[Elecraft] Straight key first? (was: Re: K3 in the Media)

[Buddy Brannan]

On Jun 28, 2011, at 9:06 PM, Vic K2VCO wrote:

> The hardest CW to copy (for me anyway) has insufficient spacing between letters or words. 
> This is exactly what a keyer does NOT help you with! The operator has to learn to 
> recognize what good CW sounds like. Does sending with a straight key help with that? 
> Maybe, but I doubt it.

Nah, not with that. I think sending with a straight key does help with getting a feel for how characters are structured, though. Not a bad thing, but like others here, I'd much rather have interested cw ops than insisting on straight keys all the way. On the other hand (am I an octopus?), an op who handles a straight key well is a real joy to work. Ditto for a well-handled bug. I'd love to be able to use both well myself; straight key fist is a bit rusty, not what it once was, but it's coming back, and I'm having a lot of fun with it. I expect I'm more critical of my sending than some might be of it, though.
> 
> Many of you have heard old-timers with bugs sending with the "banana-boat swing" (dits way 
> too fast for the dahs) or the "Lake Erie swing" (think about sending from a rolling ship). 
> These are generally considered 'bad CW', but they aren't difficult to copy.

Unless the spacing is off, then, well, all bets are off. I don't mind some swing, it adds character. 
> 
> The techniques of sending with an iambic paddle, a bug and a straight key are very 
> different. I don't think learning one helps you with the others.

Completely agree. To this day, I still can't send properly with an iambic paddle and tend to use them as though they were single lever paddles. Even though I've never owned such a beast. Really, really want another bug, though. 

But getting back to the straight key for a second, probably the worst code I've ever heard came from a straight key. Unfortunately, my friend Dave, N5RUL, had to suffer through that as his first cw contact. Were I not there to back him up on copy, and I really struggled with that myself, he'd have been completely lost and probably discouraged. The guy's dits and dahs were almost nearly the same length! Strange but true. In that case, I don't think a straight key helped him much. 
--
Buddy Brannan, KB5ELV - Erie, PA
Phone: (814) 860-3194 or 888-75-BUDDY