Fully-automatic bugs are quite scarce. Those that do exist, like the Melehan Valiant and the GHD bug, are beautiful pieces of machinery, but they are rather difficult to adjust, since the dot and dash elements are each generated by their own separate pendulum. Rich Meiss, WB9LPU, set out to design a system in which both dots and dashes were made by the same oscillating pendulum. This would permit speed to be varied over a wide range without affecting the ratio of dot-to-dash duration, but it could also allow independent adjustment of the relative weights of the elements. The result of some recent experiments has led to this rotary bug of original design. Rich recently donated many of his unique keys for a display at the Antique Wireless Museum in Bloomfield, NY.
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