Straight key first?

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Straight key first?

Edward R Cole
I learned CW in a high school night class with one of those
paper-tape code machines.  Then I built my 3-tube receiver and
listened to CW and practised with my Skillman Key and code oscillator
for hours and hours before I took my Novice test in 1958.

I didn't get a paddle until a couple years ago, even though my radios
had internal keyers.  I am finding it hard to use the paddle.  I
guess too many years with a straight key where your hand makes each
character.  I guess in time I will get the reflexes to use an iambic
key.  BTW I still have my Novice straight key and send 20wpm pretty
easy; much better than my paddle sending.

When I am involved in eme I use a keyboard program and usually have
pre-recorded scripts which I can send with an F key.  That frees me
from sending and allows adjusting antennas, transmitter or writing in
the log.  One gets very busy running CW on eme.


73, Ed - KL7UW, WD2XSH/45
======================================
BP40IQ   500 KHz - 10-GHz   www.kl7uw.com
EME: 50-1.1kw?, 144-1.4kw, 432-100w, 1296-60w, 3400-?
DUBUS Magazine USA Rep [hidden email]
======================================

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Re: Straight key first?

John Ragle
I like the keyer in the K3. Long ago, my straight key was all I had. For
a while I used a "bug," but keeping it adjusted was a nuisance. As soon
as Heath came out with their keyer, I built one and loved it. My own
experience is that it becomes very hard to copy fast CW if the sender is
careless about all aspects of sending, including letter and word spaces.

LIke Ed, I too learned code from an Instructograph, and it taught me
what properly-sent code should sound like. I am perfectly willing for
the keyer in the rig to clean up my sending a little, and although I
seldom stray much above 25 wpm anymore, I do like the sound of clean CW.
Somewhere amongst my souvenirs I have an ARRL 35 wpm certificate, and I
used a keyboard for a long time, since my typing speed is in excess of
100 wpm. I liked the keyboard buffer...it was a little like running
PSK...load it up and then sit back and relax. Nowdays, my 78-year old
body would not send very good CW with a straight key, and I agree with
those who pegged the straight key as "nostalgia." For me it is a matter
of practicality.

John Ragle -- W1ZI

=====

On 6/29/2011 2:47 AM, Edward R. Cole wrote:
> I learned CW in a high school night class with one of those
> paper-tape code machines.

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Re: Straight key first?

Bill W4ZV
In reply to this post by Edward R Cole
Edward R. Cole wrote
I didn't get a paddle until a couple years ago, even though my radios
had internal keyers.  I am finding it hard to use the paddle.  I
guess too many years with a straight key where your hand makes each
character.  I guess in time I will get the reflexes to use an iambic
key.  BTW I still have my Novice straight key and send 20wpm pretty
easy; much better than my paddle sending.
Don't waste your time with iambic and get a really good single-lever paddle like N3ZN's ZN-SL series.  The supposed efficiency advantage of iambic is mostly a myth (see below) and the downside is you must have much more accurate finger coordination (which becomes a problem as you age).  BTW most competitors at the High Speed Telegraphy (HST) World Championships use homebrew single-lever paddles to send extremely high speeds.  

73,  Bill

Iambic Keying - Debunking the Myth
http://www.morsex.com/pubs/iambicmyth.pdf

High Speed Morse Code- WØAAA (using ZN-SLB)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_icJLmsFNU

Practicing for the HST Championships
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpKv1sd69Vs&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUBGrO9Vs1k&NR=1
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Re: Straight key first?

Tony Estep
In reply to this post by John Ragle
On Wed, Jun 29, 2011 at 2:19 AM, John Ragle <[hidden email]> wrote:

> I like the keyer in the K3....


 Good point. The keyer in the K3 is excellent, but not every rig with a
built-in keyer is as good. I have an SDR radio. The accompanying computer
program contains a keyer that produces choppy, uneven dits and dahs. I
haven't dug through the source code, but I suspect that the authors used
timing loops instead of clock interrupts. It's hard to use, and when one
does use it, the code it produces is ugly. So I had to add an outboard keyer
(Ham Gadgets MK1, highly recommended). The K3 was designed by and for the CW
op.

Tony KT0NY
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Re: Straight key first?

Nate Bargmann
* On 2011 29 Jun 08:31 -0500, Tony Estep wrote:
> So I had to add an outboard keyer (Ham Gadgets MK1, highly
> recommended).

Agreed.  Not to take anything away from the K3's keyer, but the fact
that the MK1 has K1EL keyer command compatibility makes it useful with a
wide range of programs.  It also borrows a lot of features from the
Super CMOS 3 with better push button switches than I've been able to
source for the Super CMOS 3 kit I built years ago.

73, de Nate N0NB >>

--

"The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all
possible worlds.  The pessimist fears this is true."

Ham radio, Linux, bikes, and more: http://www.n0nb.us
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Iambic Keying (WAS: Straight key first?)

AC7AC
In reply to this post by Bill W4ZV
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Re: Iambic Keying (WAS: Straight key first?)

Cookie
I find this thread a bit strange.  There is little doubt in my mind that the
best way to send a long message with minimum errors is to send a prepared file
by computer with one on the digital modes.  Better yet, send it by email over
the Internet and skip ham radio all-together.  For contesting, pre- prepared
messages by F keys is really neat, fast and effective.  It is easier to send
good code by hand with less practice with an iambic keyer and a decent set of
paddles.  It can be done with a semi-automatic key (Bug) or a hand key (Straight
Key) but it takes a bit more practice and perhaps skill from the operator.  My
personal selection is usually a Bug or Straight Key, but that implies only that
I think it more fun and satisfying, not better.

I would also like to make some QSOs with a TBL-6 transmitter and an RBB
receiver.  They weigh in excess of 2000 pounds more than my K3 and cost 5 or 10
times as much as my K3 without considering 1943 dollars versus 2007 dollars. 
This does not imply that the TBL-6/RBB is superior to the K3 or that I would
like to use them in the next DX contest in lieu of my K3.
 Willis 'Cookie' Cooke
K5EWJ & Trustee N5BPS, USS Cavalla, USS Stewart




________________________________
From: Ron D'Eau Claire <[hidden email]>
To: [hidden email]
Sent: Wed, June 29, 2011 11:07:42 AM
Subject: [Elecraft] Iambic Keying (WAS: Straight key first?)

I found Iambic keying wonderful to use. I stopped only because it *ruined* my
fist for a bug, Hi!


To make a "C" you just squeeze both paddles with the dash paddle closing
slightly ahead of the dot.

To make a "Q" you just hold the dash paddle and tap the dot paddle at any time
during the second dash.

Press the dash paddle and immediately tap the dot, and you get a "K".

And so on. Very simple finger movements. Minimal timing demands on the operator.


But it does take a little practice.

And some operators aren't interested in doing that.

That's fine, but it doesn't mean that Iambic keying isn't a *great* way to
produce CW for those who enjoy it.


Ron AC7AC

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Re: Iambic Keying (WAS: Straight key first?)

Carl W Clawson
In reply to this post by AC7AC
Another advantage of iambic keying is that it's easy to send with your
non-dominant hand, leaving the other hand free to write without juggling the
pencil. Think about stringed instruments -- CW is music, after all. One of
my elmers suggested this decades ago and I've been sending left-handed ever
since. Dunno about single-lever keying as I haven't progressed to that yet.

Only problem is in multi-op situations when you have to remember to swap the
paddles in the software before turning it over to the next op.

73 -- Carl WS7L

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Re: Iambic Keying (WAS: Straight key first?)

Don Wilhelm-4
  OK, I have made a vow to learn to send with my right hand within the
next year, so my left hand is free to write.  Then I will not have to
change any of the transmitters to reverse the paddles anymore.

Being a Southpaw can be a good thing!

73,
Don W3FPR

On 6/29/2011 9:26 PM, Carl Clawson wrote:

> Another advantage of iambic keying is that it's easy to send with your
> non-dominant hand, leaving the other hand free to write without juggling the
> pencil. Think about stringed instruments -- CW is music, after all. One of
> my elmers suggested this decades ago and I've been sending left-handed ever
> since. Dunno about single-lever keying as I haven't progressed to that yet.
>
> Only problem is in multi-op situations when you have to remember to swap the
> paddles in the software before turning it over to the next op.
>
>
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Re: Iambic Keying (WAS: Straight key first?)

Tony Estep
In reply to this post by Carl W Clawson
On Wed, Jun 29, 2011 at 8:26 PM, Carl Clawson <[hidden email]>wrote:

> Another advantage of iambic keying is that it's easy to send with your
> non-dominant hand, leaving the other hand free...


I remember as a Novice reading about legendary contester Katashi Nose,
KH6IJ, who sent with one hand (bug) and logged with the other. He could
manage 70 wpm in an era when 20 was fast. My attempts to emulate him and
send left-handed were not crowned with success, to put it mildly.

Tony KT0NY
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Re: Iambic Keying (WAS: Straight key first?)

daleputnam
In reply to this post by Don Wilhelm-4

I learned with a straight key and a stick. It took me about half of one QSO to figure out swapping a pencil back and forth, along with throwing the t-r switch, and the mute switch, adjusting the tx, then keying the key, and reversing all that, pretty near made it necessary to use my off hand for the key... keeping the pencil corralled was a good thing. So when paddles came along, it was pretty near easy to move to a nice paddle, keyer, and still keep the pencil corralled. It wasn't until just a couple years ago that I had the fun of playing with a Halli T-O keyer... and a single lever Vibroplex. Remember when that was THE setup? Well.. I rather had a tussle with it, so am back with the paddles now, with 8 on the desk now. And one Junkers straight key. Still keeping the pencil or keyboard in my left hand.It is a lot easier to write with my left hand and key with the right, although I can do it the other way, for those few times that someone has the paddles backwards for me. Bu
 t it doesn't sound good. Way past the Lake Erie swing...

--...   ...--
Dale - WC7S in Wy

> Date: Wed, 29 Jun 2011 21:59:51 -0400
> From: [hidden email]
> To: [hidden email]
> CC: [hidden email]
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Iambic Keying (WAS: Straight key first?)
>
>   OK, I have made a vow to learn to send with my right hand within the
> next year, so my left hand is free to write.  Then I will not have to
> change any of the transmitters to reverse the paddles anymore.
>
> Being a Southpaw can be a good thing!
>
> 73,
> Don W3FPR
>

     
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Re: Iambic Keying (WAS: Straight key first?)

kevinr@coho.net
In reply to this post by Don Wilhelm-4
    Or you could do what I did: shatter my right wrist in so many places  
they had to pin it together.  For eight weeks I was in a cast that held my  
hand immobile; thus necessitating my entry into the world of left  
handedness.  I learned to do every thing with my left hand, most  
especially how to write.  Made me ambidextrous in many of the things I  
do.  I could even throw a baseball with my non-dominant hand.  Could not  
throw it fast but I could hit the target.  This accident interrupted my  
entry into amateur radio for many years.  The theory was simple but my  
right hand would not send CW.  By the time I thought to try my left hand  
other interested had taken over.  Oh well, it would have been nice to have  
gotten my ticket in 1966 or so.  I was learning how to send on a bug at  
the same time.  The point being I can still write with my left hand if  
necessary but I have found it simple to send and write with the same  
hand.  There is plenty of time as long as you copy in your head for a few  
seconds (words).  Now to learn how to send left handed to ease the pain in  
my right wrist.
    73,
       Kevin.  KD5ONS



On Wed, 29 Jun 2011 18:59:51 -0700, Don Wilhelm <[hidden email]>  
wrote:

>   OK, I have made a vow to learn to send with my right hand within the
> next year, so my left hand is free to write.  Then I will not have to
> change any of the transmitters to reverse the paddles anymore.
>
> Being a Southpaw can be a good thing!
>
> 73,
> Don W3FPR
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OT: My "other" hand sending

Ken G Kopp
In reply to this post by Don Wilhelm-4
       
If you're confronted with a situation where you need
to send with your "other" hand ... as in when you're
visiting someone's station ... just turn the paddles
around so the paddles face away from you and
reach over the top.

73! Ken - K0PP
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Re: Iambic Keying (WAS: Straight key first?)

Buddy Brannan
In reply to this post by daleputnam
Heh. I just copy in my head. Have pretty much since the beginning. The only time I've ever written down anything during cw q's has been 1) traffic handling and 2) logging. When I remember to, lately, yes, I've slipped into lazy habits. With this in mind, I am still baffled when I hear people, especially old school military ops, who say they can't copy code unless they write it down or type on a typewriter. The human brain is a strange beast, and no mistake.
--
Buddy Brannan, KB5ELV - Erie, PA
Phone: (814) 860-3194 or 888-75-BUDDY



On Jun 29, 2011, at 10:13 PM, Dale Putnam wrote:

>
> I learned with a straight key and a stick. It took me about half of one QSO to figure out swapping a pencil back and forth, along with throwing the t-r switch, and the mute switch, adjusting the tx, then keying the key, and reversing all that, pretty near made it necessary to use my off hand for the key... keeping the pencil corralled was a good thing. So when paddles came along, it was pretty near easy to move to a nice paddle, keyer, and still keep the pencil corralled. It wasn't until just a couple years ago that I had the fun of playing with a Halli T-O keyer... and a single lever Vibroplex. Remember when that was THE setup? Well.. I rather had a tussle with it, so am back with the paddles now, with 8 on the desk now. And one Junkers straight key. Still keeping the pencil or keyboard in my left hand.It is a lot easier to write with my left hand and key with the right, although I can do it the other way, for those few times that someone has the paddles backwards for me.
 Bu

> t it doesn't sound good. Way past the Lake Erie swing...
>
> --...   ...--
> Dale - WC7S in Wy
>
>> Date: Wed, 29 Jun 2011 21:59:51 -0400
>> From: [hidden email]
>> To: [hidden email]
>> CC: [hidden email]
>> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Iambic Keying (WAS: Straight key first?)
>>
>>  OK, I have made a vow to learn to send with my right hand within the
>> next year, so my left hand is free to write.  Then I will not have to
>> change any of the transmitters to reverse the paddles anymore.
>>
>> Being a Southpaw can be a good thing!
>>
>> 73,
>> Don W3FPR
>>
>
>    
> ______________________________________________________________
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>
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Re: OT: My "other" hand sending

AC7AC
In reply to this post by Ken G Kopp
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Re: Iambic Keying (WAS: Straight key first?)

Cookie
In reply to this post by Cookie
The M/G is only slightly lighter (800 lbs) than the TBL (900 lbs) and is located
on the main deck cabin just forward of the crew quarters and about75 ft aft of
the radio room.  The TCE M/G is in the same compartment and only weighs about
150 lbs.  I think of these 200 watt and 125 watt behemouths every time someone
complains about the light weight of the K3.  This refers to the USS Stewart,
DE238.  The TBL on the Cavalla was removed and replaced with a Collins URC-32
SSB 500 watt transceiver during a Cold War retrofit.
 Willis 'Cookie' Cooke
K5EWJ & Trustee N5BPS, USS Cavalla, USS Stewart




________________________________
From: Rose <[hidden email]>
To: WILLIS COOKE <[hidden email]>
Sent: Wed, June 29, 2011 10:17:53 PM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Iambic Keying (WAS: Straight key first?)

      And the TBL was powered by a M/G set somewhere below .... (:-)

73! Ken
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Re: Iambic Keying (WAS: Straight key first?)

Cookie
In reply to this post by Buddy Brannan
For the commercial and military ops, it was all traffic handling and if you did
not have a written copy, you didn't copy it.  It is pretty hard to head copy a
very long message if it is five letter code groups or in a language that you are
not fluent.  For that matter, it would be pretty hard to head copy and then
write a full minute with no errors to pass the FCC code test.  Head copy is
pretty much a ham radio thing.
 Willis 'Cookie' Cooke
K5EWJ & Trustee N5BPS, USS Cavalla, USS Stewart




________________________________
From: Buddy Brannan <[hidden email]>
To: [hidden email]
Sent: Wed, June 29, 2011 10:34:10 PM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Iambic Keying (WAS: Straight key first?)

Heh. I just copy in my head. Have pretty much since the beginning. The only time
I've ever written down anything during cw q's has been 1) traffic handling and
2) logging. When I remember to, lately, yes, I've slipped into lazy habits. With
this in mind, I am still baffled when I hear people, especially old school
military ops, who say they can't copy code unless they write it down or type on
a typewriter. The human brain is a strange beast, and no mistake.

--
Buddy Brannan, KB5ELV - Erie, PA
Phone: (814) 860-3194 or 888-75-BUDDY



On Jun 29, 2011, at 10:13 PM, Dale Putnam wrote:

>
> I learned with a straight key and a stick. It took me about half of one QSO to
>figure out swapping a pencil back and forth, along with throwing the t-r switch,
>and the mute switch, adjusting the tx, then keying the key, and reversing all
>that, pretty near made it necessary to use my off hand for the key... keeping
>the pencil corralled was a good thing. So when paddles came along, it was pretty
>near easy to move to a nice paddle, keyer, and still keep the pencil corralled.
>It wasn't until just a couple years ago that I had the fun of playing with a
>Halli T-O keyer... and a single lever Vibroplex. Remember when that was THE
>setup? Well.. I rather had a tussle with it, so am back with the paddles now,
>with 8 on the desk now. And one Junkers straight key. Still keeping the pencil
>or keyboard in my left hand.It is a lot easier to write with my left hand and
>key with the right, although I can do it the other way, for those few times that
>someone has the paddles backwards for me.
>
Bu

> t it doesn't sound good. Way past the Lake Erie swing...
>
> --...  ...--
> Dale - WC7S in Wy
>
>> Date: Wed, 29 Jun 2011 21:59:51 -0400
>> From: [hidden email]
>> To: [hidden email]
>> CC: [hidden email]
>> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Iambic Keying (WAS: Straight key first?)
>>
>>  OK, I have made a vow to learn to send with my right hand within the
>> next year, so my left hand is free to write.  Then I will not have to
>> change any of the transmitters to reverse the paddles anymore.
>>
>> Being a Southpaw can be a good thing!
>>
>> 73,
>> Don W3FPR
>>
>
>                        
> ______________________________________________________________
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>
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Re: Iambic Keying (WAS: Straight key first?)

Dunc Carter - W5DC
When I passed the  Extra test in 1958, I copied just over a minute
continuously which was my printing speed limit; my script speed limit
was lower.  At that time I could copy code at 55 wpm on my electric
Olympia but I've never been able to type that fast on a computer
keyboard.  Since then, I've had no trouble copying that fast in my head,
even after a 24 year lay off.

I'm a leftie who was forced to be right handed in elementary school.

Dunc, W5DC
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Re: Iambic Keying (WAS: Straight key first?)

Phil Kane-2
In reply to this post by Cookie
On 6/29/2011 8:48 PM, WILLIS COOKE wrote:

> For that matter, it would be pretty hard to head copy and then
> write a full minute with no errors to pass the FCC code test.
> Head copy is pretty much a ham radio thing.

  Starting in the late 1960s I was one of the FCC code examiners in San
  Francisco.  One day  an "old timer" coast station operator came
  up for the Radiotelegraph First Class code test - 25 wpm -
  where a "mill" could be used.  He said that he wanted "the
  First" before he retired.  He set it up, and just before I
  started the tape he asked whether it was OK to smoke during the
  test. In those days, no problem.  He put on the "cans" and said
  "start the tape".  He reached into his pocket, took out a
  cigarette.  Then he reached into another pocket, and pulled out
  a book of matches, lit the cigarette, put the extinguished
  match in an ashtray, dropped the matchbook on the floor, bent
  down to pick it up, put it back in his pocket, sat back for a
  few seconds, and then started typing like a madman about
  halfway into the 5 minute tape - perfect copy. When the tape
  was finished, he turned to me and said "didn't think I could do
  it, did you, sonny?!

  Something I will never forget.

--  73 de K2ASP - Phil Kane
    Elecraft K2/100   s/n 5402

    Retired and loving every minute of it
    Work was getting in the way of my hobbies

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Re: Iambic Keying (WAS: Straight key first?)

Mercury
In reply to this post by AC7AC
I passed 13 wpm to pass General in the early 80s and never made a single CW QSO - didn't even use a key to practice. But when I passed the no-code Extra in 2007 I decided to work CW until I could copy at least 20 wpm. Bought a paddle and decided to learn to use it with my left hand so my dominant right hand could take notes. I also decided to set the paddle up with dits on the left since this appeared to be the way the majority of paddle users did it. This way I could pass my paddle to most right handers and there would be no need to reverse the "sense" of the paddle. Similarly, I could move most other's paddle to the left side of the radio and jump right in. I've reached 20 wpm now and wish I'd discovered the joy of CW sooner.

Will, AI4VE
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