This article answers the iambic question. Humorous and instructive: http://www.morsex.com/pubs/iambicmyth.pdf
It's a fun skill, but saving nano-calories of effort is questionable for the majority of QSOs. You can use either a single paddle or dual paddle without using the squeeze method. I wouldn't even try learning it until I was competent with a paddle without it. Once you are competent with any paddle, you will find it takes little effort to become accustomed to another. In fact, you will be surprised at how easily you can send either right to left handed or vice versa with little practice. And once you're competent with a paddle, a week or so of practice and you can handle a bug. A bug isn't more difficult. It's just asymmetrical which takes some retraining. Once you are competent with that, you can handle just about anything you want to play with interchangeably. I have more than a dozen different straight keys, bugs and paddles which I quick-change frequently. Sometimes during a QSO. Sort of OT: The W6SFM Bug Roundup is Nov 17-19, next weekend. Its a bug-only version of Straight Key Night. I'll be there with my Drake 2B, Viking Ranger and homebrew left-handed bug (photo on QRZ.com). Eric KE6US On 11/9/2017 6:14 AM, JEROME SODUS wrote: Hello, I'm a "no-code-ham" determined to become a "know-code-ham" and so have signed up to a course by CWops. They require a paddle for sending practice since lessons will be done at 20-wpm. Having researched the topic of 'paddles' and from that effort, I think that a single paddle might work best for me. Here are the negative items which helped form that opinion: 1. a comment that regular practice is needed to maintain competence with a dual-paddle, 2. iambic-a or iambic-b just seem physically complicated. In reading my KX3-manual and Fred-KE7X's book, it seems to me that the KXPD3 is capable of only dual-paddle operating. Or have I missed something? I understand that my KX3 has a second port for an external key (I presume a single-paddle). In the past, I recall seeing photos of hams working KX3-portable with a straight-key but, at those times, I did not pay attention if any had a paddle. TIA for any reply. 73 Jerry KM3K ______________________________________________________________ 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]<mailto:[email protected]> . ______________________________________________________________ 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]
