Thinking in https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/vib-iambic-g
However I will take Advises, All are very Welcome....
Thank you!
George, YV5WZ / PY3ZZZ
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Posted 2 years ago
- 416 Posts
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- 583 Posts
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Or any of the Begali paddles http://www.i2rtf.com/
KF4HR
- 415 Posts
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I appreciate your advise...I will look both...;-)
George, YV5WZ / PY3ZZZ
Chris Tate - N6WM, Elmer
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- 56 Posts
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And if you want to spend a lot of money, haha, there's:
http://www.arrl.org/shop/ARRL-Begali-Key/?quantity=1 Engraved with your call sign and everything.
- 817 Posts
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The Bencher looks good and isn't a bad set of paddles but it's in a different class. Great first set of paddles and in the end it's all about the feel. In my case the spring kind of changed over time and things didn't feel quite as precise after a couple of years of banging on it.
Very much a shot in the dark. With keys, I think aesthetics is important. It is a centerpiece item in a shack. The feel is something you get used to and comfortable with over time. Or not, and you try another.
- 109 Posts
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George, so good to hear of someone wanting to try CW. I have a mic (don't ask me to find it though), dabble in digital, but love CW. As one poster has already said - you do not need the fanciest and most expensive key to make pretty CW! But, a good key becomes the heart of your shack if you love CW (outside of the Flex of course). I have a Brown Brothers iambic key from sometime in the 70s. Have never wanted anything else, Guess they are long gone, but there are a couple on sale on eBay - one is the model with paddles and a straight key mounted on same base.
Best of luck with your CW adventure. Look forward to a QSO with you!
73, Tom
K1FR
- 1148 Posts
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Also as a CW newbie, I strongly suggest you invest both in a paddle, but a straight key too. There are times it is just fun to send it yourself.
http://www.i2rtf.com/html/keys_paddles.html
- 437 Posts
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Have fun ... watch your spacing.
W7NGA dan
Seaside, Oregon
- 415 Posts
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73
George, YV5WZ / PY3ZZZ
- 623 Posts
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If you really get into CW, be in contesting or ragchewing, a quality set of paddles will reduce fatigue and errors.
- 415 Posts
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To tell the true I'm not planning to go CW contesting, probably ragchewing or Dx chase. I take your words "a Rolex when a Timex will tell time just as well"
73
George, YV5WZ / PY3ZZZ
- 437 Posts
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Keep in mind that CW isn't for everybody. You might just find your monies could be better spent somewhere else.
- 25 Posts
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Good luck with CW,
73 de K5HP
- 415 Posts
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I like your life philosophy, I try to do it in my life......maybe I'm beginning late in life to deep my knowlege about CW......in spanish we say "nunca es tarde"....so I will try to recall my roots from when I became a HAM ....:) some years ago
Thank you
73
George, YV5WZ / PY3ZZZ
Lee, Elmer
- 677 Posts
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I'm a fan of single lever paddles as opposed to iambic. Single levers have less degree of freedom in their movement and are less prone to mistakes in sending. Of all the high speed ops I know virtually all use single lever. The old wives tail that iambic is less work is nonsense. I enjoy hour long QSO's all the time and I'm never tired. I'm far more worried about accurate sending.
I own 2 Begali paddles and they are absolutely beautiful but I think N3ZN paddles send better code especially the single lever versions, just my opinion. You can read about N3ZN paddles in the eham reviews. I have a SLR and a ZN-SL1 by N3ZN. My SL1 was the first single lever he ever made and was made to my spec, and it turned out great. Tony N3ZN is a master machinist. Vibroplex makes an excellent single lever if it's adjusted correctly. I ran one of those at field day adjusted by a 90 year old ham who knew how to do it, and it played like butter.
My latest paddle is a single lever by 9A5N and it uses a MEM device and a micro-controller as they keying element. It is amazing. It is not a capacitive element. Mine was custom built by Neno to my spec. I added a custom wooden finger piece from Sal IK1OJM and I couldn't be happier. I delight in using this paddle every day. Just some alternative ideas to think about. Good luck in your CW adventure with your new Flex radio! It's a great CW radio. You'll have a blast!
73 W9OY
- 25 Posts
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73, Monk
- 426 Posts
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So much agree with the single paddle comments, and here is why at over 25WPM a single paddle (non iambic) is the way to go. Muscle memory!
A single lever paddle is stroked not pushed; if starting out concentrate on the stroke, the length of which determines how many dots or dashes are sent. An Iambic is almost always a push action and very quickly muscle memory comes into play making it quite difficult to use.
My paddle, from the '60s, is a chopped up chrome plated bug with a highly varnished wood handle about 1/2 inch thick. I carry it when guest operating. Second choice a single paddle commercial, and way down the list a Begali iambic, very nice feel but iambic.
Save your money and find a good hand key (remember to key from above the wrist not the fingers) and a wider handle single lever paddle. Good luck
- 437 Posts
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- 1146 Posts
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I have a "Begali" iambic paddle. It was me that spelled it wrong above. For some reason I have Bengalli stuck in my mind...
Anyway I read all the comments here about single lever and speed ops using them. I realized while I have the ability for iambic I really use my paddle like a single level as I've never really mastered iambic skills. Granted it's not a true single lever but it is funny I kind of use it like one.
Anyway to the original poster:
I recommended the Begali just because your first entry into CW should be a good one. Yes you can eBay a key and frankly like me I sent my first novice CW message just touching the wires together as I waited for my local radio store to get in a key.
You can go cheap, you can by a timex and be totally in sync time wise. All will work. It is really your choice what you desire.
I just know this: When I decided to get back into CW after quite a few years I bought a junky paddle from MFJ. I could not keep it adjusted. It seemed cheaply made, I just had nothing but trouble and went back to using keyboard CW from SmartSDR.
Then last Christmas I ordered and received the Begali paddle. I actually look forward to using it now! In fact I had so much fun with it I ordered a nicely machined straight key.
I also looked at it this way:
My radio cost over $2k
Cables, antennas, more money, about $500
Amp, $3.2k
So why would I cheap out on my primary interface to the radio?
Just my 2c
- 623 Posts
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Code seemed to come natural for me, probably because I started as a kid. In the Navy, I was a code instructor teaching Morse to operators who would only need to receive. I was one of the rare intercept operators who also knew how to send using a variety of instruments, be in J38, bug, or electronic keyer (the big ol' giant Hallicrafters job with a bunch of vacuum tubes).
One of the skills I developed from listening to foreign military and commercial communications was to identify an operator based solely on how his Morse sounded; his fist if he were using a straight key or a bug, or other characteristics if he were using electronic keying. This came in handy for communications intelligence purposes.
I love using a keyer but I hate keyboard Morse. I guess it reminds me somewhat of being in an Internet chat room without the quiet. As I remind my grand kids, CW was the first digital mode and also the first method of text messaging - and we didn't need a century of technical evolution to make it happen.
Steve
- 819 Posts
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Iambic vs. Single? Iambic for me. Character and inter-element spacing are more consistent. For me, Iambic was a natural while a single paddle trips me up every time. My suggestion... try both and stick with the one that feels natural to you and then excel at it.
Paddles before Straight Key? I love my straight key and bug (both Begali) but I really wish I had started out with paddles and learned the other two later. I'm not sure it makes much of a difference really as it is all about what you want out of CW but starting with paddles basically gets you started where others hope to end up. I'm an SKCC member and definitely hope you'll pick up a Straight Key or bug but for day-to-day use consider the advantages of paddles.
See you on CW!
73,
Kev K4VD
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In the late 1980s I had a 20M CW QSO with N2DAN, and he convinced me to try his magnetic Mercury iambic paddle. I have not looked back since that day, but I have bought more magnetic paddles since that time. I now own the following magnetic paddles ...
1. The original N2DAN Mercury magnetic iambic paddle
2. The Hensley magnetic iambic paddle
3. The Begali Signature magnetic iambic paddle
4. The N3ZN ZN-SL magnetic single lever paddle
First of all, for sheer beauty, the Mercury and the Hensley are in a class by themselves. Unfortunately, they are more difficult to set up than the Begali and the N3ZN key because of the lower TPI (turns per inch) of their set screws . For ease of set up, I consider the Begali and the N3ZN keys to be about equal.
For as long as I can remember, I used iambic keys, but did not use iambic keying modes. It finally dawned on me that my keying errors could be due to the fact that I was using a dual lever iambic key in a non-iambic keying mode. In other words, my 70 year-old hand-wrist-finger proprioception is not what it used to be, and it only takes a twitch or two of a finger or thumb at 35 wpm to make keying errors rise. So I bought one of N3ZN's single lever keys, and it surely did eliminate most of my keying errors. I guess the moral of this story is operating a dual lever iambic key with a single lever brain will give less than optimal results. The only downside is that my thumb and middle finger want to maintain that 5/8 of an inch separation from all the years of muscle memory. I am, however, planning the resolve that problem by gluing a Vibroplex knob onto the thumb side of the N3ZN single lever finger piece.
One other point about generating CW concerns the fixed 3.0 to 1 dash/dot ratio that is built into Flex SmartSDR, and other American made transceivers. 3.0 to 1 CW sounds robotic and can be fatiguing to copy. Long ago, Japanese transceivers introduced variable dash/dot ratio into their built-in keyers. This allows a musical swing to the CW at about 3.6 to 1 dash/dot ratio level, and for me and many others, creates a CW "fist" that is easier to send and easier to read. This feature is built into the microHam and the K1EL external keyers, but I am not sure about other keyers. If you are new to CW and use a hand key for any length of time, you will appreciate the musicality of variable dash/dot ratio when graduating to electronic keyers.
Long live CW!
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Duane, AC5AA
YV5WZ
I will look it....Appreciate your advise!!
George, YV5WZ / PY3ZZZ
Andrew Thall
73
Andy, k2oo