Morse keys during Vietnam era?

[Historiker]

Hi folks,

 

I know that the KY116/J45 was still in use by the U.S. Army during Vietnam, but I'm wondering if any other morse keys saw use by the Army during that period. I know there were a bunch out there - J44, J47, etc - but I don't know if they were still in use by the late 60s/early 70s.  No one that collects morse keys that Ive posed this question to seems to have answers. Hoping that folks with military knowledge may succeed where the morse collectors failed.

 

Thanks!

[RustyCanteen]

Good question - the best answer for that would be found in a stock catalog. The earlier SIG ones I'm more familiar with, I have never seen a Vietnam one. 

It's too bad this question didn't come up 22 years ago - I had lunch with a gentleman who served in the Army signal corps during Vietnam. We were talking about telegraph, and he said he believed it saved his life. He'd been drafted (as I recall) in the mid-1960s, and he had orders to go to Vietnam. At the last moment someone looked over his records and noticed he'd had prior experience with telegraph in civilian life, and they plucked him out and put him to work with a telegraph key. Anyway he described some of the keys he used in the Army, but it's been too long for me to recall them. 

RC

[Historiker]

8 hours ago, RustyCanteen said:

Good question - the best answer for that would be found in a stock catalog. The earlier SIG ones I'm more familiar with, I have never seen a Vietnam one. 

It's too bad this question didn't come up 22 years ago - I had lunch with a gentleman who served in the Army signal corps during Vietnam. We were talking about telegraph, and he said he believed it saved his life. He'd been drafted (as I recall) in the mid-1960s, and he had orders to go to Vietnam. At the last moment someone looked over his records and noticed he'd had prior experience with telegraph in civilian life, and they plucked him out and put him to work with a telegraph key. Anyway he described some of the keys he used in the Army, but it's been too long for me to recall them. 

RC

 

Stock catalogs hadn't occurred to me, but that's a great idea. Any idea if digital collections of those exist anywhere? I did a little hunting, but didnt see any.

[John051]

I was a radio operator in Vietnam 1963 and 1964.  I used a Vibroplex Original bug and J45 leg key. Others with used a table mounted key.

 

 

[SGM (ret.)]

IIRC, our radio operators (SF) were still using the J45 leg key into the early '90s.

[Historiker]

On 3/10/2023 at 10:23 PM, John051 said:

Thanks for this info, and for the photos.  Looks like maybe a J-36 next to your Vibroplex?  This is the most recent summary I've found in print about post WWII keys, so I really appreciate you sharing your experience: https://radionerds.com/images/9/9e/Telegraph_key.pdf

 

 

[Historiker]

3 hours ago, SGM (ret.) said:

IIRC, our radio operators (SF) were still using the J45 leg key into the early '90s.

This jives with what I've seen from others on Rallypoint, as well as the only government publication I've found that addresses post WWII keys. I've wondered when they phased out the J44 and J47, so if you werent aware of them, that suggests they didnt see the 90s.  Appreciate the info!

[SGM (ret.)]

53 minutes ago, Historiker said:

This jives with what I've seen from others on Rallypoint, as well as the only government publication I've found that addresses post WWII keys. I've wondered when they phased out the J44 and J47, so if you werent aware of them, that suggests they didnt see the 90s.  Appreciate the info!

Those might have still been in use in other jobs (like base operations, etc.).  I just recall the J45 from detachment cross-training and equipment inventories.  I wasn't a communicator, though, so my knowledge is pretty limited with regard to that stuff.

[SGM (ret.)]

This was, BTW, used by our commo guys with the AN/PRC-74B and then the AN/PRC-104.  I don't recall the replacement for the 104, but IIRC, that was when everything went totally digital.  There was a short transition period when we still had the 104 and were using it with the DMDG, sort of a semi-digital period, but that was also when we were getting some of the early SATCOM tactical sets.  Commo seemed to change every year after about '90-'91, or so.  We had a whole succession of short-lived sets that came and went almost faster than you could learn how to use them.