Vibroplex Iambic Paddle

[KC2PFV]

Hi,

Well in an effort to devote myself to CW, I purchased a Vibroplex Square Racer Iambic Paddle Key today for $126. So I don't think anyone can say that new hams aren't interested in learning CW and increasing their speed. Well, of course I am already a 5 WPM General, but I have a question concerning the new key.

I am finding it very hard to get used to switching from a straight key to the iambic paddle. I send at around 7-9 WPM, and I have a near perfect fist on the straight key, but I'm not doing so well on the Vibroplex. Is this normal? I haven't had a QSO with it yet because I'm still trying to figure out how to adjust it, and like I said I'm mess with it right now and I don't want to be a lid on the air. How much "give" is there supposed to be with it? Right now, the way I have it setup leaves about the thickness of a piece of paper between the contacts, is this good? What is the correct size for the gap between the contacts? The paddles barely move when I send.

The instructions that Vibroplex provided are kind of confusing for a new op who doesn't have any experience with anything besides a straight key, let alone much CW experience. If someone has an Iambic Paddle, can you please explain how all the settings work? This version has "magnetic" movements. Also, one more question. When using a paddle, are my fingers supposed to rest on the paddles at all times or am I supposed to lift them when not sending? I know these sound like stupid questions, but I am very eager to try this key out on the air, and I don't know how to properly set it up.

CW is a great mode, and this purchase pretty much gave me the motivation to increase my speed even more.. It looks so damn cool compared to my old HAM-KEY straight key. I invested a good amount of my pay for this key, being only 17 years old, so I hope I can get this to work good.


Thanks for the help,

73 de TOM KC2PFV

[WB7DMX]

make yourself a code practice oscillator and connect the paddles to it so you can practice without going on the air.

and yes it will take a lot of practice to get used to using it after using a straight key only for a long time.

I am having the same problem with mine, well not exactly the same.

I bought a used bencher key several years ago, also built several solid state keyers just for the fun of it,
I am having the same problem relearning to send cw with it,
I have never been on the air with the bencher paddles as I am not good enough with it as yet, still working with it and my code practice oscillator.

keep up the good work and practice, practice and more practice, is the best advice I can give you.

[AG3Y]

I have been trying to get back on CW following a nearly fatal car accident that pretty much messed up my right hand. I have a Ham-Key™ iambic paddle that needed some judicious sanding and filing in order to get it to work smoothly, and I am sure that it will never be as smooth as your deluxe setup, there. I envy you!

I would advise you to start with rather wide spacing between the paddle arms and the fixed contacts, along with a fairly high tension on the arms. This will allow you to really feel the movement and the actual contact as the points are closed. Using about a 16th of an inch between the contact points is really not excessive when first trying to get used to paddles. This will be a lot like the spacing on a straight key, and will make the transistion to paddles easier. You can "slap" the paddles from side to side to form each element, but DO try to learn to use the iambic feature that you posess. In other words, the letter "C" can be sent two different ways, 1) by touching the dash, dot, dash, dot contacts in succession, or 2) by touching the dash contact first, then closing the dot contact and holding both of them together until the remaining dots and dashes are completed. It may seem like a minor point at less than 10 wpm, but when you get up to above 20, you will thank me!

Set your weighting a bit on the light side, which is to say that the dots are shorter than the standard 3:1 ratio. This will sound better and more distinct to the ear when sending at a slower speed. You will be able to adjust back to the "standard" as your speed builds to somewhere around 15-20 wpm.

This should get you started. Try sending into code reading software such as "CWGet"™ and see how it looks on the screen. When you can read your own sending, you will be making progress! Also make recordings of your sending, and see if you can read it back at a later time.

Good luck, hope to work you on the air some day, soon.

73, Jim

[K7MH]

I have the Brass Racer Iambic which is the same just not square. I like it better than others I have had and tried.
I set the contacts like you do points on a dristributor, with a feeler guage, so they are the same. Set the magnets in the same way. Also it helps to get the depth of the contacts the same so everything is aligned. Eventually you will get it all adjusted right for you. You may for instance, want more contact gap or more magnet pull, on one side than the other. Start with a wider gap (maybe set with a matchbook cover) than you might like and make it smaller as you play with it. The amount of "give" is what you are comfortable with and works without giving you extra dits or dahs because you can't let up fast enough. You will probably want the gap set closer as you get faster. Some people do prefer a single lever paddle over an iambic one. I tend to use mine like a single lever paddle. When I used to contest a lot, I was more comfortable with it and sent faster with it, so used the iambic properties more back then. A single lever paddle is probably easier to get started with. You can carefully wedge something between the paddles and use it that way too. If it moves around on the desk like mine does,
clean the feet off. I added some steelhead fishing weight (long, rolled round, about 1/4" diameter, kind of like a solid drinking straw) around the perimeter of the inside of mine to help keep it from walking on me. Mine is actually an old Carson EK-1 which is what they were before Vibroplex started making them. As a result, mine has set screws to hold the magnets in place. I never understood why Vibroplex didn't continue that when they took over production. If it is a problem that the magnets do not stay in place, you can go to a hardware store and get a couple very small o-ring washers and stretch them over the brass magnet housing on the backside of the paddles pushing the o-ring up against the vertical block the magnets adjust through. You can use a dab of clear nail polish I suppose but that could mess up the finish.
I have had a few other paddles come and go but I always kept this one. I also have a Vibroplex Iambic Deluxe (chrome) set of paddles but I still like the brass one better. I think I like the feel of the magnets better than the springs is why. #

[KE5FRF]

I'll echo what the others have said.

And add a few things that I have discovered.
First, I think Jim is spot on when he advises a little more gap in your contacts. At slow speeds, you have PLENTY of time to get that paddle moved to where you need it to go. The nano-fraction of a gap that some ops set is for super hi speeds where they have the a light touch to their fist and transition very quickly from dit to dah. For speeds lower than 30 WPM I don't think there is much to be gained by setting the contacts real close. I also agree with Jim that feeling the feedback of the contact will help you develop your fist and help you learn the timing. There should be a little "give" to the finger piece has you make the contact, almost like a shock absorber effect, at least, thats what it feels like to me.

Most of all, though, is to keep at it. You'll find a comfort zone, believe me. Lately, I have been practicing sending in "bug mode" on my keyer. This is basically a simulation of the old style vibroplex bugs with the mechanical spring loaded "dits" and the manual dahs. Of course, instead of a mechanical action, the electronic keyer forms the dits, but the op has to manually form the dahs. Anyway, I have been transitioning from iambic, to bug mode, and even to straight key, and I know exactly what you are talking about. It takes some doing to train your mind and your hand to handle the transition!

Another think you might try, if your keyer can be manipulated, is to try changing modes from A to B or to ultimatic. You might find one or the other produces less mistakes.

BTW, I don't think I've had a QSO with anyone using paddles that didn't have a mistake in there somewhere, me or the other op. Its the nature of the beast with automatic keying. At slow speeds, you will find your fingers are to "quick on the trigger" soemtimes and you will let go too fast and drops dits. At higher speeds, you'll find you do both, either hold it too long or too short, and mistakes will creep in on the dah side too. And I swaer, sometimes I think I could have a precision robotic finger manipulating the key and still extra dits would creep in every now and then!

Oh, and another few suggestions...A lot of it has to do with the key walking, or with your arm position. You'll find a comfortable, consistant angle to work the key, and you'll find when you change your angle or the key moves, that your errors will increase.

Anything else comes to mind to ask?

[AG3Y]

MH , I don't remember the key being called a "Carson EK-1" but I DO remember that it was called the "Scotia Brass Racer" I can remember wanting one so much, but never forking out the dough to purchase one. Then Vibroplex came out with the key in both the original triangular base, and the rectangle base, both of them made of wood, if I remember correctly.

I also cannot figure out why Vibroplex would have removed the setscrews. Maybe they figured that it ruined the "appearance" or something. Well, setscrews do certainly make a setting more permanent!

The work I did on my Ham-Key was to file away some of the excess plastic under the upper pivot supports so as to give more clearance to the paddle pivots. I also sprayed some silicon into the pivots to make them smoother, and enlarged the pivot holes just a miniscule amount so that the plastic wasn't binding the arms. The difference in the resulting "feel" of the key is phenomenal ! Previously the arms were somewhat sluggish and uncertain, but now they almost "snap" between open and closed contacts.

The biggest problem with the Ham-Key iambic is the plastic that makes up a large portion of the construction. I much prefer an all-steel key such as the Vibroplex Iambic, which is basically a modified "Original" .

73, Jim

[KC2PFV]

Hi,

Thanks for the replies. I took your recommendations and set the key to a wider gap, boy has it really increased the usability of the key. I think I went from being a 2 on a 1 to 10 scale to a 7 or 8 in terms of accuracy with the new key. Hell, I can even do 20+ WPM accurately, according to CW GET. That is pretty cool!

I just practiced with it for a little while with my ICOM 746PRO , not TXing just sending sentences, words and callsigns to myself... Kind of like what I did for hours on end to "perfect" myself with the straight key. I guess it just takes practice. I really like this new key though. Your help really did help me, because I was lost as to what setting I should have used, and now it is night and day compared to when I first posted this thread.

Any other recommendations would be greatly appreciated. It's going to be a couple days before I try it out on the air, or maybe longer... I don't want to make someone have to struggle to copy me.

Thanks guys,

73 de TOM KC2PFV

[AB9LZ]

Quote[/b] (KC2PFV @ Jan. 28 2007,00:10)]Hi,

Thanks for the replies. I took your recommendations and set the key to a wider gap, boy has it really increased the usability of the key. I think I went from being a 2 on a 1 to 10 scale to a 7 or 8 in terms of accuracy with the new key. Hell, I can even do 20+ WPM accurately, according to CW GET. That is pretty cool!

I just practiced with it for a little while with my ICOM 746PRO , not TXing just sending sentences, words and callsigns to myself... Kind of like what I did for hours on end to "perfect" myself with the straight key. I guess it just takes practice. I really like this new key though. Your help really did help me, because I was lost as to what setting I should have used, and now it is night and day compared to when I first posted this thread.

Any other recommendations would be greatly appreciated. It's going to be a couple days before I try it out on the air, or maybe longer... I don't want to make someone have to struggle to copy me.

Thanks guys,

73 de TOM KC2PFV

In the heat of the QSO many op's forget the most important character in morse, the space.... keep that one in mind, and don't worry too much about mistakes, guys that have been doing this for 20 years still bungle up every once in a while. Perfect sending from guys like you and I, while appreciated, isn't expected. In short just get on the air and make contacts, If you are having a hard time keeping up, just send QRS and folks will dial down the speed to match yours.

It seems that the keys with squishy feels (like the Benchers) do well with a bigger contact spacing, mine has no give whatsoever and benefits from the feeler gauge treatment, I set mine to .005 with a stiff spring, which gives me a nice tactile "click".

For me, sending is the easy part, copying all of the different sending styles (especially that one particular style that forgoes the use of the space ; ) ) along with the noise, horrible band conditions and homemade radios pose a far bigger challenge. Again the only way to "practice" is by actually doing it for real.

Hope to work you soon, can be found most weekends in the bottom 50 of any band that's open.

73 Mark.

[K7MH]

Hey AG3Y,

Mine is actually the Carson, and with the keyer built in it was $129 new, before Vibroplex put it out. I may very well still have the receipt. Could be the "Scotia Brass Racer" was in between there somewhere or before Carson. I had a Vibroplex also at one time so switched the bases and put the Carson EK-1 (Electronic Keyer with the Curtis chip) electronics assembly (which was inside the wood base) under the Vibroplex paddles and later sold that one. I wanted to keep the Carson paddles as there is a set screw that you adjust the magnets with. Don't understand why Vibroplex didn't keep that adjustment!! A good mod would be to have a machinist drill and tap over the magnets so you can do the same.

[WA2ZDY]

My only comment is this: keep practicing and getting on the air. Improvement will come automatically.