wythall radio club

The S-R CoTel Morse Straight Key & Jack Sykes G3SRK: a life fully lived!

In the group of five morse keys I bought at auction in April 2026, was one described as The S-R Cotel Key, British made by Jack Sykes G3SRK of Lingards Electronics. This key is a straight key. (see Fig 1). It is modelled after (but slightly larger than) the WT8 Amp key but was never part of that series of famous keys. It was manufactured at Lingards* Electronics, in two tone grey in the 1960-70’s, run by the owner Jack Sykes, G3SRK, who became a silent key in June 1997, at the age of 95. In 1986 at the age of 84, Jack G3SRK told Morsum Magnificat Magazine Issue 1, that some 50,000 of his S- R Cotel keys were in use in 60 countries throughout the world. They are apparently quite collectible.

Figure 1: S-R Cotel key

The WT8Amp series of morse keys are one of the most common keys found in key collections and was used by governments and their armed services, before, during and since WW2. Many, many thousands of these keys were made in varying formats by numerous manufacturers. This (Fig 2) is an example of the WT8AMP No.2 MK III series which is said to be the inspiration for the S-R Cotel key above.

Figure 2:WT8Amp Mk III key

The S-R Cotel Key

The C-R Cotel Key was known for its compact footprint and reliable operation. It was a traditional straight key (pump handle) design requiring an up and down motion to generate the dot/dash CW tones for transmission. It is an attractive looking key and professionally made with a plastic encased square cornered brass arm mounted on a solid metal and plastic compact base. The use of plastic covered metal parts ensures that any high voltages that may be going through the key are insulated from the operator. It measures approximately 10cm x 5cm. It has the standard mechanical adjustments, such as a spring tensioner to modify the resistance of the lever and a screw to adjust the contact gap for the operator’s preference. Because of its small size, the key was favoured by mobile and field operators in commercial and armed services and found favour with amateur radio enthusiast around the world.

Jack Sykes G3SRK and Lingards Electronics

I had never heard of Lingards Electronics nor Jack Sykes G3SRK nor even knew there was such a thing as an S-R Cotel morse key. I thought it would be interesting to try and find out more about the company and their product. Fortunately, the first edition of Morsum Magnificat, published in 1986, ran an article by Tony Smith G4FAI, about Jack Sykes G3SRK when he was 84 years old, and this edition of MM No1 is available to download here.

Jack Sykes and his wife, Averine lived in Lingards Fold, Slaithwaite, 3 1/2miles south of Huddersfield in the Colne Valley. As a very active octogenarian, he had led a full life. Jack was a Slaithwaite lad, educated at the local County School and his first job was working in the local woollen mill as a “Twister-In”. Not wishing to be part of the local woollen industry for the rest of his life, his interest in the new 1920’s craze of the “wireless”, turned him in the direction of joining the Merchant Navy as a radio officer, following which he emigrated and lived in America for 10 years. He states “I arrived in Houston with about £100 in my pocket. 10 days after the collapse of Wall St (1929). I had no job but did have a wife and baby and was at my wits end.” Jack eventually found work in a broadcasting station and after a variety of other jobs, including selling vacuum cleaner’s door to door, he ended up as a geophysicist exploring for oil. In the late 1930’s, he returned to the UK and set up an engineering business in the Orkneys. He and his wife also ran a radio correspondence school from there for 25 years. The couple moved back to the Colne Vally in the 60’s, from where he ran Lingards Electronics from his home in Slaithwaite, making his famous morse keys, as well as becoming a well-known author of short stories and novels. I believe Jack got his amateur licence G3SRK, in 1960.

Jack G3SRK was still advertising his morse keys in the Amateur Radio Magazine in 1984 but under his own name and address at “Top o’ the Hill, Slaithwaite, Huddersfield, for the princely sum of £9.00. I imagine the Lingards Electronics business closed some years before.

Figure 3: Advert for S-R Cotel Morse Keys 1984

The key needed to be mounted onto a base to make it user friendly. I had the 3D printed base that Neil G1TZC made for me when working on the Danish Keys. I had added lead weights to give it stability and used double- sided tape to fix the S-R CoTel key to the base. I like it as a straight key, comfortable to use and quite a positive action.

Figure 4: S-R CoTel key on 3D base

There is much I have not been able to find out from Googling published documents. For example, the name of the morse key S-R Cotel. The S-R connection is obvious but CoTel? Jack clearly had an adventurous life; he travelled the world in very interesting times; built a business; became a successful author and was President and Treasurer of the Huddersfield Author’s circle. This much we know, but what started his interest in the then new technology of wireless (1920?). Who did he work for as a Merchant Navy R/O, was it Marconi perhaps?. What drew him to move to the Orkney’s when he returned from the USA in the late1930’s. What was his war record; I can’t imagine he didn’t serve in some capacity, given his skills and interests. One piece of information I did manage to discover was that in 1990 as an 88-year-old, (most likely on business – our Jack was not a man who ever considered retiring), he was travelling by air from Syracuse, NY to San Antonio, TX when he choked on his in-flight chicken. Apparently, a US Air Force doctor on board cut a hole in Jack’s throat with a borrowed penknife to loosen the meat and get Jack breathing again and the plane made an emergency landing in Memphis, and he recovered at the Memphis Memorial Hospital before returning home to Slaithwaite. He used to tell people, “They cut my throat to save my life”. What a guy!. I see him as a sort of Indiana Jones for such an adventurous life. Wish I had met him.

Chris G0EYO

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Foot Note

• Lingards some shown spelt with a “s” and sometimes without. Lingards Fold is an area of Slaithwaite known in history so this is a connection that Jack used.