wythall radio club

The British 1916 Elliot Bros GPO Pattern Frankenstein Morse Key

As mentioned in a previous article, I purchased this key in 2026 from an online auction in in Norfolk at a cost of £33.00 including fees and delivery. It was described as a British 1916 Elliot Bros GPO Pattern Morse Key mounted on a wooden plinth. (See Fig 1 below)

              Figure 1:1916 Bros GPO Morse Key

Looking through the various online Key Collection websites I quickly found a similar key also described as a 1916 Elliot Bros GPO key (See Fig 2)

Figure 2: Authentic 1916 Elliot Bros GPO Morse Key

This was known as the GPO Pattern 1056A single current key. On closer examination I could see several dissimilarities which needed further investigation.

1. First and most obvious, my key did not have an Elliot Bros name badge on the front of the key (knob end – See Fig 3), nor were there any screw holes to indicate that there had ever been one.

                  Figure 3: Elliot Name badge

2. Secondly, the lever arm axle posts on my key are of a different shape to those on the internet key. This seemed strange because the other brass fittings on both keys are identical as is the lever shape. I also noticed that the washers under the large brass terminating screws are very slightly different. The size of the terminating screws on both keys is identical and at first, I wondered why so large, then it occurred to me at in the days of electromagnetic telegraph operation there could by high voltage or current going through these fixings.

3. The tensioning spring arrangement on my key was also different. The internet key has a conventional tensioning screw which raises a post with a slot in it on the lever arm to tension the spring which is secured to the bottom end of the post. The spring goes into a hole in the wooden base where it hooks onto a stiff piece of brass wire (see Fig 4). The spring on my key had rusted away and was no longer functional. It was then I realised that the spring tensioning arrangement on my key was not normal but was a threaded 6BA bolt which connected the key arm to the spring. There was little in the way of adjustment of spring tension. On closer examination, and in comparison, with other GPO type keys on the internet, it occurred to me that possibly, by tightening the screw that fixed the contact adjustment screw setting, this might have also secured the spring post that should have been there instead of the threaded bolt, however I cannot be sure of this. The chances of me finding a suitable spring tensioning post and screw to fit my key are very slim indeed.

4. Another minor difference between the two keys, was the fact that mine has a knob collar and most of the one’s I have seen online do not. The knobs do look very similar though. Use of a collar is probably an operator personal preference, or possibly safety issue, so I am assuming that they are fitted if required.

5. The axle pin that secures the arm to the body of the key on my key is significantly longer than it needs to be and longer than most of those shown on the internet although there are several examples of where the axle protrudes 5mm or more each side of the axle pillar. Also, my key is missing a small screw which enables the axle to be lubricated easily.

My first priority was to try and find and fit a spring that would provide sufficient tension to close the key arm when released, but before that, I had to remove the lower base that gave access to the fixings that secured the various brass fittings to the key base (See Fig 4). The piece of brass wire that the bottom end of the tensioning spring hooks onto is shown secured by a brass screw. The wooden key base looked rather plain compared to identical items I had seen on internet versions of this key. Between the key base and the wooden base there is a fibre board gasket which allows room for key wiring to be hidden from view. (Fig 5). This was beginning to have the look of “home-brew” about it.

          Figure 4: Key base showing fixings

  Figure 5: Fibreboard gasket

How much Restoration?

Normally I would strip a key like this down to individual components and clean and polish all the brass items, but I decided that the priority should be to get it back to be a working key which meant finding a suitable spring that would both fit and provide enough tension to close the contacts when released. I purchased a box of assorted tension and compression springs from Amazon with the hope of finding something suitable. (If any club member needs a spring come and see me first!).

Fig 6 shows the original spring tensioning arrangement. The 6BA screw secured the spring at its domed slot head and was secured in the key lever arm by a brass spacer and thin 6BA nut. You can just see the spring disappearing into a hole in the key base where it would have been hooked onto the brass wire shown in Fig 4, but that had rusted away.

Figure 6: Original spring Tensioning Arrangement

From my spring box assortment, I tried several springs that would fit through the 5mm diameter hole in the wooden base. In the end I went with a 6mm diameter spring of 20mm length, which meant having to widen the hole. By reversing the screw and securing the spring with the thin nut and then adding a second nut, I came up with the arrangement shown in Figure 7. This gave enough tension when the lever arm is released to close the contacts adjacent to the spring. After testing both with a morse oscillator and on air with John M6KET, I feel that the spring needs to have more tension to give it a better “snap back” but it does work, so I shall leave it at that.

Figure 7: New Spring tensioning arrangement

Conclusion: So just what is the origin of this key?

Is it a Frankenstein key, made of different parts of other keys or is it a forgotten cousin that no-one remembers? What is the evidence?

These keys are known as GPO pattern keys. This must mean that they were made to a specification set down by the GPO who, because of the Telegraph Act of 1869, were granted a telecommunications monopoly of all things; communications including postal, telegraph and telephone. They would have ensured that suppliers standardised their manufacturing to drawings and specifications written by the GPO. A Google search brought up this comment: “Dozens of distinct commercial companies and government workshops manufactured the GPO pattern Morse Telegraph keys during the 19th and 20th centuries. Records no longer exist due to lost wartime archives. Records from maritime, postal and military contracts verify that at least 15 to 20 prominent manufacturers regularly supplied these heavy, British-standard brass keys to the GPO, the military and railways”.

Prominent amongst these manufacturers were:

• Walters Electrical Manufacturing Co. Ltd: possibly the most prolific producer of the Pattern 1056A Morse key and widely recognised by the “WE” stamped on lever castings

• Automatic Telephone Manufacturing Co. (ATM): Based in Liverpool, they were a primary supplier of large GPO Double Current keys during the early 20th century.

• Elliott Brothers (London) Ltd: A legendary 19th-century scientific instrument maker that built early classic GPO brass hand keys.

• H. White & Co: A major contract manufacturer responsible for thousands of GPO-pattern keys distributed during the World War I era.

• General Electric Co. Ltd (GEC): Produced standardized GPO hardware out of their specialized Telephone Works.

• GPO In-House Factories: The Post Office itself maintained dedicated manufacturing and repair workshops at Silvertown and Holloway in London.

• The Royal Ordnance Factories (ROF): State-owned munitions and defensive infrastructure factories stepped in to mass-produce GPO pattern telegraph keys during wartime mobilizations.

Final Comment

These keys would have been manufactured in huge quantities especially during periods of conflict and so it is to be expected that minor variations in appearance will show up in people’s collections. It is possible someone out there has one that is identical to mine and has identified its manufacture and date from stamped letters (e.g. WE, ATM, GEC) or serial numbers on the brass lever or pattern number stamped into the wooden base. (e.g. 1056A or FHB-53). I will give it the benefit of the doubt. It’s not a Frankenstein just a long lost relative looking for a good home, which it has now found.

73’s de

Chris

Since I started to get into operating portable I’ve had some highs and lows, more lows than highs! 

I started off with the Yaesu FT817 and the LDG 817 auto tuner, great bit of kit and I worked some good dx on 20m icluding Morocco on 20m using just 2.5 Watts on FT8. 

I then decided to change radios as I wanted some more power, main reason is that I got into Bunkers on the Air (BOTA) as there are loads of Royal Observer Corps bunkers here in the South West as well as the rest of the UK, I found that the power as well as the antenna choice was letting me down. 

I decided to sell the 817 and got a Yaesu FT-857D – super radio and works really well, I’ve been getting some really good reports off it. 

That’s the radio sorted so now the antenna!

I had been using an End Fed Long Wire which seemed to just work occasionally on 20m,  but as I really needed 40m for BOTA I needed another option. I picked up a second hand pro-whip vertical; that failed massively; yes it tuned up on the bands I wanted but somehow it just didn’t work and I was having fewer contacts and  the ones I was having gave me really low signal reports. 

I was looking at other antenna options and thought about dipoles.

One of my BOTA friends suggested he’d make me one to see what I thought.

It arrived so as I had the day off decided to try it. I was at sea level in Torquay as would have been too windy at the bunker I normally operate from. Using 50w SSB I was able to get signal reports ranging from 56 to 59 plus from locations north to Cheltenham, East to Dover, London and Bedfordshire as well as South to Brittany. 

There are many types of antenna on the market for portable ops and I fully appreciate it’s everyone’s personal choice as to what works best for that operator.

For me the dipole is definitely they way forward and works best in my situation.

Brand new antenna + BOTA paraphernalia

40m/20m dipole- home made by Jason M9JSD

AND A FOLLOW UP  REPORT FROM A BUNKER IN DECOY PARK

Day off from work and as it was a nice warm day and no wind decided to activate another bunker with my Dipole. 

Short drive to B/G-0207 Newton Abbot ROC bunker, I was operating from inside the 1km from the bunker limit in Decoy Park.

I’ve got the setup down to a tee now!

Yaesu FT-857D with the ultramax battery, fully charged operated at the full 100 Watts output.

The antenna was up at 5.5m above the ground on the mast. 

The band was pretty noisy, S6 noise all the way through the activation 

On the  air for about an hour, and managed 31  QSO’s in the log including one bunker to bunker.

Stations worked were up to the Scottish Borders, Isle of Man, Penzance, Walsall, one in Kent as well as France, Belgium and the Netherlands. 

Probably won’t be out again now till the 3rd weekend of the month as its another weekend bunker blast.

KEV G4XLO

One Tuesday morning in June, I awoke to find an email from our Club Chairman.

It was simply titled “FWD: SSTV Repeater”. Needless to say, I was interested—to the extent of even putting my glasses on to read further.

The message read:

“My name is Dennis, G6YBC. Would it be possible to pass on my information to the person responsible for your SSTV repeater? The reason for writing is that I would like to set one up here in the Manchester area.”

Dennis was contacted as soon as I reached the workshop, with an offer of help to establish the new repeater. So began a collaboration between the West Manchester Radio Club and the Wythall Radio Club in South Birmingham.

After a couple of emails back and forth, we switched to WhatsApp and the telephone to make life easier.

I explained that we were using MMSSTV, together with the YONIQ version, on an old Windows PC. Once Dennis had the computer in place, we arranged a remote support session to get the basics configured.

As of the beginning of July, we are delighted to announce that MB7TX is now on the air in its new home.

Hopefully, this will be the first of many collaborations between the two clubs. The author is already looking forward to visiting the West Manchester Radio Club to give a presentation on the history of Slow Scan Television and the development of the SSTV repeater.

After months of planning , the Friday set up day arrived. Usually the third Friday of the month is reserved for a club get together in the Darts room. Once a year, this is traded for carting large amounts of equipment from the store to a fleet of  vehicles and the  the short journey to Wythall Transport Museum

Neil , project manager (!) in his immaculately presented satellite desk

Six volunteers ferried the equipment from the store. Over the years the equipment needed has been refined and always returned to the same place in the storage cellar, after being checked. Fortunately it is only about a ten minute drive from Wythall House to the Transport Museum.

Once on site the team decided that staying with the same basic set up as last year would be good, so the four tents were positioned and erected. Something that has evolved over time is that things just happen. There always seem to be four people ready to set up each of the tents, while the remaining members busy themselves with HF antenna duties.

The site takes shape in the morning sunshine

It probably took about an hour to have everything ready for initial testing. Due to no overnight facilities we are unable to leave radios on site but some limited on- air time was available.

The HF wire worked well, although condition are not great on the bands at the moment. The satellite station worked as expected, with the disaster that had taken place the night before well behind us. At this point, I would like to give a special mention to Aron who put in a full shift helping out, even though work commitments would not allow him to take part in the full event. Around 2pm the radios were disconnected and packed away.

Aron puts his trusty TS440 (?) through its paces and checks the wire antenna

Saturday morning quickly arrived. The forecast showers did not disappoint, commencing just after Phil had removed the side from his tent. Both showers were very short lived and the rest of the day was as perfect as it gets for radio.

David asked if there was anything he could do to assist in the final prep. He was handed the club vertical. Due to the compact nature of the site the vertical is put up against a fence as far as we can get it away from the wire antenna.

Martin – in charge of FT8

John at last finds a willing listener .. the man from Antartica

These events aren’t all about how many contacts you can get in the log, but are more about introducing our hobby to the wider public and explaining the reasons it is still relevant in the modern world of instant communication. One member of the public enjoyed the sound of CW as it took him back to his days in the Antarctic, where there was only CW!

The station was closed at around 3.30pm local time and completely packed away within an hour. After returning the equipment to the store, there was just time for some of the members to partake in a post event libation at Wythall House to discuss how the day had gone.

and finally … these didn’t last long!

It is worth mention that our hosts at the Wythall Transport Museum could not have been more helpful. If you have never been to visit them, it is well worth while with a very well presented assortment of vehicles and memorabilia on site.

THE TEAM: PHIL, MARTIN, NEIL, DAVID, NIGEL, DEREK, GARY, NEIL AND MARK (VISITORS ON SITE) JOHN, ARON, 

Thanks to all those who attended and supported this event. We have already been

asked if we will be returning next year.

FOOTNOTE

Were these the  verticals erected by David ? – No.. but they ceased operation  ceased operation for ever on June 27th 2026

The tall masts at Droitwich are going out of commission.

For many years they have been used to transmit BBC Long Wave.

But the transmitters at Droitwich in Worcestershire, Westerglen near Stirling and Burghead overlooking the Moray Firth, cease at 00:00 UTC on Saturday 27 June 2026.

To commemorate the event, a special event station GB1500M (fifteen hundred meters – the long wave frequency) has been on the ait during the last week of transmission, operated by various radio amateurs across the UK.

Farewell to our tall neighbours!

PS listen out for  Club member Nigel G1BXL who has one of the special call signs . GB1500M

See Wythall Radio Club members operating via satellite and short wave radio at Transport Museum Wythall.

Saturday 20th June between 10.30 and mid afternoon.

We will be celebrating International Museums on the Air , contacting other radio hams around the world.

Visitors of all ages are welcome. 

Find us on the grass area by the Museum car park.

This is FREE – you only need to pay if you go beyond us into the Museum itself.

• Find out how we use satellite to communicate over long distances – better than wi-fi!
• Try your hand at sending Morse Code – and get a Certificate!
• See how we use data mode technology – computer linked to radio transmitter/receiver
• Say “hello” to radio hams that we contact – operate radios if you have a licence
• Learn about the various antenna that we will be demonstrating
• Or just have a chat!

We’ll be using our special call-sign GB0BUS –

to celebrate the Transport Museum’s collection of historical buses.

The Elliot Bros GPO Morse Key from the age of Electromagnetic Telegraphy

I recently purchased at auction, a lot described as a “ British 1916 Elliott Bros GPO Pattern Morse key mounted on a wooden plinth”. With fees and delivery charges it cost me £33.00

FIGURE 1: Elliot Bros GPO Morse key c 1916

It will need some restoration and a new spring and couple of parts don’t look quite right so it might be a copy, but further research will confirm this, and I will describe that work in a future article. This key is probably the oldest in my collection but I was familiar with the manufacturer and wondered if it was ever used in the age of Electromechanical Sounders. I thought was worth further investigation.

The Elliot Bros company has an interesting history. It had its origins in1850 as a company founded by William Elliot together with his two sons who became began trading as William Elliot and Sons and were based at Century Works in Lewisham, London. In 1854 it became known as Elliot Bros and produced optical, surveying, navigational scientific instruments for home and overseas customers including many famous scientists, then working on the new applications for electricity. including batteries and galvanometers and in 1876 a new works was established in St Martins Lane, London to supply the growing demand for telegraphy equipment together with switchboard components and measuring instruments for the lighting, traction and power industries. Elliot Bros and its successors would continue to grow and develop through innovation, takeovers and amalgamations as a high-tech company, eventually, over time, becoming part of GEC, GEC Marconi and currently BAE Systems Ltd. It was one of the first suppliers of electronic computers and control systems in the 1950’s.

Looking at the morse key with its GPO attribution I started thinking about how quickly telegraphy developed in this country with messages being sent country and world-wide using morse code. Each large town and city would have telegraph offices based in Post Offices and railway stations where the telegraphist would tap out their messages, at so many “old pence per word,” to be received far away instantaneously and delivered by the telegram boy who would often to be told to wait for a reply.

Of course, morse code wasn’t sent then as we know it today. It was all sent over wires connecting one telegraph office to the next. This was all due to the invention of electricity and the battery plus the development of electromagnetism by Michael Faraday in the 1830’s. American academic Professor Samuel Morse and his assistant Alfred Vail were working on electromagnetic devices to record switched voltages on a moving paper tape in the 1840’s. They developed what was to be known as American or Railroad Morse Code.

Although we attribute the code to Morse, it was Vail who invented the system of assigning long and short voltages to different letters in the alphabet to form a “code” of dots and dashes, which could be transcribed on a moving paper tape and read by the recipient on a device known as a Register

American Morse Code uses different time lengths; a dot, a short dash (two units), a long dash (four units for the letter L) and very long dash (five units for the number 0). It also uses gaps within letters meaning a character might consist of a mix of clicks and pauses. International Morse Code which was developed a little later uses uniform dots and dashes.

The basic telegraph system comprises an electrical circuit connected by wires to a voltage source (battery) using a morse key as a switch to energise a relay in the Register. Applying the voltage to the relay coil induces an electromagnetic field which causes the iron core to move in when the voltage is applied and out when the voltage is removed. As the relay opens and closes it makes two different sounds and although the morse was being visually recorded on paper as DOTS and DASHES there was always an audible indication of what was being received from the operation of the Register relay. In the 1850s telegraph operators began to realise that they could recognise the different sounds made by the Register as dots and dashes and a new device was developed called the Sounder based around the electromagnetic relay.

A dot was a CLICK followed a short time later by a CLACK.

A dash was a CLICK followed a long time later by a CLACK.

The SOUNDER could be amplified by housing it in a small wooden partial enclosure, called a RESONATOR. This amplified the sound by bouncing the echoes out of the front of the resonator towards the operator

The following table shows some examples of American Morse Code letters and their sound:

Fig 2 is a picture of a typical morse key and sounder unit that would be used in telegraph offices throughout the world. A video and sound recording of a morse key and telegraph sounder receiving American ( a.k.a. Railroad )  Morse Code can be found here

           Figure 2: Morse Key and Sounder

I also found an interesting American Morse Code demonstrator on the internet from Morse Code World . You can select letters from a table and hear what it sounds like on a Telegraph Sounder or CW Oscillator.

International Morse Code was standardised in the 1860’s to suit European telegraphy needs and replaced American Morse Code. In later years it became better suited to audible, consistent-tempo signalling using an oscillator, whereas American Morse mostly stuck with the click of a mechanical sounder

With the invention of the thermionic valve, in the early 1900’s enabling the invention of the oscillator, we can assume that electromechanical sounders and resonators would have still been in use at a time when this Elliot Bros GPO key was made. In fact, we know that sounders stopped being used for commercial telegraphy as late as the 1940’s as telephony networks expanded and teleprinters came into service.

Listening to the Sounder demonstration video, I wondered how long it would take to become proficient in sending and receiving with a sounder. I asked the question of Google and it said, “becoming proficient as a telegraphist using a sounder typically took 3 to 6 months of intense daily practice in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. While beginners could memorize the Morse code alphabet in a few hours, training their ears to distinguish the rhythmic “tap, tap, tap” of the sounder and achieving working speeds of 15–20 words per minute required significant dedication, often involving long hours of apprenticeship, especially for noisy environments like railroad stations.”

Apparently, the best operators could translate the sounder’s clicks into written text immediately, sometimes typing messages directly onto a typewriter whilst receiving.

In the UK, in the GPO, there was a career hierarchy within the Telegraph office with boy or girl Messengers becoming Sorting Clerks, then Probationary Telegraphists for up to a couple of years before becoming an Established Telegraphist. The man responsible for the Telegraphy office was called the Superintendent Telegraphist.

The development of UK telegraphic networks saw a shift from private commercial ventures in the 1840s to a unified, Government owned, nationalized service operated by the General Post Office (GPO) by 1870. The GPO expanded the telegraphic service nationwide, utilizing railway lines for infrastructure and providing competitive services until competition from telephone networks reduced its usage throughout the 20th century. At its heyday there were some 14,000 telegraph offices in UK towns and cities.

Looking through some family photographs from the 1890’s, I was surprised to find a picture of Great Grandad Pettitt in his role as a Telegraphist in the Main Birmingham Telegraphist office in Exchange Chambers, Corner of New Street and Stephenson Place.

Talk about it running in the family !!

An extraordinary likeness.. Great Grandad Pettitt at work in the 1890’s

73 

Chris G0EYO

70cm handies and Club handheld yagis at the ready next Tuesday 2nd June.

It’s the annual Wythall Radio Club ‘find the hidden transmitter’ evening in Wythall Park – 7.30 for 7.45 pm by the Tennis Courts.

Bring a 70cm hand-held and an antenna adapter to take the PL259 plugs on the yagis.

Expect lots of fun trying to be the first to find the transmitter. 

And chat afterwards in the bar of Wythall House.

Visitors welcome to participate or observe!

Some previous years events can be found here.

2025

2024

We’ll be continuing to build the excellent LARC 40m kits this Tuesday 19th May.

Come and see the Club in action!

Six members are building these SSB/CW transceiver kits as a Club project.

And on Tuesday John M6KET has donated his so anyone can have a go at building part of it.

Just the job for a little refresher or first time soldering and coil winding – there will be expert helpers on hand to advise where necessary!

A working LARC radio will be available as a guide (see photo).

The LARC sets have few components to solder in place and only a couple of torroids to wind.  Great for first-time builders.

Wythall House Darts Room from from 8pm on Tuesday – visitors welcome!