Well not being really old or really new to CW, I take a path of thought that has not been touched on, but trampled all around. I started on a J-38 and I like it and us to this day, but I really prefer my keyer and single lever paddle.
I started with the J-38 because that is all I had and keyers were out of sight for me financially. I learned CW with the J-38 but getting to 20 WPM was hard that way. I finally built the accu-keyer from the handbook and got together the money for a Vibroplex paddle. It was single lever because the dual-lever stuff didn't exist at the time.
Things happened and I tried the another keyer and dual-lever and never seemed to get the command of CW like I had with the first keyer and single-lever paddle. I tried another keyer or two loaned by others who left CW and had become phone only or near only ops. I found each keyer did things a little differently and each time I had some relearning to do. During this time I had a burglary and my single-lever was among the missing and the dual-lever was the in thing. I got a new keyer and a dual-leveler paddle. I tried and I tried squeeze paddles and I just had too many CW habits by then. I just started using the dual-lever paddles as if they were single-lever ones and the world got pretty good.
I also used a variety of rigs with built in keyers and each one seemed to have different charismatics and different things that could be set. I'd have to spend time with each rig to get it to my settings. This was all a pain in my sitting down spot. So I decided to solve that problem once and for all.
I decided on one keyer (Super CMOS III Memory Keyer kit version) and one paddle (Single-lever Kent). I just use that combo and set the rig I chose to use for a straight key and go to work. There is no fooling around with settings and I am always in familiar territory.
The moral of the story is you tend to like what you first learn. With that in mind, I'd pick one set-up I think would be around for a really long time or one you could maintain and go with that one. Mine has become the Super CMOS keyer and the single-lever Kent.
I use it on all of my rigs. For special events I still use the J-38 when I play SK-night and SKCC or FISTS games, all the rest get the Super CMOS Keyer and Kent single-lever combo.
Regards & 73, Terry, KQ5U ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to [email protected]
