was in high school. Great find, congrats!

Jack
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Once I realized that it actually ran I knew I wasn’t cutting it up. Then once I actually heard it dotting and dashing I knew there was no way I could ruin it. I tried to use a Morse code app to decipher it but all I got was gibberish. I think the tape might be in upside down or backwards but it’s so fragile I don’t want to disturb it too much. That’s great that you can read it. That’s a lost art for sure.
 
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