I have a single lever Kent paddle. I bought it when I had a microHam CW Keyer attached to an IC-706. That keyer had an option to select a single lever paddle mode. I believe it was the Ultimatic option. It worked well and I preferred it over my Bencher paddle used in mode A. The keyer would also monitor your keying and you could "see" how well you were sending. It was great.
I am now using the same Kent key on the K3. Things are not quite right. When I use the TEXT DECODE function I see that letters like C often come out as NN! It is as if the K3 keyer is expecting the dot after a dash to be keyed during the dash down time (or so close after that the timing becomes to critical). AS IF SQUEEZE mode was still possible. The end result is that instead of using the large muscle "slap" style that makes the single lever paddle so easy you must use the tiny finger movements of an iambic paddle with the same kind of light touch and small movements in order to get the inter character spacing correct! I was glad to see comments reflecting this "problem" in the responses to this thread. I hope that firmware will correct this soon. Right now I am getting better with my straight key than I am with my Kent paddle! Referring to the comments by Don W3FPR, yes you can use an iambic paddle as a single lever paddle by choosing Ultimatic mode but you also can just not squeeze. The difference for me was that the single lever Kent paddle has a different feel. Even using my Bencher in Ultimatic mode or just NOT squeezing I still made mistakes because of the small muscle precision required. With the Kent paddle, the spacing can be opened up and the tension increased and this combined with the fact that you can use your arm/shoulder (i.e. large) muscles to do the work rather that the tip of your fingers and thumbs and wrist (i.e. small muscles)to key. BTW, the very high speed cw ops use single lever paddles because the tiny movements of iambic keyers cannot be controlled well at high speeds. Last, but not least, the Kent paddle is heavy and stays put and looks good. If I had the money I might bought a Bengali single lever paddle but I got the Kent by making an offer lower than the buy it now price on an eBay auction that was accepted!!!! Jack AE6GC KX1 1403, K3 1433. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Don Wilhelm Sent: Monday, August 25, 2008 7:44 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] WTB - Kent single lever paddle Ralph, I do not have a single lever paddle for sale, but I suffer from similar problems. If you cannot find a decent single lever paddle at a price your ham budget can afford (the Bengali is outside my price range), I suggest that you try one of the K1EL keyers in Ultimatic mode - it works for me - it makes a standard paddle respond almost like a single lever paddle, press the dash and it gives dashes, press the dot and out comes a dit - it just feels right to my brain. I have been asking periodically that the Elecraft built-in keyers support Ultimatic mode for folks like us, but so far, it has been low on the priority list (but is not being ignored). 73, Don W3FPR _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
