A Visit to Italy’s Begali Keys Factory

After three years of learning and improving my CW, I bought my first Begali key at Orlando HamCation in 2023. I used this key as I became progressively more partial to CW over any other mode. It somehow became a physical piece of motivation for me to always improve my CW skills.

Not only have I enjoyed operating at home with my Begali key, but also at the YOTA camps I’ve attended. The Begali family has donated keys to the YOTA organizations in both Europe and the Americas and is a big supporter of youth in amateur radio. For any non-YOTA camp trips that I’ve been on, my Begali key comes along as well in case there’s a chance for me to do CW. So, it was no surprise this past summer that while packing for my exchange year in Germany, the key was one of the first pieces of amateur radio equipment to go on the list.

When I packed it, though, I had no idea I’d have the opportunity to visit the Begali factory and see exactly where and how my key had been made.

During my fall break from school, my host family and I took a trip to Italy. We could travel there relatively quickly from their home in southern Bavaria. A few weeks before our trip, I reached out to Bruna Begali, KI2RTF, to let her know we would be close by and to see if she would be interested in catching up while we were there. To my surprise and delight, she graciously offered to give us a tour of the Begali Keys factory.

We accepted the offer and started our trip to Italy with a visit to Brescia, where the company has been producing keys for more than 60 years. It was about a two-hour drive from where we were staying in Trento, Italy. When we arrived at the small but very impressive factory, we were first warmly greeted outside by the dogs, and then by Bruna and her father—company founder Piero, I2RTF.

After greeting everyone, we sat down and had coffee while we chatted about the basics of the production process and key points in the business’s history. Then we watched the steps involved in producing a CW key. Each key begins as a block of metal, gradually taking its shape through numerous cutting and chiseling processes.

After all the unnecessary material is gone, the remaining form is sanded, and holes are made to accommodate the key’s moving elements. Once these elements are added, the key is engraved and polished.

Begali keys are engraved one at a time—a process that takes a relatively long time but is well worth the effort. The quality is very noticeable in the final product. After every key is engraved, they are packaged by hand and prepared to be shipped or taken to a hamfest for sale in person.

It was amazing to see the sheer amount of time and effort put into crafting, packaging, and shipping each of the keys the business sells. An even more interesting part of the visit was learning about the history of the factory and business. Piero, who founded Begali Keys after getting his amateur radio license, first manufactured electromechanical precision components before the idea of creating Morse code instruments was even in his thoughts. The original factory was converted to producing keys and has been doing so ever since. Piero has designed countless CW instruments and still works on new models today. A shelf in the factory is dedicated to experimentation, with hopes of coming up with a new key design.

Another winsome aspect of the factory is how it depicts a story rich in history and family roots. Piero is an avid book collector, with significant interests in linguistics, reading, and writing in addition to RF, experimenting, and technology. A portion of his book collection, displaying a wealth of knowledge, can be found toward the entry to the factory. There are even a few rare publications, most notably the first volume of the Marconi International Code in English, French, and Spanish.

Getting to see the key production process firsthand and enjoy the tremendous hospitality of the Begali family were wonderful experiences. The visit created plenty of memories of the factory flooded with morning sunlight and the busy whir of everything going on with a faint smell of morning coffee in the background. Learning about the business’s history and how it has grown over the years illustrated exquisitely how amateur radio operators are all part of a tight-knit community dedicated to experimenting and supporting each other through that process.

The post A Visit to Italy’s Begali Keys Factory appeared first on OnAllBands.