Back in the day I used relatively fast dots so I could vary my speed without readjusting the weights on the vibrating arm. Dunno whether they were 40 wpm dots or, more likely, somewhat slower than that. And I didn't know that was called a "Lake Erie Swing."
73, /Rick N6XI On Fri, Jul 4, 2014 at 1:57 PM, EricJ <eric_c...@hotmail.com> wrote: > I wouldn't intentionally develop an idiosyncratic fist to make me stand > out, but in the 60's I could identify all of my regular on the air ham > friends by their individual fists without every hearing a call. > > The main characteristic of the Lake Erie swing was dots send at about 40 > wpm and dashes at whatever the op chose. It was easy to send very fast dots > with a bug (being automatic!), but dashes were much slower for most > operators. I think the rationale was the 40 wpm dots brought the overall > speed up, even though the op was still sending dashes at a lower capability. > > Eventually, though, I think the LE swing just became a dialect that > propagated through a particular set of operators (Erie Canal for LE swing > and marine ops for banana boat swing?), and spread from there. It may not > even have been any more efficient--it was just the way you sent in a > particular group to identify yourself and be accepted. The same way that > non-Southerners start using y'all all over the place an hour after they > land at a Southern airport. > > I don't have a K3, so I don't know if it can be set up to replicate an LE > swing. It could if you can independently vary the speed of dots and dashes. > You wouldn't have the sometimes difficult corruption of random extra dots > and weird variations in dash length, but you could have the best of LE > swing which was the lilt and charm of the faster dots. If I were to try it, > I'd probably set dash length to 20 wpm equivalent and dot to 40 wpm. It > would be fun to try, but not everyone likes to hear a Lake Erie swing--or > Southern accents for that matter. > > Eric > KE6US > > > > > On 7/4/2014 1:23 PM, Dauer, Edward wrote: > >> Eric -- >> >> Thanks for sharing the recordings. I've heard fists somewhat like that >> but none quite so distinctive. I tried to figure out what makes the swing >> sound the way it does. I don't have a scope or any other device to >> visualize or capture it, so this is just by ear - it seems that his dahs >> are much more than three times as long as his dits, and that the leading >> dah in a character that begins with a dah is longer than the following >> dahs. Maybe someone with the right equipment (and the time to spend on >> it) could do a better analysis. I would be interesting to know. >> >> Both the K3 and the KX3 allow for some personalization (as do many other >> rigs), by changing the weight ratios -- i.e. the ratios of dit length to >> dah length and of the element length to the inter-element spacing. There >> may be other variables in the F/W as well that I haven't looked at. I >> have never played with it, being an old stick-in-the-mud 3:1 curmudgeon; >> but I've wondered whether an idiosyncratic weighting would help make a >> signal stand out in a pile-up or make for better copy in the QRM . . . >> Anyone know? >> >> Ted, KN1CBR >> >> >> >>> ------------------------------ >>> >>> Message: 29 >>> Date: Fri, 4 Jul 2014 12:39:43 -0700 >>> From: EricJ <eric_c...@hotmail.com> >>> To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net >>> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] [OT] Jim's Dot Stabilizer >>> Message-ID: <blu436-smtp8155203c73c82aaa50d1b38e...@phx.gbl> >>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"; format=flowed >>> >>> Here's a couple of recordings of W0BMU and the Lake Erie swing that Buzz >>> mentions. Listen online or d/l them. The bands used to be full of >>> interesting and quirky fists and styles like this. Not unlike speech >>> patterns some were quite beautiful, some were in-your-face obnoxious. >>> That was before non-meat code readers and (gakk!) keyboards. >>> >>> I always thought the Lake Erie swing was easy to copy in the speed range >>> of most ham QSOs. It has an informal chatty feel to it. >>> >>> Anyway, for those who want to remember and for those who never knew: >>> >>> https://archive.org/details/W0bmuHowardtexHarveyW0bmu >>> >>> Eric >>> KE6US >>> >>> >>> >>> ______________________________________________________________ >> 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 eric_c...@hotmail.com >> >> >> > ______________________________________________________________ > 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 rta...@gmail.com > -- Rick Tavan N6XI Truckee, CA ______________________________________________________________ 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
