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Using an Iambic Paddle - N5DUX

K7QO Iambic sending Article1 Using an Iambic Paddleby Chuck Adams, K7 QORevised May 5, 2010 This article is for the use of Iambic paddles, paddles. Single lever paddlestake more mechanical motion and effort to sendthe Morse characters. I will prove this sending Morse at speeds greater than 20 WPM you will need something other than astraight key or you will become very tired andfrustrated. sending good code should be may or may not already have experiencesending Morse. If you do not, then let me per-sonally recommend that you start with an iambicpaddle and a keyer. Most modern commercialrigs and a number of QRP kits that I know ofhave a built-in electronic keyer. You should learnto make good use of it if you haven t let me take the bug (mechanical Paddle )people aside.

K7QO Iambic Sending Article 1 Using an Iambic Paddle by Chuck Adams, K7QO Revised May 5, 2010 This article is for the use of …

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Transcription of Using an Iambic Paddle - N5DUX

1 K7QO Iambic sending Article1 Using an Iambic Paddleby Chuck Adams, K7 QORevised May 5, 2010 This article is for the use of Iambic paddles, paddles. Single lever paddlestake more mechanical motion and effort to sendthe Morse characters. I will prove this sending Morse at speeds greater than 20 WPM you will need something other than astraight key or you will become very tired andfrustrated. sending good code should be may or may not already have experiencesending Morse. If you do not, then let me per-sonally recommend that you start with an iambicpaddle and a keyer. Most modern commercialrigs and a number of QRP kits that I know ofhave a built-in electronic keyer. You should learnto make good use of it if you haven t let me take the bug (mechanical Paddle )people aside.

2 You know that it takes a certainforce to hit the mechanical Paddle and get thelever that sends the dits to move and stay mov-ing long enough to get some number of dits. Youwill have to kill off the tendency that you haveto hit the Paddle with a lot of force. Be gen-tle, please. The following steps will help guideyou. Please bear with me. There are quite a fewdetails and try not to skip personal observations over the years atswapmeets, ham conventions, field day eventsand other ham gatherings I have noted that Icringe when I see a large number of individualsuse an Iambic Paddle . They slap the paddlearound like it was a bug. Just a light touch isall it takes if you have an Iambic Paddle adjustedcorrectly.

3 If the Paddle shifts on the table duringsending, then you are Using too much force. Ifyou are sending with one hand and holding thepaddle in place with the other, you are doing itwrong. The base of Paddle should not be movingon the desk or table. If it is, then you are notusing a gentle force on the paddles. The typicalpaddle has a mass around 2 kg or so and it takesa large force to move it. Take it easy. It isn tgoing anywhere on its let s begin. You will need the following items. an Iambic Paddle a keyer connecting cables phone book, dictionary, book or a s first have a look at your Paddle . Hope-fully you can find one used and get it at a goodprice, if you don t have one already.

4 I have man-aged to get Bencher paddles for less than $40at swapmeets on the last day when everyone isin a dealing mood and doesn t want to pack upall that stuff left over to take back home. Youknow the story, they were told not to come backhome with The paddles didn t lookpretty but I spent some elbow grease, paint re-mover, primer, and paint to get them lookinglike new a good look at the Paddle and note how allthe parts fit together. The Iambic Paddle has twoseparate movements and sets of contacts which Iwill call the left side and the right side. Note theadjustments for spacing on the contacts. Playwith the adjustments and see if they are cleanand operate in a smooth manner.

5 If you aremechanically inclined and working with a usedK7QO Iambic sending Article2paddle that needs some work, then take it apartand clean it up and put it back together. Takenotes before you take it apart. Keep a smallbox to hold all the parts cuz Ace Hardware andothers may not have a replacement part if youlose it or damage it in any way. There are manyearly Paddle manufacturers that are no longer inbusiness, and spare parts are almost impossibleto obtain. Use common sense on chemicals, this in one sitting if possible so you don t for-get how to reassemble the device correctly. Keepkids away from the parts unless you are showingthem what a wizard you are or teaching themhow to do some mechanical not use a file, fingernail file, sandpaper, orother abrasive material on the contacts.

6 I usea sheet of typing paper that I slide betweenthe contacts to clean them aperiodically. Thesulpher dioxide and other pollutants in the airtarnish the contacts and cause problems whilein use. The contacts are usually silver or goldplated. You do not want to remove the thin layerof plated material. Hopefully the contacts havenot been abused by previous owners if you work-ing with a used Paddle . We do need a paddlepolice force to prevent or reduce this that we have a working Paddle , hook it upto the keyer. I will assume that you are right-handed. Just reverse things for left-handed op-eration. You need a small cable that has twowires and a shield. It should be long enough toreach from where you will have the Paddle on theoperating desk to where you would like the keyeror rig to be.

7 I have used the audio output cablefound in CD drives for computers. It is smalland flexible. If you are lucky to have the manualfor the keyer, find out the connections needed tothe Paddle . The following connections are whatI used for the many keyers and my rigs. Hookthe left Paddle contact to the tip connection ofthe stereo plug; the right Paddle contact to thering connection of the stereo plug; and the shieldto the ground of the Paddle and to the groundconnection of the stereo plug. You need shieldedcable so that later when you connect this setupto a transmitter you will not have problems withRF getting into the keyer and causing it to up the keyer and see if touching the leftpaddle sends dits and the right Paddle sendsdahs.

8 If you have a keyer built into the rig, thenset the power output to the lowest level and usea dummy load. Historically the reason for thedits on the left Paddle and the dahs on the rightpaddle is due to the semi-automatic mechanicpaddle, bug, first being built in the con-figuration that gave dits with the left Paddle , number of people do it the opposite way andthat is fine. Just be prepared to be unable towalk up to any operating position and use theirsetup unless they have a keyer that will electron-ically switch to the opposite paddles for dits anddahs (reverse mode).OK, now first adjustments. Make sure that allthe adjustment components are aligned correctlyand ready to be adjusted.

9 With the keyer pow-ered on I take the adjustment on the dit contactclosure and move it to narrow the spacing untilcontact is made and the keyer starts sending acontinuous string of dits. Then I back off the ad-justment until the dits stop. This is just a smallportion of a turn on the typical Paddle . Don tmake the spacing too wide as I will explain in aminute. I find that a sheet of 20 pound typingpaper just barely fits and there is a slight amountof friction. That s how narrow it is when I makeK7QO Iambic sending Article3the adjustment. Now some people are going tocome along and suggest or demand that you usea wider spacing. I don t think so. If the paddlewill hold the adjustment and stop sending whenyou release pressure on the Paddle , then it is do the same thing on the opposite side forthe dah Paddle , and you are just about may be a tension adjustment for either aspring or springs or magnets.

10 Adjust this for theminimum tension you can get and still have thecontacts stay open after you release pressure oneither or both with the light touch and the narrow spac-ing, let s get down to some real exercises. Sitdown at the desk you will be Using and placeyour entire arm from the elbow to the wrist onthe table in a comfortable position. Some of youmay want your arm parallel to the edge of thedesk and some at an small angle. I don t thinkstraight into the desk is a good idea. You wantto be able to do this for hours on end later inyour CW career. Now point your index fingerstraight along the same direction as the rest ofthe arm. This is the direction I want your paddleto line up with the paddles towards your your thumb straight out and place thepaddle with the left Paddle just touching it.


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