[CW] Styles of Sending

[David Ring]

Hello George,

There are two basic styles of sending:

USA style:  Lever of key low to desk, forearm on desk, sending from the
forearm.  The wrist should not move.

UK style:  Desk is often lower.  Desk is constructed so that the elbow will
be at the same level as the desktop (which usually means it is at the same
level as a typewriter woudl be.)

The telegraph key is placed so that the base is just at the edge of the
operator's desk.

The elbow is bent at right angle and the forearm extends towards the desk.

Again the forearm does all the work, the wrist can pivot but not do the
work.

Frank Merrit, VE7FPM wrote a very nice article about how to use a hand key.
 I've written to him in the past and asked for permission to copy this
article which he gave.

http://www.mira-orca.ca/THE%20HAND%20KEY.pdf

Here is part of that excellent article - notice the part about the muscles
of the arm:

It is of great importance to use the hand key in such a manner that it does
not become tiring and at the same time making it easy to create good
readable code. This is easy to do by placing the fleshy part of the forearm
used in sending CW directly on the top of the operating position. If there
is not much flesh just put a small section of folded material under the arm.

One of the most critical things at this point is that the wrist should never
flex. It should be used as part of a lever. The reason for this is that the
muscles in the wrist are very short and usually not as strong as the muscles
in the upper and lower arm as well as the shoulder. These are the muscles
that must be trained to do the work. The muscles of the arm and shoulder can
be trained to send CW for a long period of time without strain. Of course,
like any other muscle or set of muscles, it does take time of training.
Practice it as proficiency comes with time. Any pivoting motion exists at
the elbow rather than at the wrist. It is good to practice sending long
strings of "e". Again, this comes with time. When the operator comes to the
point that a string of 30-minutes of "e"s can be sent it is an indication
that these lessons have been learned. Good code has never been sent in a
day.

It is also of importance that all CW operators will do well to practice
sending with a hand key. Sending with more exotic types of keyers  sometimes
has the problem that if the semiautomatic or automatic keyer fails the
operator is left out of business. Again, and again, it is emphasized that
PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT in the sending of CW as well as any other human
endeavor.

It is interesting that in Europe, UK, Scandanavia, use the off table
suspended arm method.  Germans usually use the American method.  But the
rest of Europe uses the UK/Swedish method.

Usually all the former countries of the British Empire have the UK method of
sending:  Gibraltar, Ireland, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, South Africa, (also the
west coast were the slave trade florished and all the countries from Egypt
down to South Africa on the east central section) India, Singapore, Hong
Kong, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Territories.  When you have the
largest Empire the world has ever known, you have great influence - thus
most of the world sends UK style!
73
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