so ive been trying to learn CW for about 3 months now and i finally broke down and bought a decent set of paddles (Bencher BY-1) to go with my little Begali clone keyer i picked up used. the problem im running into is my dits and dahs are coming out kind of mushy? like not crisp at all. i've been playing with the speed and weight settings on the keyer but nothing feels quite right.

im currently practicing around 12-13 wpm using just code groups and some LCWO sessions but when i actually sit down and try to send anything real it all falls apart. like my brain knows what letter i want but my hand just isnt keeping up. does this get better or am i doing something fundamentally wrong with my technique? also not sure if my paddle tension is too loose, it feels pretty light right now.

any advice appreciated, been at this a while and starting to wonder if i should just go back to a straight key for a bit

the mushy timing thing is almost always the iambic mode and your keyer settings fighting each other. most beginners dont realize theres a huge difference between Mode A and Mode B on iambic keyers and one of them will absolutely wreck your timing if youre not used to it. try switching modes and see if it feels any different. also 12-13 wpm is kind of an awkward speed — you might actually do better bumping up to 15 and letting your brain catch up rather than slowing down and overthinking every element.

the straight key idea isnt a bad one honestly. a lot of old timers swear by going back to the bug or straight key when you feel like your fist is getting sloppy. builds up the muscle memory in a different way. but dont give up on the paddles just yet, the Bencher is a solid paddle and tension really does matter — i run mine pretty snug, tighter than most people would expect, just experiment with it.

oh man i went through this exact same thing last year. what helped me was just sending actual words i cared about instead of random code groups. like i started sending callsigns of people i knew, names of towns, whatever. something about having meaning attached to it made my hand and brain sync up better. might sound dumb but it worked for me. also the tension thing — yeah tighter than you think is usually better, at least thats what i found