Posted on 03/04/2017 10:17:39 AM PST by MNDude
Telegraph key. Used with a radio transmitter that produces CW.
That was the old name. Today they’re simply knows as a key or code key. CW=continues wave.
I am an old ancient decrepit fart. It is a telegraph just as sure at Pluto is a planet. ;-D
The gap is set too wide on that one.
Don’t be saying “clip” when it is a “magazine”, either. ;-D
Btw, I have one sitting not far from me.☺ A straight key. Whoop, I mean "Telegraph key".
In most commercial buildings there is a phone room. There are large demarcation boards with twisted pairs of wires coming from each phone line in the building and the pairs of wires coming from the telco. They are just punched onto a little metal tab with groove in it.
Hopefully for the service guy, each connection is marked with the phone number.
All someone has to do to listen in is to get access to that room and clip a butt set on to the proper pair of wires. To record something they would need an interface because ring voltage is about 100 volts.
What I described is the old pre-digital lines. I got out of working on phone line access about the time digital started getting common.
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