[CW] the advantage of putting the paddle at an angle and of narrow spacing

[Henry Mei'l's]

Hi DR and Chris

Talking about spacing, I used to teach radio-electronics in summer camps, where I also had my rig set up. One of my pupils,
an extremely gifted individual, visited me for code training to pass his CW test. Spacing was his major problem, but I told him 
to send 'mental' spaces in his head when sending and it worked perfectly. He had no trouble passing his CW test  which I adminstered -- but I was a real stickler and demanded proficiency -- Don't  know how long the FCC allowed this. This was around 1960.

I also use tight conact spacing and finger tip pressure  at the edge of the paddles when sending QRQ -- prefer a single over a double paddle- allows you to keep your finger tips  so close together  that they almost seem to touch..
I know I mentioned this before but not sure if on CW or Radio Officer list (probably CW).

DR, I'm going to try your sidewinder/cootie key method, soon.

Henry (The Ateth: Did u hear what  happened to 9?  Why, 7 8 9!  Hope he didn't get indigestion;0)

PS: Please laugh, or I will send more of these.



----- Original Message -----  
  From: D.J.J. Ring, Jr. 
  To: CW Reflector 
  Sent: Saturday, October 30, 2010 4:20 PM
  Subject: Re: [CW] the advantage of putting the paddle at an angle and of narrow spacing


  Hello Chris,

  It sounds like your having a great vacation.  At 60 wpm, you have to send with your fingers unless you have very supple wrists and arms.  At 30 wpm it is much more comfortable to send with the wrist and arm.

  When I warm up for a 30 wpm QSO, I do what one old timer at Mobile, Alabama Marine Radio / WLO told me.  Go as fast as possible to get your coordination up and keep increasing it to the place where you cannot send correctly and from that set point, increase the speed even more.  You'll be able to in short time (maybe several minutes) increase your coordination just by attempting to send - say 60 wpm or 65 wpm. 

  Then do this, he continued:  Slow down to about 15 wpm or so and at that speed send and listen to the spaces.  REMEMBER he said to me:  SEND THE SPACES.  Actually think about them and send them just like you send a letter.  Send the character space, send the word space, actually force them.  Morse with wide word spacing is even easier to copy for those who are making pencil or typewriter copy or even as a tool to help the beginner.

  Then return to your desired speed - which at marine radio stations was the famous Western Union standard speed of 27 wpm - the rate at which you could obtain the most revenue on a manual wire or radio circuit - faster and someone would break you for which you'd loose money by inefficiency and any slower, the circuit would not make enough chargeable words.

  73

  David


  David J. Ring, Jr., N1EA
  SOWP, VWOA, OOTC, FISTS, CW-Ops, JARL-A1, A1-OP, ex-FOC 1271 ARRL-LM
  Chat Skype: djringjr MSN: djringjr at msn.com AIM: N1EA icq: 27380609
  Radio-Officers Google Group -- Marine Morse Historic Recordings Page





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