Have you tried using MGE for its macro capabilities? You could bind console to something else.
Out of curiosity, does anyone know why so many people have issues using the tilde in Morrowind? Is it non-US standard keyboards that have the issue, or keyboard driver issues, or what?
I believe that it has something to do with the media software built into Vista(possibly 7 as well) and infrared receivers(remote control for media center). There is a device(forget which ATM) which can be (temporarily removed -- it appears to be undead and returns at reboot) that will allow the ~ to access the console. This is a problem with EVERY game that uses the '~' key to open a console or do ANYTHING.
It's EXTREMELY annoying.
I knew about this for a LONG time now, and also knew that MGE might allow me to get to the console, but I haven't bothered trying yet as I've had no need to in mw yet(fortunately). Already had the ring of console for Oblivious.