okay so ive been putting off learning CW for about three years now and i finally sat down and bought a cheap paddle off ebay and a MFJ keyer to go with my radio. been using the built in keyer on my IC-7300 actually but figured the external unit might give me more control over the timing.

anyway my problem is the dits and dahs feel really inconsistent when i send. like sometimes a dit sounds perfect and then the next one is either way too short or gets swallowed. i have the speed set to about 12 wpm which i thought would be slower enough to feel comfortable but im still stumbling all over myself. is this a paddle tension thing? a timing adjustment on the keyer? honestly i dont even know where to start troubleshooting this. my elmer back in the day just said practice practice practice but that doesnt tell me much when i dont know if my technique is actually wrong or if something needs adjusting on the hardware side.

also should i even bother with an external keyer or just stick with whats built into the 7300? not sure if that matters for a beginner.

the inconsistency you're describing at that speed is almost definitely paddle tension and your grip, not the keyer itself. most cheap paddles come from the factory way too loose and people dont realize how much that affects feel. try tightening the tension screws just a tiny bit at a time until you feel a definite spring-back when you release a contact. if the paddle feels mushy at all thats your problem right there.

also gap adjustment matters a lot more than people give it credit for. the contact gap should be just barely there, like a piece of paper thickness or so. too wide and youre working too hard to close the contact, which throws off your rhythm.

as for the 7300 keyer vs external, honestly the built in one is totally fine for learning. MFJ keyers are okay but i wouldnt say they're a huge upgrade over whats already in the radio. save your money and spend the time on paddle technique instead. 12 wpm is a perfectly reasonable learning speed, just dont rush it and try to copy what you send in your head as you send it, that helps a lot with timing consistency.

ha i went through exactly this same thing about a year ago. what actually helped me the most was slowing waaay down, like 8 or even 6 wpm, until every single character felt clean and deliberate. then creeping the speed up just one or two wpm at a time. it felt painfully slow but my fist got so much cleaner doing it that way.

oh and i found that practicing sending actual words instead of random characters made a huge difference too. something about knowing what letter is coming next lets you relax your hand instead of tensing up waiting for the next motion. my sending sounded terrible when i was tense lol. anyway stick with it, first QSO in CW is genuinely one of the better moments in this hobby