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Warm up Exercises for Iambic Keying

Discussion in 'Amateur Radio News' started by M0FEU, Jan 19, 2020.

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  1. G0WXU

    G0WXU Ham Member QRZ Page

    As above. Completely agree. Could you imagine keying a straight key with the arm,elbow etc. moving when having to send a whole lot of traffic through the night in CW. No thank-you. One learns to send using the minimum of movement necessary. 73 de John - G0WXU. Ex. R. Signals Op.
     
    KA2IRQ likes this.
  2. GM4PSL

    GM4PSL Premium Subscriber QRZ Page

     
  3. GM4PSL

    GM4PSL Premium Subscriber QRZ Page

    I am not a high speed op, working maximum upper twenties in a sustained rag-chew. But even at this modest speed I simply cannot count dot or dash elements as you appear to do so well. What I can do though, for example, is send a letter T and insert a dot (an E, of course) ; send a M and insert an E ; send an O and insert an E...and so on. I am particularly keen to suggest this variation to any early-learning students of CW who wish to embrace your technique. This is in support of the classic learning approach of hearing sound patterns rather than counting elements, at any level of learning.
    Thank-you for an interesting video.

    Terry
    GM4PSL
     
  4. GM4PSL

    GM4PSL Premium Subscriber QRZ Page

    My apologies to KA2IRO for not adding to his comment, an error in composition.

    Terry
    GM4PSL
     
    KA2IRQ likes this.
  5. GM4PSL

    GM4PSL Premium Subscriber QRZ Page

    Sorry, KA2IRQ.
     
  6. M0FEU

    M0FEU Ham Member QRZ Page

    If you can already send at over 20 WPM then this warm-up routine is probably redundant. It is intended only for beginners and in particular, those beginners who have a tendency to let go of the paddles in the middle of letters rather than keeping them closed. In all honesty, that is only a small minority of learners. If you need to reduce the speed to 8 wpm, then you should do so. I would say that the emphasis should be on holding one lever permanently closed and tapping the other to insert dits. If I were to try to insert a dit in an O, then I would be sending either a Y or a Q; in other words, another letter. My warm-up routine deliberately seeks to get away from forming letters in order to address the basic movements involved in iambic keying. Certainly, there are other variations on what I do, if you can develop your own then great. Many learners take to the paddle intuitively. Perhaps they correspond to the so-called 'kinetic learner' type, as opposed to auditory or visual learner types. But anyone who has taught Morse will recognise that there is a variety of learner types and that some take to iambic keying more readily than others. Of course, if a person has a tendency to tap the paddles, that could also be because they started out on straight key, or that that their learner type would be better suited to a straight key; nothing wrong with that whatsoever. It all boils down to practice: at least half an hour a day.
    73 de OE6FEG / M0FEU
    Matt
     
  7. GM4PSL

    GM4PSL Premium Subscriber QRZ Page

    Thanks, Matt. All noted and valuable comment that you make regarding eclectic learning patterns across the student spectrum. I, now, grasp your emphasis on holding and squeezing paddles, in iambic keying, rather than tapping which might seem the appropriate thing to do to a new comer to iambic sending.

    Aside to full iambic sending, which your video focuses on, may I say, and for the benefit of twin-paddle new comers ,whereas twin-paddles are necessary to iambic sending, some operators use twin- paddles in a non-iambic fashion - that is they treat the twin-paddles as a single paddle where the latter is favoured by many including some of the CW speed merchants. Clearly, here, he option to insert or squeeze an opposite element is not available although it is still necessary to hold the appropriate paddle during character formation.

    I raise the latter point for good reason. One may adopt clear cut full iambic keying or single paddle non-iambic keying to suit there natural tendency,maybe having once experimented. My experience, when adopting twin-paddles some decades ago, found me taking well to using two paddles with a electronic-keyer capable of full iambic keying. That is, using iambic electronics would allow dot and dash insertion, unlike simpler keyers which generate dots and dashes with no insertion or squeezing option suitable for single-paddle operation, only. But, I had my own frustrations with iambic insertion or squeezing when generating certain characters, for me, notably F and R (insertion within a squeeze), and A and N (simply squeezed). I recall, for me, the problem became greater as speed increased and unbearable when I switched over to Class B from Class A iambic keying, the latter being a subtle but real difference that any student of iambic keying might like to be aware of. My solution, after much trying, was to become what I call a 'semi-iambic' operator where I use an iambic-keyer to the full to insert and squeeze appropriate characters except that I 'slap-out' the letters F R A and N, just the single paddle operator must do. Whereas the iambic purist may frown upon such practice, it has stood the test of time for me and, I know it has so, for many others, albeit maybe in some variant form.

    My comments, hopefully, prove useful and intended to be in support of Matt's methods and thoughts observed both in his video where he since discusses the scope of, and also make me give due consideration to, the natural learning tendencies of budding 'twin-paddlers' ' May I also highlight that, in isolation, there is no such beast as a set of 'iambic twin-paddles' but such can support iambic sending with the addition of an iambic keyer be it of hardware or software flavour. My discussion is not intended to encompass other forms of paddle keying, bug etc, other those stated. I do raise my hat to those expert operators' who demonstrate the ability to operate different types of paddle key, iambic, bug etc, with expertise, I consider my method as only one humble approach where I use only one type of key.

    Terry
    GM4PSL
     
  8. GM4PSL

    GM4PSL Premium Subscriber QRZ Page

    Correction to my last. The letter R can of course be squeezed in iambic fullness.

    Terry
    GM4PSL
     

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