The First 100 Years Are The Hardest

Yesterday I received an old Navy Flameproof Key that purchased on EBay a few days ago.   Flame Proof keys have covered contacts and were used by the military in environments that may have had flammable gases present. I've made a few QSOs this morning after cleaning it up and mounting it to a cheap wooden base.  The action is smooth, and the straight key motion is easy to send clean code.  These keys have a strong following with the SKCC users.  I like sending code with this key very much!   From the Web:  8280 U.S. NAVY FLAMEPROOF GENERAL PURPOSE KEY XXX-26003A.  Made for the navy by several manufacturers whose code letters precede the model number. For instance, CJB-26003A was made by J. H. Bunnell. CTE-26003A was made by Telephonics. CMK-26003A was made by McElroy, etc. It was apparently copied from the German Luftwaffe Key of very similar design (See German Keys.). JH Bunell manufactured the Navy Flame Proof Key from 1958 - 1988.  They offered  NOS (New Old Stock) at some point

SKCC has a number of really useful tool for contacting other members.   SKCC Logger is used to retrieve the other members name, SKCC # and QTH when logging a QSO.  Logger also tracks your QSO, SPC counts and the number of Centurions,  Tribunes and Senators you have logged.  You can create special logs for events - Slow Speed Saunter, Monthly Brag, the Weekend Sprintathon etc then merge these event logs back into your master logger. SKCC Skimmer  is a great tool for finding members logged in on the SKED page, and who have been spotted on the RBN.  Skimmer also helps filter specific goals, and reads your log file to filter out spots for duplicate contacts.   I also normally have browser tab for the RBN open - to see if I'm being spotted but to also see who else is out there.  The CW Club Spotter is at https://rbn.telegraphy.de/.   You can filter for your specific criterial - Club, Speed, Region, etc. and sort by Call,  Spot Age or Frequency.    The Club Spotter page also shows upcomi

Duly Noted.... ---------- Forwarded message --------- From:  AC2C at SKCCgroup   < AC2C@skccgroup.com > Date: Sun, Jun 12, 2022 at 5:58 PM Subject: Chris White, WX7V, SKCC# 25995 is Centurion #2491 To: chris white < chrislwhite93@gmail.com > Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Gather 'round and pay heed to the news of this day! Let there be revelry & celebration for yet another SKCC member has advanced   to the Centurion Cx1 level of SKCC achievement !!! Chris White, WX7V, SKCC# 25995, has achieved the coveted 1st generation SKCC   member achievement known far and wide as the Centurion Cx1 award. The Centurion Cx1 award is earned by SKCC members who work 100 other   members, exchanging skcc number and name. Chris's log & application were submitted to the Centurion Administrator on   12-Jun-2022. The Centurion award Analysis Team performed an exhaustive   review of the submitted documentation. The process confirmed that all of the   100 required contacts had indeed been made w