Wang 725-7231-US Tempest keyboard
Posted: 30 Dec 2022, 12:50
Hi everyone, I came across a really cool board on eBay recently: a modified version of the Wang 725-3770 with Tempest shielding. There have been a couple Tempest boards found over the years, but this is the first Alps Wang to my knowledge.
From the top it looks pretty normal, but things get crazy when you open it up:
The keyboard has 2 plates that sandwich the switches, as well as a completely different PCB with electromagnetic shielding on the components, and a different cable. To accommodate all the extra height, risers are placed between the keycaps and the switches, and there is an additional plastic piece between the top and bottom case shells. Sadly the switches are Bamboo Blacks and in weirdly poor condition despite the board itself being spotless, but I might swap them to pine blacks.
Finally, there is an interesting back label that sheds some light on what this board was used for. It reads "Wang 7500T Series Products are controlled by the office of Munitions Control, U.S. Department of State." There's also a label dating this board to April of 1997, which is quite late.
I made a full wiki page for the board here with more details and pictures. Interestingly this is not the first Tempest Wang spotted, a Keytronic F&F Wang has been on the wiki for some time. It also has the DB-9 plug, extra plating, and warning label on the back that also mentions the Wang 7500T Series. If anyone has more info on these boards or other Tempest boards in general I'd love to hear about it.
- wang_top.jpg (1.8 MiB) Viewed 6294 times
From the top it looks pretty normal, but things get crazy when you open it up:
- wang_top_plate.jpg (1.56 MiB) Viewed 6294 times
The keyboard has 2 plates that sandwich the switches, as well as a completely different PCB with electromagnetic shielding on the components, and a different cable. To accommodate all the extra height, risers are placed between the keycaps and the switches, and there is an additional plastic piece between the top and bottom case shells. Sadly the switches are Bamboo Blacks and in weirdly poor condition despite the board itself being spotless, but I might swap them to pine blacks.
- wang_keycaps.jpg (474.82 KiB) Viewed 6294 times
- wang_side.jpg (1.32 MiB) Viewed 6294 times
Finally, there is an interesting back label that sheds some light on what this board was used for. It reads "Wang 7500T Series Products are controlled by the office of Munitions Control, U.S. Department of State." There's also a label dating this board to April of 1997, which is quite late.
- wang_back.jpg (1.88 MiB) Viewed 6294 times
I made a full wiki page for the board here with more details and pictures. Interestingly this is not the first Tempest Wang spotted, a Keytronic F&F Wang has been on the wiki for some time. It also has the DB-9 plug, extra plating, and warning label on the back that also mentions the Wang 7500T Series. If anyone has more info on these boards or other Tempest boards in general I'd love to hear about it.