My story... Learned CW when I was 9 years old, taught by ham uncle (also a ship radio operator). I used to listen to ham radio operators CW and got my speed up a little bit before I ever got my Novice license so passing that code test was easy-as-pie.
As a novice, started with J-38 (I didn't even know that other kinds of keys existed). But, I soon bought a Vibroplex Original, brand new for the cost of about $36 (~1966) as my speed went beyond my capable skills with the J-38. At the finish of my Novice year, I was easily handling both RX/TX at 20+ wpm. Big huge gap of 38 years between my Novice CW activity and getting licensed again in 2004. I was all SSB until 2007 when the "bug" for CW hit me again. How much time to relearn CW? It took two weeks of listening to CW traffic to get my head in gear again after 40 years of not hearing any CW at all. I was up to about 15 wpm after two weeks of one or two hours a day of listening (never used a code practice program). I decided to try my first QSO. I called CQ and got a reply. In the middle of the QSO I got so flustered (using a J-38 again) that I had to abort. I sent my apologies to my contact via e-mail. I just did not practice enough with the J-38. So, practice-practice-practice on the J-38 for another week and I was ready. After a few weeks of nothing but CW contacts on the J-38 I realized that my operating time was limited to my hands sending at about 12 to 13 wpm on the J-38. I just wasn't capable of anything faster. I bought myself a used bencher paddle and started practicing. I liked it right off that bat and my skills got better and now I am back up to about 20 to 22 wpm. I have tried sending at 25 wpm with the paddle but I make more mistakes then I am happy with so I need to spend time on that or learn better techniques. Being self-taught on the paddle there are some skills I am sure have not been honed yet. Oh, I never did learn to do squeeze technique on the paddle and I still don't know what Iambic A or B mean (yes, I have looked that up but I keep forgetting). My main fault that limits my speed skills with the paddle is my limited operating time. I am 90 percent CW but I don't get that much operating time on a daily basis. I had planned to do a lot of activity in this weekend's CQ DX CW contest but missed out due to all kinds of other interruptions. However, thinking back of experiences: in today's world, I would recommend skipping any straight key and learn with a keyer and paddle right from the start. I think straight keys are antiques like tube-based rigs (no flame wars from hollow state players). 73, phil, K7PEH ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
