[Elecraft] Need advice on the Iambic key

[Mark Saunders, KJ7BS]

I agree with Tom.

"NO...!  TAKE IT OUT OF TEST MODE NOW!!!

NOW is the time to be OPERATING! GET ON THE AIR and USE your 
abilities... use the J-38 as a starting point... you can probably get 
up to 18-20 WPM with it yet, all the while improving your abilities 
to copy. "

 There is simply NO better method to improve both your sending and receiving skill than to operate on the air, plus it's fun.  Any CW op worth their salt will always slow down to your sending speed (assuming most can copy what they can send, so don't send faster than you can copy).  If you run across a CW op that will not slow down, say no thank you and move on.

We all had horrible fists at one time and were slow.  I will never forget one of my first CW QSOs. as a new Technician with Morse code,  that laster over an hour.  Later I discovered the ham that listened to my shakey and poor fist was an Extra class operator.  That made an impression on me and to this day I do my best to "pay it forward" when I hear the slow unsteady fist of a new CW op.

Mark Saunders, KJ7BS
Glendale, AZ