Straight key or paddle for cold conditions?

[M1BUU]

Not like you to state it as it is!

Ha! Well it may be controversial but I also find that a number of straight key operators send some difficult to copy Morse. I listen out for SAQ every so often and the plain text message is sent with a straight key - the Morse that the usual operator sends is very easy to copy and yet you can still detect the ‘fist’, so it is possible to send good Morse on a straight key.

In the interest of being frank, I struggle with a straight key, I’ve very rarely used one. My Morse is pretty wobbly on a straight key.

I wear thin gloves for using my Pico Paddle in cold weather and I manage just fine.

73, Colin

[G8CPZ]

@G4OIG

I can use a paddle, but much prefer a straight key, in the shack and certainly on the hills. Morse with rhythm was the way I was taught and I’m much more proficient on a straight key.

Yes, I hear some excellent SK sending on air. I was very good when I first passed the test [the test examiner even complemented my fist]. But after I switched to iambic paddling my SK fist decayed. After ~15 years I bought a desktop SK then later a portable SK and have been working to restore my fist. Using a short-lever SK on summit is so much more effort than my heavy long-lever shack key (Kent Pro KT-1) on a nice firm bench. For a start, I have to SK very lightly on my thigh/knee-top ‘logging board’ to prevent the board/knees moving. Not a problem with the gentle side-to-side motion of the paddles.

@G4OIG

It helps to have some flexibility as to when the information is written down and storing it in my mind until it is convenient to pick up the pencil and get it down on paper is my method

I’ve recently started headcopy training again [I did it a few years ago but stopped]. I’m (subconsciously) transcribing most of what the chaser is sending me, which is making a mess of my log sheets. I hope my headcopying will be fast soon where I write only the stuff I need for the log (callsign, summit ref, etc). But I’m not going to second-guess on which overs I’ll need a pencil on my straight-key activations. Chasers will just have to be patient with my slightly longer response times.

@G4OIG

As for gloves / no gloves, my fingers are cold for most of the time anyway, even in summer, so it doesn’t make too much difference

Looking at your reflector photo, you look a lot younger than me. Cold fingers was less of a problem 20 years ago [albeit I wasn’t sitting in winter weather on mountain tops writing and sending Morse back then].

@M1BUU

I also find that a number of straight key operators send some difficult to copy Morse

Most I can cope with providing they don’t run their callsign characters together [mind you, a lot of high-speed paddle users do the same].

I sometimes have one chaser who I think probably has had a stroke and is struggling to operate the SK. I’m very patient and want a valid QSO with him but have to ask him to resend his callsign sometimes.

I remember one-valve-tx ‘chirp’ Morse was a bit weird. I like sideswipers (cooties) too - a bit like someone speaking with a strong accent.

[G4TGJ]

@M1BUU

Not like you to state it as it is!

Well I have lived in Yorkshire for more than 30 years.

@G4OIG

That’s a somewhat controversial statement

Just my opinion. It’s obvious you are using a straight key Gerald but I never have any trouble decoding it.

@G4OIG

plenty of absolutely dire morse obviously sent using paddles

That is certainly true. They are usually trying to send faster than their competency level.

@G8CPZ

pencil / key swap-over problem

I hold the paddle with my left hand and key with the right while holding the pen. And then write in the log. I don’t need to swap or be ambidextrous.

[WB6BYU]

@G8CPZ

does it look like a young child’s writing?

Those who have had to transcribe my log sheets have complemented on the readability, especially compared to some other operators. Because the pencil is held against the forefinger when writing, it actually works pretty well. (I learned that technique when I had a sprained thumb in school, and couldn’t hold the pen in the normal manner.)