[K2] Keyer anomaly/Learning the code

[k6dgw]

a-nom-a-ly [uh-NOM-uh-lee n.] A term used extensively by NASA to
describe an unplanned event, occurrence, or situation, regardless of its
severity or impact.  [e.g. When a minor indicator in the spaceship
fails, or when the rocket lands pointy end first in the desert outside
Phoenix, NASA will term both "an anomaly"]

My K2 [#4398] keying rarely, but sometimes, seems to have a momentary
timing glitch.  I thought at first it might just be me, so I tried
filling a memory with text and sending it over and over, and it occurs
then too.  It generally comes off to me like a very slight lengthening
of the space between a dash and the next dot.  It's in no way a problem,
I'm just curious if anyone else notices it.  I don't ever recall hearing
it on my KX1, but I use the K2 way more than the KX1.  I think the
"keyer" in the K2 is in the firmware.  If so, maybe something distracts
the MCU every now and then.

Re learning the code:  I don't think Farnsworth had been invented when I
learned the code and a high school senior year working as a relief op
for a coastal marine station pretty well burned the I'ntl Morse code
into my brain from some incredibly bad fists and signals.  However, I've
heard good reports with the method, and as a VE some years ago, I found
it a bit hard to copy "real" non-Farnsworth 5WPM code in my head.  By
the time the letter was concluding, I forgot how it had started.

I drive about 300 miles each year to visit my college roommate for a few
days, and I've started using MorseGen to create CD's from an e-book on
the Internet and then listen to it on the drive.  Might be a good way to
increase code speed for beginners since W1AW code practice is in the
middle of weekdays.  MorseGen will do Farnsworth with adjustable parameters.

Incidentally, I don't think Morse classes as a "language," it's much
more like an "alphabet in sound."

73,

Fred K6DGW
- Northern California Contest Club
- CU in the 2008 Cal QSO Party  4-5 Oct 08
- www.cqp.org

"Human memory storage does not decline with age ... it's the memory
retrieval that does."
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[fairbank56]

  I have noticed the very same thing in my new K3
which Iv'e had for just a few weeks. It happens
frequently and I find it rather annoying. Guess I'll
have to go back to the external keyer. Don't know if
it matters, but I run full QSK all the time. I run
25-30wpm so it may be less noticeable at slower
speeds. I'd be very interested if others have
experienced the same thing with the K3.

Eric N3EF

--- Fred Jensen <[hidden email]> wrote:

> My K2 [#4398] keying rarely, but sometimes, seems to
> have a momentary
> timing glitch.  I thought at first it might just be
> me, so I tried
> filling a memory with text and sending it over and
> over, and it occurs
> then too.  It generally comes off to me like a very
> slight lengthening
> of the space between a dash and the next dot.  It's
> in no way a problem,
> I'm just curious if anyone else notices it.

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