Hi all, Thanks for the cleaning-the-contacts suggestions; they were indeed tarnished and had some deposits. This paddle seems to be a bit on the old side. I bought it on a whim on eBay when I was first licensed four years ago.
It actually is one of the old combination units from MFJ that had the MFJ keyer piggy-backed onto the paddle. I thought it would be a good way to practice code as I didn't have a radio at the time. I've since removed the keyer and now use the paddle with the keyer built into my FT-950. Cleaning and realigning the contacts has helped and I finally figured out the adjustments that control the spring tension. There is not much adjustment range, but it was enough to remove some of the required pressure and my sending has improved. Curiously, I have the paddle now set at near the minimum tension. One of the students in my class has an interesting paddle. It's a capacitance paddle. The paddles are fixed and do not move; simply placing your thumb or finger on a paddle triggers a dit or a dah. My experience with my Bencher may suggest that I prefer a light touch. Anyone have any experience with these capacitance paddles? 73, -- /*/-=[Michael / KT5MR]-=/*/
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