[Elecraft] Single or dual paddle??

[Paul]

The problem is NOT the dual paddle. It's the keyer! There is another 
mode besides iambic A/B that works just fine with a dual paddle. A 
while back there was a lament in the brasspounders newsgroup about 
the plethera of great quality dual paddles but no one liked the dit 
dah dit dah dit dah iambic squeeze response. Most of use had come 
from straight keys, bugs, cooties and we wanted a dit when we pushed 
the dit paddle and a dah when we pushed the dah paddle no matter what 
- squeeze or single push.

Someone mentioned an older ultramatic (various spellings) mode where 
the last paddle pushed wins. So if you are pushing the dits paddle 
and you squeeze so the dah paddle come into play, it the keyer will 
switch to dahs. Releasing the dah paddle brings back the dits when 
the dit paddle is still pushed.  We all rejoiced. That's the kind of 
predictability we wanted.

At this time the Jackson harbor PK4 chip supports that mode so I 
think all their keyer kits do. Also, that chip is used in the new 
Palm Cube keyer. Several older Ten Tec keyers use that mode. It's too 
bad it is not offered in Elecrafts built in keyers.

If you find a keyer that supports Ultamatic (various spellings) I 
think you will find your dual paddle much more fun to use - unless 
you have always been on iambic and have kung fu like reflexes.
73,
Paul