[Elecraft] Elecraft: My CW Progress

[Mychael Morohovich AA3WF]

Hi, Martin-

Having never been a fan of any method that teaches sending characters out of
proper proportion,  I am not good at staying with a fast character speed and
increasing the spacing in order to achieve slower speeds. It works for a
little while, but inevitably I end up speeding up- messing with the
proportion goes against the grain of with my inner musician.

I now send primarily with a bug, and find it easier to slow down the
pendulum than it is to send fast characters with inappropriate spacing. I am
probably in the minority here, however, as most bug ops either add the space
or switch to the straight key for QRS sending. Sometimes I tap out QRS code
on the bug's dah paddle, and sometimes it sounds surprisingly good despite
its being unorthodox. Like most new ops (2.5 yrs here), I am still working
out what works best for me

Regarding your technique, everyone has his own style, but since this is my
response I will share with you that when I was using my Kent straight key in
a seated position, I had a telephone book representing the perfect height
that I liked to plop under my arm to help with fatigue. I thought that it
might be weird, but I did it anyway. After reading somewhere that OTs used
to use a folded up towel in this manner to help with their "glass arms", it
seemed a natural thing to do. Feels comfortable as well.


Were I you, I would send in the style you find most comfortable, and if you
find the other op too fast, just pull out the trusty old "QRS PSE?". Still,
do not send faster than you can receive, even though it is usually possible
doing so. It is possible that you are confusing the other op into thinking
that you can copy faster than you can, so he sends accordingly. If this is
the case, you might have to slow down to the point where you are sending
proportionately correct code at a speed you can comfortably copy.

Given your intention, head copying from the beginning is the best course of
action, Martin. We radio amateurs do this primarily for fun, so we don't
have to concern ourselves with perfect copy and using a mill. If I find the
copy hard or faster than I'd like, I do like to jot down words as I will
inevitably miss a few and sometimes need to glance back over a sentence to
get the meaning. If the copy is particularly bad I sometimes use this to
fill in the blanks to get individual words. Even seasoned ops who enjoy head
copying like to jot down the particulars for later reference: name, rst,
QTH, rig, etc.

Hope that this helps,

Mychael