[CW] Re: [Fists] Which iambic paddle for a beginner.

[Fred Adsit]

I somehow lost track of this thread - thought it began on the [cw] group -
so that is why it has been sent to both.Clearly the initial exchanges got
filed in the wrong folder (the Deleted one, evidently).

I could not agree more, Dan. Also, the old original Benchers used to
literally fly apart - they fixed that with screws that prevented that, but
still did not prevent vertical motion of the paddles. The spring can be
stretched to make it less stiff, but can be overdone, leaving one with
junk. Latitude of tension is minimal as well. I just sold a brand new
unused standard Vibroplex paddle for what I paid ( I have too many paddles
as is ), locally, and the guy really loved it. For a newcomer to keying,
the Vibroplex is easy to deal with at a decent price - tension is done
with springs, adjustments easily done by the knurled adjusters using no
hex wrench. I have bought and sold many Benchers (stupid of me - one was
an oval-paddle single-lever job - chromed). I have a plain BY-1 now and
keep it only because I have it just the way I want it. But pricier paddles
with big opposing magnets I like much better.

Sqeeze keying advantages and dislikes have been beaten to death here and
on other groups in the past year. I know very few who use Iambic keying,
mode A or mode B. They single-lever it with dual paddles. l like the feel
of my "old" Vibroplex Original bug, and that is enough for me to switch
with without also learning how to squeeze key. The mileage of some
definitely differs and that is fine. My paddles are not adjusted as heavy
as the hand keys and bug.. the tension is so light one need barely touch
the paddles to move them.. but the contact spacing is very much the same
as the bug's.

Someone who was starting after many years away from CW also saw my comment
about a sideswiper made from a hacksaw blade. The latest on that was, he
said it seemed like a hand key an its side. He misunderstands. For the
uninitiated, here goes a bit of bandwidth. The sideswiper has two hot
contacts and one center ground contact. To send R, you swing left (right
is fine, just be consistent), right and hold for the longer dah, and left
for a dit. For a K, it would be left long, right short, left long. It is a
smooth back and forth motion and leads more than any other device to a
recognizable fist, often called a lake erie or banana boat swing. It is
music to the ears of some. I used to listen to two nearby hams talk about
everything you can imagine almost every afternoon on 80 CW. One was a
keyer speed demon, the other an old-time owner of dozens (scores?) of
sideswipers. He sent at maybe 15 wpm and it was really more like music.
The contrast was striking and funny. Anyone who has not experienced this,
or say working off the auroral curtain on the low end of 2M, has missed a
lot - it is all about the much maligned term "magic" of CW. To me it will
always be the best mode there is. Ham radio with no familiarity with its
magical heritage is, to me, not ham radio.

73
ZUT!
Fred Adsit, NY2V - FISTS 1293
ex-W2ZOJ - 1948
W2ZOJ - ZUT ARC -FISTS 7900
ZUT: "CW Forever" use approved by
Coast Guard CW Operators Assoc.
Signs Of The Times.. one well-known glossy catalog lists only one
Vibroplex key - the Presentation. When I decided to buy a BY-1 again, I
called a dealer in an entirely different ham product for the most part. I
wanted one and he wanted to cut a deal and sell all six he had left. He
was a very crochety fellow I thought. What have we come to? Most don't
seem to care. They did not care when the original FCC proposals for change
came out, and so we have what was asked for. It is hardly that simple but
it is close enough to the truth. CW contests do bring out hordes of good
operators, so the mode is not dead - not yet.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Daniel Metzger
To: GRogers2@aol.com
Cc: fists@mailman.qth.net
Sent: Thursday, May 22, 2003 10:28 AM
Subject: Re: [Fists] Which iambic paddle for a beginner.


> which iambic would be the best<

Benchers give me a pain.  Feels like butterfly wings.  I prefer the more
substantial feel of the old Vibroplex.  Note, I use a bug and a side
swiper, as well as a paddle, so that may be why I like the heavy feel.

BTW, does anybody REALLY use iambic keying?  I see lots of iambic (dual
lever) paddles being sold, but everybody I know actually uses them in
single-lever mode.

Dan, K8JWR