[Elecraft] next up: advice about what girl to marry!

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

Eric, KE6US, wrote:

My main advice to anyone is to SLOW DOWN. Most of the bad fists with keyers
are because the dots are cranked up to 35 wpm and they are still struggling
to copy 15. There is a nameless ham on one of the several cw nets I am on
who has NEVER sent my call properly. His only consistency is a self standing
dah followed by a string of 7 dits for the 6 in my call. The rest of it is
so mangled I only know its for me is that I was the last one to send
something.

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SPEED

Bugs (semi-automatic keys) came into use not because they were faster, but
because an operator could spend long hours at the key pounding out traffic
without getting a "glass arm" (today we'd call it tendonitis or carpel
tunnel syndrome or something like that). The smooth, side-to-side rolling
action of the operator's hand was much easier on the operator over time. 

Indeed, many companies welded the weights in place on their bugs so the top
speed was about 15 wpm. They knew that slower and steadier got more words
per minute across over time. 

Over the years some ops were lucky enough to work at stations where they
passed traffic only with certain other ops in a closed, point-to-point setup
and they were able to develop some pretty amazing speeds, but they were the
very small minority of all the commercial, military or government brass
pounders. 

ACCURACY

One of the best tests I've ever used to see for myself whether I'm happy
with my CW is to record some stuff I sent and then play it back several days
later. 

Another way to test one's own sending is to use a program like CWGET that
works on your computer to copy your fist. CWGET  *demands* near-perfect
spacing. If you can pound brass while it pumps out perfect copy, you've
nothing to apologize for to anyone, even if you're using two bare wires for
a 'key'. CWGET is shareware but you can download and use it for free from: 
http://tinyurl.com/6q2zr

Along with accuracy in sending is flexibility in receiving. People have
accents at the key every bit as much as they do in speech, especially with a
manual key. Some of it is syntax - use of abbreviations and sentence
structure - but much of it is in subtle (and not so subtle) variations in
timing. So while good operators strive for accuracy in sending, they also
strive to develop flexibility in receiving. After all, if everyone sent
perfect, keyboard CW, we could all use a program like CWGet and forget the
code entirely. But we have other modes for that, and that's why I like CW. 

Ron AC7AC

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