FD wipe-out-need advice on the Iambic key

[William Moore-5]

Hi,

 I am an 807 generation ham, who has stayed only moderately active over the
years on SSB and VHF-FM as well as involvement community emergency planning.
However, the advent of the Elecraft K2 rekindled a passion to once again
feel that special ham radio magic of my teen years that resulted from
building my own radio, making CW contacts with little power into a simple
(home-brew) antennas and, of course, the glory of participating as a CW
entrant in Field Day using a modest setup.

Recently, my K2 3842, basic kit, made its successful debut. A little late in
completion but a lifetime of life intervened between the arrival of that
special white box of parts and final completion. I made my first CW contacts
in 48 years. What a thrill. I  was motivated. It was now time to prepare for
FD. I got my code speed up to 100% at 10 wpm with W1AW sessions but, alas,
after what seemed like hundreds of QSO's with the K2 in the tESt mode, I
just could not develop any consistent skill using my Bencher BY-2  Iambic
paddles. No problem though. Instead, I dusted off my very old and well
pitted, (by keying the voracious cathodes of the 807's at 500 volts) Lionel
J-38 key and polished up my rusty fist instead.

Field day arrived and I was on the air as a 1E station with my K2 set to a
very testy 5 watts. Very quickly and much to my dismay, it was apparent that
I was so very outclassed. Iambic keys dominated and the average CW speed of
the contest was at least twice that of my recently regained skill of 10 wpm.
Except for the K2, I felt like I was in an F1 race with a 1980 Chevy
Cavalier. I made a few contacts with some very patient operators but I was
so not prepared. I realized how true it is that a radio is only as good as
the operator in front of it.

So, before I condescend to selling my Bencher BY-2, retiring the J-38 for
life and start building the K2 SSB board, the 100 watt amp and permanently
retiring up-band, can someone give me some advice on possibly mastering the
Iambic key. Questions include:

1.  Iambic A or Iambic B?
2.  Proper contact spacing on the paddles?
3.  Paddles n or Paddles r? I am right handed.
4.  How to best learn the art of Iambic keying. For instance start at 20 wpm
and work down or 10 wpm and work up?
5.  Slap or caress the paddles?
6.  Is it just a matter of practice, practice and more practice? Kind of
like soldering
7.  A reality check, maybe I am just too far gone to learn this skill. But,
at one time,  I did have a pretty good fist on  the J-38.
..............And any other tid-bits of advice

So, I have returned to W1AW code practice sessions. I will take the K2 out
of tESt (except on SKN New Years Eve), when I can once again copy up to
15-20 wpm and hopefully transmitting with some vestige of skill using Iambic
keying.

Thank you for any advice.

Bill, VE2WMA








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[Mike Markowski]

Hi Bill,

First, don't give up!  I'd try using a combination of approaches: copy
some W1AW, copy some qsos, practice off-air at your highest sending (not
copying) speed, and of course have qsos at comfortable, but too
comfortable, speeds.

William Moore wrote:
> 1.  Iambic A or Iambic B?

A sends exactly your paddle presses.
B adds an extra iambic (adds a dit to a dah, or dah to a dit) to your
final press.

I think it comes down to what you've learned.  Last year I liked B best,
but as my speed has increased I now prefer A.

> 2.  Proper contact spacing on the paddles?

Personal preference probably, but I like mine as close as possible so I
barely have to touch the paddles.

> 3.  Paddles n or Paddles r? I am right handed.

Most likely 'n' so that your thumb sends dits and finger sends dahs.

> 4.  How to best learn the art of Iambic keying. For instance start at 20 wpm
> and work down or 10 wpm and work up?
> 5.  Slap or caress the paddles?
> 6.  Is it just a matter of practice, practice and more practice? Kind of
> like soldering

For all the above, go to http://www.k7qo.net/ and under the section "Ham
Radio Articles" read the article "Sending Morse".  It's extremely helpful.

> 7.  A reality check, maybe I am just too far gone to learn this skill. But,
> at one time,  I did have a pretty good fist on  the J-38.
> ..............And any other tid-bits of advice

It might be me, but relaxation is helpful.  When I'm in the state of
mind where I almost don't care whether I copy correctly...that's when I
copy best!

GL & 73,
Mike  ab3ap
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[Darwin, Keith]

Do you want to use an iambic key or do you want to do CW?  Believe it or
not, you can do a lot of CW without an iambic key.  In fact, I've been
using my straight key more than the paddles and have no plans to change.

My CW speed tops out at around 20 wpm.  I prefer 15 - 18 wpm for most
QSOs.  At those speeds, I used to always use the paddles.  These days,
I'm on the straight key and it is more fun.  Now I'm the one making the
CW, not some DIP in a box.  I used to think a straight key was for
speeds below 8 wpm but now I see I was wrong.  Having a good straight
key and having it correctly adjusted sure helps too.

Of course during contests, speeds are higher and I'm on the Kent paddles
for that but I'm finding my interest in DXing and contesting is
weakening as my interest in simple CW QSOs increases.

If you really want to do the Iambic dance, I'd say start slow and work
up.  Learn to control the beast when it is moving slowly.  Iambic keying
is an indirect timing activity.  With a straight key, your timing
determines the length and spacing of the elements.  It is very direct.
With the paddles you only control when the little keyer makes dots &
dashes for you and often you're giving it commands (switch closures)
before you want the actual element to sound.  It is a different mind set
and indeed takes some practice.  Start slow and practice it right.  Work
on accuracy and good spacing.  Speed will come in time.  Give your body
time to learn the motions.

With paddles, a light touch is all that is needed.  You don't have to
slap it around.  Also, do some reading.  For instance I assume you know
that if you squeeze both paddles you get alternating dots & dashes?
Also I assume you know that if you press the dot key during a dash, the
keyer will insert it at the end of that dash.  If this is news to you,
do some reading to learn what Iambic is & how it works.

- Keith KD1E -
- K2 5411 -


-----Original Message-----
From: William Moore

So, before I condescend to selling my Bencher BY-2, retiring the J-38
for life and start building the K2 SSB board, the 100 watt amp and
permanently retiring up-band, can someone give me some advice on
possibly mastering the Iambic key.
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[Brian Wood-5]

Actually, Iambic operation is a little more complicated than this. I found a
good explanation at

http://www.n9vv.com/k7qo-a-b-keying.html

In this, Chuck says:

"In mode A. When the paddle or paddles are released, either during a space
element or during a current element being sent, then sending is stopped
after the completion of the current element being sent. It was simple to do,
thus mode A came first."

"In mode B. And this is the part that everyone that I have seen explain this
misses. What is very very critical is that you have to look at the condition
of the paddles at the MIDPOINT of the current element being sent...If at the
mid point of an element the opposite paddle is still depressed, then the
alternating element will be sent after the space. If you can let go of the
opposite paddle before this critical time (the midpoint), then you won't get
anything from that paddle, unless you reclose it before the finish of the
space. Everything that I have seen in print by others implies that if the
opposite paddle is closed at the beginning of the element then you will get
the opposite element sent. This is not supposed to be the case and if any of
you software guru's in your code for the mode B have it this way I'd suggest
changing it."

Brian, W0DZ
------------------------------
Mike wrote:

Hi Bill,

First, don't give up!  I'd try using a combination of approaches: copy
some W1AW, copy some qsos, practice off-air at your highest sending (not
copying) speed, and of course have qsos at comfortable, but too
comfortable, speeds.

William Moore wrote:
> 1.  Iambic A or Iambic B?

A sends exactly your paddle presses.
B adds an extra iambic (adds a dit to a dah, or dah to a dit) to your
final press.




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[Ron D'Eau Claire-2]

Bill, VE2WMA asked:

 I made my first CW contacts in 48 years. What a thrill. I  was motivated.
It was now time to prepare for FD. I got my code speed up to 100% at 10 wpm
with W1AW sessions but, alas, after what seemed like hundreds of QSO's with
the K2 in the tESt mode, I just could not develop any consistent skill using
my Bencher BY-2  Iambic paddles. No problem though. Instead, I dusted off my
very old and well pitted, (by keying the voracious cathodes of the 807's at
500 volts) Lionel J-38 key and polished up my rusty fist instead.

Field day arrived and I was on the air as a 1E station with my K2 set to a
very testy 5 watts. Very quickly and much to my dismay, it was apparent that
I was so very outclassed. Iambic keys dominated and the average CW speed of
the contest was at least twice that of my recently regained skill of 10 wpm.
Except for the K2, I felt like I was in an F1 race with a 1980 Chevy
Cavalier. I made a few contacts with some very patient operators but I was
so not prepared. I realized how true it is that a radio is only as good as
the operator in front of it.

So, before I condescend to selling my Bencher BY-2, retiring the J-38 for
life and start building the K2 SSB board, the 100 watt amp and permanently
retiring up-band, can someone give me some advice on possibly mastering the
Iambic key. Questions include:

1.  Iambic A or Iambic B?
2.  Proper contact spacing on the paddles?
3.  Paddles n or Paddles r? I am right handed.
4.  How to best learn the art of Iambic keying. For instance start at 20 wpm
and work down or 10 wpm and work up?
5.  Slap or caress the paddles?
6.  Is it just a matter of practice, practice and more practice? Kind of
like soldering 7.  A reality check, maybe I am just too far gone to learn
this skill. But,
at one time,  I did have a pretty good fist on  the J-38.
..............And any other tid-bits of advice

---------------------------

Congrats Bill, from another "807 generation" Ham (still have a couple of
807's around, and I'm not talking about the kind that are kept in the
'fridge either). I pounded brass with straight key and bug for 20 years,
followed by 25 years on a keyer, and now almost 10 years back on the bug
just for the fun of it.

Nothing collapses one's fist like "pressure". You said you got up to 10 wpm
copying W1AW, but what about sending? I have always set aside a little time
to practice and check my sending from time to time - usually when I have the
itch to operate but time is very limited. So I do a little sending practice.
Keyer or Bug, my goal is to send a full page from the phone book, names,
addresses and phone numbers, smoothly and without a mistake. That's how I
learned my keyer and that's what I do regularly to check myself on the bug
now. For smoothness, I used to record my sending then listen to it a few
days later to see if I liked my "fist". A quicker feedback these days is to
use a CW "reader" program on the computer, but those programs are
notoriously sensitive: they often make garbage from a good keyer fist not to
mention a manual key. So if I can get >90% copy on the computer I relax a
tad. I use "CW Get" which is available as Shareware.

I think a contest, especially a contest in which you feel at all pressured
by the speed of other fists, is the most undesirable sort of environment in
which to build your speed. At best you'll learn to recognize calls and
limited data but, as you know, that's a far cry from really copying CW. And,
as you observed, trying to send a reply quickly and efficiently is horribly
difficult.

An Iambic key is much like a manual key: there's a rhythm that you want to
maintain. The time-honored process of sending at your clean speed and
watching it move upward is still best, IMHO. As the FISTS guys say: accuracy
transcends speed. You don't need to apply much pressure, if any at all. Just
move along at your best sending speed and the speed increases naturally. I
still remember my (very pleasant) surprise when I first got on the air at 5
WPM. I could barely send or copy at that speed. A few months later I
discovered that I was clipping along at 15 wpm on a straight key, and doing
so to the satisfaction of the FCC examiner when I passed my sending and
receiving test for my General class license. Nothing encourages learning
like having fun, including learning Morse. For goodness' sake take that K2
*out* of TEST mode frequently when there's no contest going on. Anyone who
complains about your fist isn't worth a QSO anyway. Have fun on purpose!
This is a hobby, not rocket science! Speed will follow the fun quite
naturally.

Another issue has to do with practice sending vs. actual sending. I've known
a number of Hams who discovered they couldn't think about what to send while
actually sending. They can send prepared text - for a contest exchange or
practice copy off of a printed page - but they can't think of what to say in
a normal QSO *and* send at the same time. I guess it does take practice. I
wonder if that wasn't part of your experience on FD? Some rag chews will
cure that. I know one op who made up a whole bunch of prepared statements,
such as how long he'd been a ham, what he did, things about his rig, QTH,
etc., that he could grab and read from while sending when he was stuck. He
had them on 3x5 inch cards. After a while he discovered that not only he
didn't need the cards, he was inventing things to say that he had never
thought about before! Now he was really using Morse as a new "language".

Personally, I've never ever been able to tell much difference between
various makes of paddles at speeds under 30 wpm. Since I almost never exceed
30 wpm, my old "Ham key" cheap paddles that I built into my homebrew keyer
were perfect until I snagged a set of the original "Scotia" magnetic paddles
at a ham auction one time. I've tried benchers as well as many others. They
all seem FB to me. Some have more "give" to the paddles than others, but
that's all. And I do prefer "stiff" paddles in any key but again that's
absolutely. Y'know, I never heard much about paddles (or keys in general)
before all the very expensive paddles started hitting the market, and I'm
pretty well convinced that a lot of the choice has to do with purely
subjective impressions that no one will ever quantify. For some it sounds
like: "more money = better key". If they're having fun, that's FB!

My touch on the paddles is what they need, which means that it's a "caress"
compared to a bug. The gap depends upon my general speed range. I like a
fair bit of movement in the paddles, so it's wide compared to others. That's
a purely personal preference and you can send very well at any gap spacing
you want if you aren't looking to QRQ > 30 or 40 WPM! Again, I think if you
try out various things while practicing, you'll find what works for you. And
it may change over time as your speed increases.

Pdln is what you'll find on other keyers so I recommend n for "normal". I'm
lucky to be rather ambidextrous and use a straight key with my left hand,
but, when I learned a bug, I got a right hand bug and learned to use it
right handed. I use paddles right handed too. The "normal" paddle action
mimics a right handed bug: dashes to the right done with the finger and dits
to the right done with the thumb.

Iambic A or B is again preference. The two modes are a direct result of an
error in an early ASIC designed for keyers. Different Hams have learned each
one so both modes have persisted. I've never heard anyone claim one was
intrinsically better than the other, only that many Hams find it quite
unsettling to try to use the "wrong" mode. Me included!

To summarize my recommendations:

1) Get on the air and have fun. You don't owe anyone an apology.

2) Get on the air and have fun. You don't owe anyone an apology.

3) Get on the air and have fun. You don't owe anyone an apology.

I have more recommendations, but I think you got the idea, Hi!

Ron AC7AC


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[N2EY]

In a message dated 6/28/06 3:06:42 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
[hidden email] writes:


> I am an 807 generation ham,

I still use them!

>  Lionel
> J-38 key and polished up my rusty fist instead.
>
> Field day arrived and I was on the air as a 1E station with my K2 set to a
> very testy 5 watts. Very quickly and much to my dismay, it was apparent that
> I was so very outclassed. Iambic keys dominated and the average CW speed of
> the contest was at least twice that of my recently regained skill of 10 wpm.
>
> 1.  Iambic A or Iambic B?
> 2.  Proper contact spacing on the paddles?
> 3.  Paddles n or Paddles r? I am right handed.
> 4.  How to best learn the art of Iambic keying. For instance start at 20 wpm
> and work down or 10 wpm and     work up?
> 5.  Slap or caress the paddles?
> 6.  Is it just a matter of practice, practice and more practice? Kind of
> like soldering
> 7.  A reality check, maybe I am just too far gone to learn this skill. But,
> at one time,  I did have a pretty good fist     on  the J-38.
> ..............And any other tid-bits of advice

Did you ever use a bug?

For the first 7 years I was a ham, (1967-1974), all I used was a straight
key. J-37. Could do well over 20 per on it - that's how I passed the Extra
sending test.

When I got to college in 1972, there was a Vibrokeyer paddle and Autronic
keyer (remember those?) but I could not get the hang of electronic keying.

In 1974 I got a Vibroplex Original Standard for Christmas. It was a match
made in heaven. Still using that key, although I now have three other bugs and
the old J-37.

Some folks take a dim view of bugs but I have found that nobody knows I am
using one until I tell them. I have observed that the problems others have with
bugs come from two basic sources:

1) Not knowing how to properly adjust the key

2) Not having enough straight key experience before trying the bug.

With your straight key experience, you may find it easier to adjust to a bug.

73 de Jim, N2EY


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[Bill W4ZV]

        Bill, yet another alternative to consider
if you cannot master iambic keying---exchange your
dual-paddle key for a single-paddle key (Vibroplex
Vibrokeyer, Bencher ST-1, Kent SP-1 or Begali
Simplex Mono).  They all work fine with the K2 or
any "iambic" keyer (although you are not actually
using the iambic method per se).

        I believe the supposed efficiency
advantage of iambic keying is a myth.  Someone
published an analysis of this within the past year
or two but I cannot find it at the moment.  The
most telling data for me is that the vast majority
of the sending champions at the IARU High-Speed
Telegraphy (HST) Championships use single-paddle
keys, not dual-paddle.

        The following was written by W2UP who
attended the HST Championship last year:

**********************************************************
I thought you guys might be interested in seeing some homebrew
paddles I saw at the IARU HST (High Speed Telegraphy) Championship in
Macedonia in June 2005. You may have seen my article about it in Nov 2005 QST.

http://w2up.home.mindspring.com/paddles.jpg

These are 3 of the paddles that were used by members of the Belarus
team. It surprised me that most there used single-lever paddles. BTW,
the white stuff is rosin - the same stuff gymnasts use to keep their
hands from slipping.
**********************************************************
        I believe any efficiency advantage of
a dual-paddle key is offset by the more extreme
timing requirements to send using one.  If you
have any sort of problem with palsy or tremors
in your sending hand, you will be much better
off with a single-paddle.  And if you really want
to QRQ at >60 WPM, use the proven sending
technique that wins sending championships.

                        73,  Bill  W4ZV

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[Kevin Rock]

Howdy Bill,
    You are quite welcome to join us each Sunday on the Elecraft CW Net.  
We do have a semi regular check in from VE1 and another from VE3.  That  
more or less brackets you :)  I live out in Oregon but there are a few  
stations further East of me which act as NCS during the nets.  Yes, nets.  
There are two of them.  The first is at 2300z at or near 14050 kHz.  The  
other is a bit later at 0200z on or near 7045 kHz.  If you don't wish to  
check in you can simply listen as the band changes and hear ops from  
across the continent exchange signal and weather reports.  There is a bit  
of other chatter going on too.  That way you'll hear a number of different  
fists from a variety of locations.  Power ranges from 3 watts to 800 watts  
or more.  I stay at 20 wpm on my keyer but slow down to whatever speed  
required by adding spaces.  The main reason for that is I never learned  
how to send much slower than 15 wpm.  Just a quirk I guess but I learned  
CW via the Farnsworth method.  This technique allows one to hear the  
entire character as a chunk but leave a bit of space for the brain to  
catch up.  Just before I got to 15 wpm copy my mentor started taking out  
the inter-letter spacing and tried inter-word spacing.  That lasted a  
short while until one day I found he wasn't adding any extra spacing  
anywhere.  Then the fun began ;)  He kept going slightly faster than I was  
comfortable until I caught up again.  That was very helpful.  But, getting  
on the air and chatting with someone is much better practice than  
listening to W1AW.  I found sending to myself in TEST mode was helpful for  
developing my muscle memory.  It sounds odd but I 'feel' the code coming  
into my ears in my arm.
    Good luck with your endeavor and please join us,
       Kevin.  KD5ONS


On Wed, 28 Jun 2006 12:05:30 -0700, William Moore <[hidden email]>  
wrote:

> So, I have returned to W1AW code practice sessions. I will take the K2  
> out
> of tESt (except on SKN New Years Eve), when I can once again copy up to
> 15-20 wpm and hopefully transmitting with some vestige of skill using  
> Iambic
> keying.
>
> Thank you for any advice.
>
> Bill, VE2WMA
> ttp://www.opera.com/mail/

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[Darwin, Keith]

I've done a couple of read's through that article.  While it has many
good points, it also has some glaring errors which make it somewhat
uncredible to me.

E.g. when listing the letters that benefit from squeeze technique, the
list is limited to C, F, K, L, Y, Q and R.  When listing the letters
that are most commonly used and then identifying those that are
squeezable, R is left off the list.  So instead of 1 in 12 being
squeezable, the right number is 2 in 12, thus doubling the "efficiency".
If we're willing to accept the idea that squeezing with thumb and index
finger is more efficient than rocking the hand back & forth, then we can
add A and N to the list as they can be sent with one squeeze motion.
Now the list of squeezable chars climbs to 4 in 12.

Other thoughts like "If you force yourself to squeeze every possible
character, you will expend more time and effort in learning to do that,
than any possible efficiency savings" are not universally true.  I
suppose if I were an experienced bug user trying to learn Iambic it may
have some validity but in my case I went to Iambic from a straight key
and had no built-in bias against Iambic.  I don't have to "force" myself
to do anything with the keyer.  Squeeze keying comes naturally as it is
all I've ever known.  Sending with a Cootie key - now that is something
I have to think about!

The other mentioned disadvantage of Iambic is that it has a speed
ceiling where sending faster than 40 wpm or so is too difficult.  I have
a ceiling on receiving that kicks in long before 40 wpm so that is
absolutely not an issue.  Just because the speed champs use non-iambic
does not make that method "better" any more than a race car is "better"
than a mini-van.

The article is very interesting and a good read, much like a 20/20
report.

Bottom line?  Don't let the attempt to bust a myth steal your fun.  If
you like Iambic, go for it (A or B - your choice).  If you think it's
stupid, fine, use a single paddle key, bug, cootie or join me and use a
straight key!

It's not so much how you send, but THAT you send, Yes?

73!

- Keith KD1E -
- K2 5411 -


-----Original Message-----

http://www.morsex.com/pubs/iambicmyth.pdf

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[Bill W4ZV]

KD1E:

 >I've done a couple of read's through that article.  While it has many
good points, it also has some glaring errors which make it somewhat
uncredible to me.

         Some good points Keith.  If someone wanted to
analyze this to death they would weight the analysis by
frequency of occurrence of letters in ordinary conversation.
Of course this is not an issue in the HST tests since they
send random 5 letter code groups.

 >The other mentioned disadvantage of Iambic is that it has a speed
ceiling where sending faster than 40 wpm or so is too difficult.  I have
a ceiling on receiving that kicks in long before 40 wpm so that is
absolutely not an issue.

         Competition is the ultimate measure of efficiency IMHO.
Believe me, most competitors would learn to send standing on
their heads if they felt it would improve their results.  The
simple fact is that the non-iambic single-paddle method has
been proven better in QRQ competition.

 >Just because the speed champs use non-iambic does not make
that method "better" any more than a race car is "better"
than a mini-van.

         I agree completely.  Just because some claim iambic
is "more efficient", does not make it better.  Non-iambic has
been proven better for QRQ speeds or for people whose hand
coordination (for squeeze timing) may not be good due to age
or other disabilities such as palsy, MS, etc.

         My good friend N4SU (now SK) had to give up his hobby
of some 70 years because his trembling hands could not send
due to Parkinson's disease.  I didn't realize it at the time
or I would have suggested he stop trying to send iambic with
dual-paddles and switch to a single-paddle key, which is much
more forgiving of timing errors.

         My point is don't always take conventional wisdom as
as gospel.  Sometimes we simply need to find what works best
for us individually (as you said).

                                         73,  Bill  W4ZV

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[Bill Coleman-2]

On Jun 28, 2006, at 3:05 PM, William Moore wrote:

> It was now time to prepare for
> FD. I got my code speed up to 100% at 10 wpm with W1AW sessions  
> but, alas,
> after what seemed like hundreds of QSO's with the K2 in the tESt  
> mode, I
> just could not develop any consistent skill using my Bencher BY-2  
> Iambic
> paddles. No problem though. Instead, I dusted off my very old and well
> pitted, (by keying the voracious cathodes of the 807's at 500  
> volts) Lionel
> J-38 key and polished up my rusty fist instead.

10 wpm isn't terribly fast for Field Day. Typical speed is closer to  
15-30 wpm. Normally I would have been at about 26 wpm, but a problem  
with the Field Day laptop computers forced me to rely on the K2's  
built-in memory keyer. I can only key about 22 wpm on the paddles  
with any accuracy.

Frankly, if you are just going to do 10 wpm, stick with a straight  
key. Paddles don't really come into play until you get up to about 15  
wpm or faster.

Being slow speed isn't a disqualifier, though. You can do a number of  
things to help your case. First, pick a spot and call CQ at a speed  
you are comfortable. People should answer you at or about your  
calling speed.

Another thing is to stick higher in the band. Speeds tend to be a bit  
slower near the top of the CW band than they are lower.

A final thing you can do is to find someone calling CQ who is going  
just a bit too fast. After a few cycles, you should be able to piece  
together his call and exchange. Then give him a call.

Keep at it, and your code speed should improve. I've been working on  
my for the last 10 years, and my speed is 30 wpm now.

> I realized how true it is that a radio is only as good as
> the operator in front of it.

True of ANY radio.

> Questions include:
>
> 1.  Iambic A or Iambic B?

Personal preference. However, if you learn on one, you'll be unable  
to use the other. I prefer Iambic B.

> 2.  Proper contact spacing on the paddles?

Close. It should take a light but definite touch to close the contacts.

> 3.  Paddles n or Paddles r? I am right handed.

n

> 4.  How to best learn the art of Iambic keying. For instance start  
> at 20 wpm
> and work down or 10 wpm and work up?

Start at 15 wpm and work up. Send over and over again. Grab a  
magazine and send a paragraph.

> 5.  Slap or caress the paddles?

I tend to slap a bit, but most good CW ops I know use a gentler  
touch. You can't get too frantic with the Bencher, or it will fly  
apart. (I use a set of ancient Ham-Key paddles, which are pretty  
crude by the high-priced paddle standards)

> 6.  Is it just a matter of practice, practice and more practice?  
> Kind of
> like soldering

yes.

> 7.  A reality check, maybe I am just too far gone to learn this  
> skill. But,
> at one time,  I did have a pretty good fist on  the J-38.

A good fist with a straight key is nothing to be ashamed of. My  
brother NJ8J still does CW with a straight key, even thought I built  
him an electronic keyer and bought him paddles 25 years ago.

> So, I have returned to W1AW code practice sessions. I will take the  
> K2 out
> of tESt (except on SKN New Years Eve), when I can once again copy  
> up to
> 15-20 wpm and hopefully transmitting with some vestige of skill  
> using Iambic
> keying.

Best advice I was ever given was by the late W4AN. He said that the  
best way to improve your CW speed is to get on the air and make  
contacts every day. It took me years before I heeded that advice, and  
I still don't make one every day.

Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL        Mail: [hidden email]
Quote: "Not within a thousand years will man ever fly!"
             -- Wilbur Wright, 1901

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[Alexandra Carter]

I myself regret not sticking around during FD to work code, I seem to  
be good for about 13WPM and I thought that was too slow, but frankly,  
sub-10 making contacts is better than 13 and staying home! And so  
what if I flubbed a few calls, including my own? We'd have muddled  
through. This FD, my first, was not spectacularly fun for me, but  
wait'll next year..... ! 73 de Alex NS6Y.

> On Jun 28, 2006, at 3:05 PM, William Moore wrote:
>
> 10 wpm isn't terribly fast for Field Day. Typical speed is closer  
> to 15-30 wpm.
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