Great stuff, Frank! Thanks...
My K2 has been keyed with either a Vibroplex standard or an E.F. Johnson
Speed-X bug for the past several years. The Speed-X I got in the 1950's when
I passed the 13 wpm code test for my General Class Ham license. The
Vibroplex was passed on to me by the widow of a good friend who had carried
it all over the world aboard ships.
I had used a keyer for over 20 years, starting with a homebrew CMOS
"Accu-keyer". After a few years I discovered that I could no longer use my
bugs. I had forgotten the timing and even 'froze' trying to make dashes. My
hand insisted on holding the paddle waiting for the key to make them for me!
Perhaps it made it worse that I was very facile using the squeeze or
"Iambic" mode with a keyer. I used to QSO with some O.T.s who, like me, had
commercial experience. One in particular kidded me about using my
"electronic brain" instead of a key. I took it in good nature, but I missed
using the bugs.
Then, one day, after an absence of months, I ran across that op again. His
fist sounded very strange. He explained, and apologized, that he was using a
keyboard. He had suffered a stroke and lost the fine motor control of his
hands needed to operate a bug. He was sending code now by poking at the
buttons on a keyboard.
That day I got out my bugs and began daily practice. In not too long I was
comfortable again to put them on the air, and they have been a source of
great enjoyment ever since. When I do switch to a keyer for the portability,
such as the one in my KX1, I'm careful to operate it just as I would a bug,
avoiding the tendency to let "it" start doing the work for me (although, of
course, it is. I just pretend that I have to make the dashes and insert the
right spaces ).
But the feel is totally different. A bug requires some force behind it
compared to paddles. No "light touch" there! One time just a few years ago I
sat down at a mill (an all-caps manual typewriter used to copy messages on a
commercial CW circuit) and thought it was broken! I hit the keys and nothing
happened. The problem was I was tapping them like I do a computer keyboard.
That wasn't enough force to move the keys at all on the mill! I had to act
like I was driving the keys through the desktop operate the machine, and I
was amazed that I had, years ago, done that for hours on end without
thinking about it. Compared to wiggling a modern set of paddles, operating a
bug is much like that. I've often warned new ops that using a bug is like
sending CW by wiggling a long stick with a heavy bucket of loose bolts on
the far end compared to using a modern set of paddles. But that doesn't mean
that it's not a worth-while or enjoyable skill to develop.
Some day I may be using a keyboard to send CW too. Some day I may not be
able to go jogging any more or have to give up climbing towers and masts or
doing a thousand other things I often take for granted. In the meantime,
I'll take the challenge of each activity as long as I'm able, including
operating a bug, and use it as a way to celebrate life itself.
Ron AC7AC
-Original Message-
For all those that are interested in using and adjusting Speed Keys for use
on the ham bands, I just finished a Journal about Speed Keys.
With pictures and descriptions of Speed Keys as well as other
interesting info on Telegraph Keys. With a large section on how to
properly adjust a speed key. It would be great too hear more of the
older speed keys on the ham bands :-) Frank W7IS
At the following link:
http://journals.aol.com/w7is/TELEGRAPHKEY/
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