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Reviews For: Marconi PS No213A

Category: Keys & Paddles

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Review Summary For : Marconi PS No213A
Reviews: 5MSRP:
Description:
Marine Coast Station Key
Product is not in production
More Info: http://www.morsemad.com/coast.htm
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0055
ZL1BBW Rating: 2020-12-07
Ex GKA key's Time Owned: more than 12 months.
As an ex GKA RO I used or some days abused these keys.

The keys were mounted to a position, so that is where they stayed, if you wanted to use yr own key, you croc clipped it across the key that was there.

Many of these would have been adjusted, readjusted every hr or so for 24hrs 7 days a week, yet they stood up to it really well.

As a key to use they were good, at the time I dont think any of us ever thought that morse keys would become such a cult thing.

A thing of beauty, well probably not, but a piece of superbly engineered fit for the job equipment absolutely.

Wish I had acquired one when I left, at least I did get 2 pairs of phones, which I still use.

When properly adjusted you could rattle along on them at a good speed for hours on end.
GM0HUU Rating: 2018-11-02
UK GPO Coastal Station Key Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I am lucky enough to have one of these - passed on to me by my father who, I believe, obtained it in the 1960s.

It was they key that I started using for CW on the amateur bands when I was first licensed in 1987. I have used it occasionally over the last 30 years and found it to be a very nice key. It seems to be suited best to being set up with close contacts and a fairly light spring which allows for fast sending with minimal wrist movement. The relatively small base and long arm means you either need to screw the assembly down or mount it on large/heavy plate.

The nice action I think comes from the long arm and the sprung contacts. Also, I am guessing movement of the contacts as they come together effects a sliding or wiping action which makes them self-cleaning? I certainly don't ever recall having to clean the contacts.

Given how well this simple design works, I have often wondered why it wasn't used more.

As far as I know these keys were originally manufactured by Marconi in the 1920s for the British General Post Office (GPO). It was the GPO who operated the Coastal Stations around the UK at the time. These keys were installed for the Radio Officers (ROs) who would have used them to send and receive "traffic", typically in the form of telegrams to and from ships across the World. They must have been effective, as they seem to have remained in use from the 1920s through to the 1980s when British Telecom (as the GPO later became) removed them and replaced them with remanufactured copies which would have remained in use for only around 10 years until the UK Coastal Stations were "de-manned" in the late 1990s.

If any ex Coast Station ROs read this, please consider posting a review of what it was like to use these keys?
WB5AGF Rating: 2017-03-23
Essentially The Perfect Straight Morse Key Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
In watching eBay fairly closely for the past 18 months I have seen two real Marconi PS 213A Morse Keys show up for sale as well as perhaps 5 or 6 near-clones or close-copies. I don't believe that they were particularly rare in the UK at one time but their use in commercial service is now past and the people who have these keys tend to keep them.

Having said that ... I'm in the States and don't believe that this key ever came to the U.S. in any significant quantity. (I don't think that most U.S. hams know anything about the key.)

One of the truly fascinating things about this key is that the design is so straightforward, with no single portion difficult to understand, and yet their performance, as a straight (non-automatic) Morse key, can be described as essentially perfect.

A correctly maintained Marconi PS213A Key (and they are pretty robust ... they were used in commercial marine service) gives a quite delicate sensation to the user's fingers. There is no harshness or 'clanking'; in a quiet room the key in use gives off a sound rather like a reed-relay.

The PS-213A, in its design, shares a feature with the 'Swedish key', that being the use of a 'metal tongue', sticking-out from the lever arm on the far end away from the knob, as the place where the moving contacts are located. I believe that this is probably some of the 'secret' to the key's remarkably delicate handling.

The PS-213A differs from the 'Swedish Key' in that it uses ball bearings (the Brits really like ball bearings for their Morse keys) as opposed to the piece of flexing metal used in the 'Swedish Key' for its rotational element.

I'll conclude by saying that the Marconi PS213A Key is worth watching for though I suspect a concentrated search will likely be required if you are seriously interested in owning one.

(signed)
Paul N. Nix, WB5AGF
(23 Mar 2017)
N4EES Rating: 2011-08-04
The best of the best Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have tried many professional, long arm straight keys, and this is far and away my favorite....they just don't come any better than the Marconi PS 213A. Extremely hard to find, and good examples are very expensive. I agree with John Snell, G0RDO, they are the finest straight keys in the world! Ask ANYONE who has ever used one.
G0RDO Rating: 2011-04-28
The best key I have ever used Time Owned: more than 12 months.
A key design based on the Scandinavian large straight keys with the overhead contacts at the rear makes this a joy to use. Large key at overall length of aroud 9" (230mm)and 3 & 1/4" wide. I can see why they were chosen for marine coast stations around the UK and elsewhere, the key is truly magnificent.