page_title: Theodore Roosevelt McElroy
section_title: Career
hierarchical_section_title: Theodore Roosevelt McElroy / Career
caption_attribution_description: packaging of telegraph key manufactured by Ted McElroy
context_page_description: Theodore Roosevelt McElroy was an American telegraph operator and a radio telegrapher FCC amateur with call sign W1JYN. He holds the all-time speed record for receiving Morse code.
context_section_description: McElroy went into the manufacturing business when he was 33 years old and eventually formed McElroy Manufacturing Corporation in 1941. He made straight telegraph keys and semi-automatic keys under the trade name of "Mac-Key." He had a couple of dozen variations of his telegraph keys. McElroy also made electronic code practice oscillators and inked tape keyers.
  McElroy made telegraph keying equipment for US military personnel during World War II. He manufactured straight telegraph hand keys and semi-automatic keys for the public and the military in the mid 1940s. The Allied Electronics 1940s catalogs showed a variety of his telegraph keys. He amassed a fortune with this equipment that earned him millions of dollars. When his military telegraph equipment was no longer needed after the war he mismanaged his money and spent most of it.
caption: McElroy company logo
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