A short video outlining some simple warm up exercises you can include at the start of your Morse practice routine to help iron out some of those bad habits. If you keep tapping the levers instead of holding them closed, perhaps this is for you. 73 de OE6FEG/M0FEU Matt
I love this! But on a side note, I can't help but think of Ed Norton playing Suwanee River on the piano.
New whats the box on the left of the padde? modulated cw trasmitter ? http://www.morserino.info/morserino-32.html
The warm up routine is not a bad idea. May I suggest a little better posture of the hand. Rather than fingers being so far away where you end up having to swing and slap the paddles...keep the thumb and finger up to the paddle at all time where they are just barley touching and then the most gentle squeeze makes for smooth comfortable operation.
Completely agree... in all types of keying I see people expending a lot of energy in being inefficient. My fingers never leave the paddles- it's supposed to be "squeeze keying" - thumb and forefinger. Your wrist or arm should never move and should be completely supported by the table. Even in straight keying- you see people who mount their key at the edge of the table and their whole arm is going up and down with their elbow floating in mid air. OMG, are you kidding me? I couldn't sustain that for more than about 2 minutes. I mean, to each his own- do what's comfortable for you. But when your whole arm is flapping in the breeze, don't complain that your keying is sloppy, slow, and your arm hurts! And the faster you go, the worse it will be!
Well, I have been sending CW at 25 to 35 wpm for 50 years. I don't do this folks. I press the paddles, I don't squeeze them. So, if this floats your boat, Mazel Tov! In ham radio there's always someone who has to complicate life. There might be some people who will find this an additional challenge to using a keyer. I don't find it necessary to send very accurate code and it's one more thing to learn. I have experimented with iambic sending and found it unnecessarily complicated for my style of Morse. I got a Vibroplex Champion bug when I was 13. (1963) I got the 25 WPM Code Proficiency Award that year by learning how to type on a Smith Corona. (big black typewriter with the distinctive return lever). This might explain why I never developed the habit of "squeezing" the paddle. I had to make dahs manually. Now I just hold the dah paddle for the appropriate amount of time and then press the dit paddle when appropriate . I have to get into a rhythm when I change speeds, but in a contest I send 22 to 24 wpm. I can copy 35 and send that fast as well but not everyone in a contest can copy that fast. So, if you're thinking of using a keyer, this iambic thing is optional. AF4RK American Freedom 4 Radio Kilowatts
Nice Video ! The musical aspect works for me - it is like playing an instrument.. GOOD CW has rhythm like music to me.. And it takes a good sense of rhythm to send well IMHO. I prefer a bug myself as that's what I used when young (13) and the muscle memory never went away... I found I could almost pick back up where I left off over 40 years ago. I can't seem to get the hang of keyer tho, maybe slowly.. Would like to get a Vibrokeyer so at least the handle is the same as my bugs... 73
