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W1TP

Episode 358 – Tom Perera – W1TP

Tom Perera, W1TP, has a collection of over 3000 Morse code keys and bugs going back to pre-American Civil War, perhaps the largest collection in the World.  He displays these keys in his virtual, on-line museum.  W1TP shares with me the history of his collection, some interesting stories, and his newest interest and collection of military cipher machines, including the WW2 German  Enigma, in this QSO Today.
1TP Links
W1TP Museum of 3000 Telegraph Keys
W1TP is Looking for:   Vibroplex Vertical Line Chief’s Key

Hometown:  New York City, NY
First License:  Age 15, 1953, Novice, KN2DCY
Upgrade:  General Class, K2DCY
  
First Rig: 
Collins 75A-2 Receiver
6L6 Xtal Novice Transmitter
Vertical end-fed antenna –  #40 wire suspended from high rise apartment building in NYC. 

Terms
Shortwave Radio
Knight Kit Star Roamer 5 Tube AM Receiver
Columbia University, Psychology
Study of Neuroscience
Wheatstone Code
Dilbert’s – The Knack
Thermal FAX Machine on cylinder 
Samuel FB Morse
Joseph Henry, Inventor of the  Telegraph?
Camelback Telegraph Key
Titanic Wireless Telegraph Key
Jesse JH Bunnell, Telegraph Operator, and Telegraph Manufacturer
Triumph Telegraph Key with Steel Lever
Vince Thompson K5VT, Morse Key Collector
Ebay
ARRL Straight Key Night
Zoom Telegraph Key Collectors Group – need reference
HST Club High Speed Telegraph Club 
McElroy Semi-Automatic Key
Gunsmiths are good a making unusual metal pieces
Siemens Company Telegraph Keys
Enigma Cypher Machine
Alan Turing, Breaker of the Enigma Code
Enigma Days Keys
291 Known Enigma Machines in the World
David Ben-Gurion, 1st Prime Minister of Israel 
President Abraham Lincoln Telegraph History
Civil War Telegraph Spy Set 
Sigaba Code Machine
M209 Cypher Machine
Operation Rubicon
Russian Fialca Cypher Machine
American KL7 Cypher Machine
Ham Radio Friedrichshafen Convention

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Reproduction of Vail Lever Correspondent
GIL SCHLEHMAN’S EXCEPTIONALLY UNUSUAL VERTICAL SEMI-AUTOMATIC KEY​
Homemade Camel-back Key and Sounder
3 Rotor German Enigma Cypher Machine

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