[Elecraft] Iambic Keying (WAS: Straight key first?)

[Rick McClelland, AA5S]

You're bringing back some memories.  One of the questions in the pool of
my 10 schematic drawing or other short answer
questions was:

Draw a schematic diagram of a maritime battery charging system containing a
six pole double throw switch such
that each of a pair of batteries is either connected to a load or a charger
(and is swapped when the switch is thrown.)

I don't recall the exact phrasing of the question but I do recall that the
toupee was spinning on top of my sixteen year
old head as I tried to work through this question.  I eventually drew the
correct diagram.  I think the 2nd telegraph's
written examination was the most difficult of all the written tests I took,
including the 1st phone written.  I don't want
to start a debate here, that was just my impression.


On Thu, Jun 30, 2011 at 1:38 PM, Mike Morrow <kk5f at earthlink.net> wrote:

> I like **some** iambic keyers.
>
> The important thing in any discussion of iambic keyers is WHAT MODE(S)
> does it use.  When an iambic dit-dash sequence is being sent, mode B
> keyers send a dit if the paddles are released during a dash, or a dash
> if the paddles are released during a dit.  In contrast, mode A keyers
> never send a dit or dash unless the dit or dash paddle is closed.  If
> one is accustomed to one mode, using a keyer in the other mode will be
> hell.  It is very important that mode selection be available in any
> iambic keyer.
>
> There is no paddle manipulation or any other identifiable advantage to
> mode B, but paddle release timing is much more critical than for mode A.
> The incompetent and careless design of MOST commercial ham rigs provides
> Mode B ONLY.  When I asked the ICOM folks at their Dayton booth about the
> reasons for that, the staff was dismissive as if this was an unimportant
> question and they didn't care to waste their time on answering it.  No
> Icom garbage for me, ever!
>
> This is another area where Elecraft really comes through, with full mode
> A or B support on all their transceivers.
>
> And straight key use?  I think it is appropriate to learn first on the
> straight key, if only for the tradition of it.  Back in the days when
> when Morse exams were given by the FCC, there once was a sending test
> that required straight key use.  Also back in those days, the military
> sometimes used Morse and straight keys were all that were provided
> on many radio sets...a young person just might have served in the military
> back then.  But...today it's only tradition, just like the use of Morse
> itself.
>
> Rick wrote:
>
> > I took my 2nd Class Telegraph examination in Oklahoma City in 1978.
>
> I took my Second Class Telegraph exam at the Kansas City FCC office,
> about that same time.
>
> > He fired up the CW test then left the room.  The test finished, I
> > put my pencil down and waited.  No examiner.
>
> The Morse exam for the Second Class had four parts, each requiring perfect
> performance for one minute out of five:
> 1.  20-wpm plain language copy.
> 2.  16-wpm five-character code groups copy, including numbers and
> punctuation.
> 3.  20-wpm plain language, sent with FCC-provided straight key.
> 4.  16-wpm five-character code groups, sent with FCC-provided straight key.
>
> The only part I had trouble with was item 2.  Five or six errors made in
> five minutes spread just right could kill any one-minute of otherwise good
> copy.  (And by "trouble", I mean that I didn't pass my on first attempt.)
>
> More than 20 years ago, the FCC got really lazy and decided to issue Morse
> credit for the commercial license based on the applicant holding the
> Amateur
> Extra license.  What a joke!
>
> > He took the exam with him when I finished it and promptly lost it.
>
> That technical written exam, Element 6, had 90 multiple-choice questions
> and 10 schematic drawing or other short answer questions.  My examiner
> told me that I had a passing score based on the other 90 and did not
> grade those 10 questions.  I never took a written FCC exam anywhere that
> wasn't graded before I left the office or field location.
>
> > "...the examiner lost my test."
>
> That sort of shabby outcome was too often the case with government
> administered exams.  The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's exam results for
> the Senior Reactor Operator license was delayed for several people at
> a plant I worked 30 years ago.  When results finally showed up, the
> office admitted that the completed exams for these people had slipped
> behind someone's desk!  Government...gotta love it.
>
> Mike / KK5F
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-- 
Rick McClelland, AA5S
Fort Collins, CO