[Elecraft] Ultimatic keying

Sun Aug 12 21:25:50 EDT 2012

On an even more obscure note, in the summer of 1965 or 1966 (can't 
remember which) as a recently-minted Conditional class licensee I was 
spending a lot of time on 40 meter CW during the day. High school was 
out for the summer and I was busy building electronic keyers and 
learning to use them.

I ran across a W4, down in Alabama I think, who was a regular 40 QRQ 
guy. He had developed what he called the "Squeeze Keyer". It used a 
bunch of 12AU7s and had a similar philosophy to the Ultimatic. His 
version used what he called "single dot injection" and closing the dot 
paddle while the dash paddle was held closed would inject a single dot 
in the stream of dashes. Other than for this condition, the dash paddle 
always had priority over the dot paddle. Using this technique, any 
letter in the alphabet except X could be generated with a single 
properly timed squeeze of the paddles. He wouldn't publish the design, 
so when he went SK it presumably died with him. Sometime in the early 
'70s I designed and built a keyer that did the same thing using 74xx TTL 
chips. It worked great, but I was about the only one who could send on 
it. Does anybody else remember the "Squeeze Keyer"?

73...
Randy, W8FN

On 08/12/2012 17:00, Erik Basilier wrote:
> Ron, thanks for your comments, and I recognize that there must be a sizable
> minority of operators that are fully competent with iambic. And, when iambic
> is mastered it can probably produce faster code than either a single paddle
> or a double paddle used by a non-iambic operator. What I don't believe is
> that if you put a dual paddle with iambic logic in the hands of an
> established operator, he will gradually slip into making use of the iambic
> features. Yet, that seems to be the assumption of manufacturers. I can think
> of 3 dual paddles available from Elecraft, but no single paddle option. Two
> of the Elecraft paddles are for portable rigs. My experience with portable
> operation is that the sitting position is usually uncomfortable, the hands
> may be cold and shaking (due to cold or exertion), and motor skills are way
> below the level at the shack. In such a situation, my mistakes with a dual
> paddle go way up, and either Ultimatic or a single paddle would help a lot.
> Before my KX1 I used a single lever made from flexing PC board with my
> portable radios. It didn't go fast, but was very reliable after I soldered
> little pieces of sterling silver to the contact points. Somehow I am
> guessing that the tendency of manufacturers toward dual paddles and
> complicated keying logic has something to do with the desire to appear to
> deliver the most for the money. Beginners may be swayed by that. Some
> manufacturers seem to really promote "more is more" as in pounds of radio
> and number of knobs. Others, particularly when selling qrp rigs may promote
> "less is more". For the thinking ham, neither slogan makes sense. Elecraft
> provides lots features where more certainly is more, but saves us from
> backbreaking radio weights and impractical numbers of controls. When it
> comes to keying, the "more is more" seems to have won out without real
> justification.
>
> BTW many years ago like you I built a keyer from discrete CMOS (published in
> 73 mag). I don't remember what the keying logic was, but since dual paddles
> were used, I am guessing that the whole project was motivated by the new
> iambic ideas. I never learnt to use it at all (let alone the iambic
> features) until I reversed the paddles to get the dits on the thumb. I can
> relate to the pleasure of learning a physical skill like that (used to play
> classical guitar), but feel that the movements with iambic are just too
> small and delicate. Maybe I just need to set bigger spacing an use more
> forceful movements to feel what is going on, but I seem to have a preference
> for very small contact spacings. Interesting to hear about your need for
> time to adjust between different sets of muscle memories. I experience
> something similar in copying morse. I can copy quite fast, but it takes a
> few moments to "load the decoder into my brain". One time I was filling up
> at a gas station and another customer saw my mobile antenna and asked what I
> was doing. When I said I was a ham, he started voicing "di-dah's" at me and
> I couldn't copy at all. In addition to the general boot-up time, I just
> wasn't programmed for that.
>
>   
>
> 73,
>
> Erik K7TV
>
> --------------------------------
>
> To answer your question, after 20 years of using a straight key and bug, I
> built a discrete-component CMOS iambic keyer in the 1970's.
>
>   
>
> I did start out slow but speed came quickly, IIRC, as my fingers learned the
> correct pattern of movements for each character. But I had to do the same
> thing when I learned to use a bug in the 1950's. Knowing Morse doesn't mean
> one's body knows how to operate a particular key to generate it. That takes
> practice.
>
>   
>
> I was pleasantly surprised to find that the iambic keyer built into the K2
> and K3 was as comfortable to use as my old homebrew keyer.
>
>   
>
> Unfortunately, I found that I could -not- use a bug and the iambic keyer (in
> iambic mode) interchangeably. My "muscle memory" was too strong and I found
> myself squeezing the bug paddle. Also my timing on the bug was lousy since
> the keyer did all the timing and spacing for me. So, after about 25 years on
> the iambic keyer, my bug won out after another re-training period -- at
> least as long as I enjoy sending CW with it. However, I have gone back to
> the iambic keyer from time to time to load CW memories, etc., and iambic
> fingering comes back in a few seconds.
>
>   
>
> But I enjoy learning physical skills like that. It's part of the fun of Ham
> radio for me. Otherwise I'd not have bothered switching to an iambic keyer
> and then back to the bug. I don't think I'm part of a silent "majority".
>
> Most likely I'm part of a substantial "minority" - either on an iambic keyer
> or on a bug.
>
>   
>
> 73, Ron AC7AC
>
>   
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:Elecraft at mailman.qth.net
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>