[CW] writing pens

[Gregory W. Moore]

GM all,

    Ok, I have done kind of an exhaustive search for a good "stick" and 
tried about everything, from #2 pencils (bad)
thru Engineering lead holders (better, you can use different leads, and 
the ones made for mylar work well and smoothly on paper) but I have 
never been completely satisfied.

    Since I originally learned serious high speed code on a MILL, in the 
military, passed my Speed Key Certificate that way, stood countless 
hours of watch and copied everything from news files to wx obs to cypher 
messages, on any number of half-operating MILLS, (note, one used them 
until they got real stuck together, then took them into the Teletype 
shop, cleaned and lubed them, and put them back at the Local Operating 
Positions (LOP's). I don't think anyone ever really did preventative 
maintenance on them, just used whatever was at hand, and fixed them if 
they got too sticky and crud covered. (This was in the days when 
cigarettes were as much of a part of sitting watch as  coffee, split 
phones, and Lightning Bugs, and the MILLS showed the brown "tar" 
coating, which was one heck of a job cleaning off, without removing the 
paint (we used the regular dip tank that we cleaned the M28 Printers, 
etc, and the solvent, if not watched real carefully, would start to 
remove the paint as well, so we chipped in and got some Krylon spray to 
reasonably match Navy Gray (all 1,800 color variations), and simply 
sprayed the darn things out on deck, after masking off the innards.  
Anyhow, they were darn near indestructable, and to this day, nothing 
will come close  Well, I  have used any type of manual typewriters (not 
a telegrapher's MILL),  Greenkeys of various models and types, 
standalone word processors, and finally the computer keyboard.  None of 
these, even though any manual typewriter can give you good feel and 
keystroke, they still can't reproduce the " all caps" of a good 
telegraphers MILL.

    Fortunately, due to the invaluable assistance of one of the members 
of this forum, I have managed to get leads and make
offers on several MILLS, and they will not be collector's items. These 
will be in use every day at my own "operating position"
and I hope to enjoy some good CW QSO's the way they were meant to be 
copied!!!

    I think that choice of a pen, or other stick, is subjective on the 
part of the OP involved. If said OP learned to copy QRQ
with a "stick" then that muscle memory is ingrained in them, and they 
can copy good speed using a writing implement. I simply,
and this was exacerbated by a closed head injury I suffered in 1999, 
can't write as fast, or copy as far "behind" as I used to with a stick, 
simply because of my experience.  If you learned on a MILL, than that, 
basically, is the only way to go, for the copying is, to me at least, 
automatic, and flows from the speaker or phones, into my fingers on the 
keys, and thus onto paper.  Incidentally, one's style of typing makes 
very little difference. I can touch type without looking, but can do the 
same using two fingers, or one, if I have to tune the freq to follow a 
fading signal, adjust the reciever, set filters, etc, and the speed is 
about the same.

I believe the method of transcription is best left up to the individual, 
for guaranteed, the way one copies, is directly related to how one 
learned in the first place, or better still, when one first broke that 
20 wpm barrier, which seems to be the "sound barrier" of CW copying.  
there is, I believe, a plateau at 10, when one is first learning, then 
about 15 (13 was easy), but 20 is the wall. If you can get past 20, 
then, from that point on, it's just a matter of trying to keep in shape 
by copying some sending which is over your speed as often as possible.  
Your speed and accuracy will increase, and you magically, it seems, 
start reading CW as a language, instead of a method of message transmission.

This is IMHO only, and comments are welcomed.

73 de Greg Moore  "GW"
WA3IVX/ NNN0BVN
Former USN "Sparks"


   

David J. Ring, Jr. wrote:

>I did a comparison 20 years ago when I needed to take my 25 wpm code test in
>front of the FCC in Boston for my 1st class telegraph license.
>
>I actually timed myself and found out which pen I could copy 25 wpm with -
>the winner:  Write Bros. pen.
>
>I also found the "other" test.
>
>To write fast, a pen (or pencil) must write a solid line under its own
>weight.  That is by taking the top of the pen in your fingers and draging it
>across a piece of paper.  NO pressure is on the pen other than its own
>weight.
>
>Pens that do this are:  Uniball roller writers and Standford roller writers.
>
>TRY before you buy - you will immediately see the difference.
>
>73
>
>DR
>
>David J. Ring, Jr., N1EA
>
>  
>
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
                                                   --Edmund Burke

Greg Moore NNN0BVN PA
U.S. Navy-Marine Corps Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS)
Official Pennsylvania Area Website:
http://pages.prodigy.net/nnn0fbk/mars.htm
Official Northeast Area Website: 
http://www.navymars.org/northeast/index.htm
Navy-Marine Corps MARS: Proudly Serving Those Who Serve."
E-Mail (MARS) nnn0bvn@navymars.org
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