so ive been at this for about three months now, got my general last spring and really wanted to learn CW properly. im using a cheap set of iambic paddles i picked up used and running them through the keyer built into my IC-7300. the problem is my sending just sounds... mushy? like the dits and dahs arent clean and when i listen back to recordings of myself it sounds nothing like the nice crisp code i hear from the guys on 40m at night.

ive messed with the weight setting a little bit and tried different speeds but im not sure if its a paddle adjustment thing or if im just not squeezing right. my elmer back when i was studying told me iambic mode B was what most people use but honestly i still dont fully understand the difference between mode A and B. been practicing with just my straight key too which feels more natural but i want to get comfortable with the paddles eventually. anyone deal with this early on?

yeah this is super common and honestly three months in and you're already self-critiquing your sending, that puts you ahead of a lot of people. the mushy sound is almost always a paddle tension/spacing issue first. the gap between the contacts should be really small, like paper-thin, and the spring tension should be light enough that a gentle squeeze closes it but firm enough that you're not accidentally triggering dits while moving around. a lot of used paddles come way out of adjustment and people just never bother.

on the mode A vs B thing — dont stress it too much at your stage. mode A just means when you release both paddles at the same time it stops at the end of whatever element was already in progress, mode B finishes one more element. most people end up on mode B but honestly either works fine. just pick one and stick with it for a few weeks. the real thing that helped me when i was learning was slowing way down in practice, like embarrassingly slow, and only speeding up once the muscle memory was solid. LCWO.net has good drills if you havent found it yet.

i had the exact same problem with a used set of paddles i got off ebay. turned out one of the contact screws was slightly bent and the gap was totally uneven side to side. i spent like two weeks thinking i just sucked at sending before someone at the club looked at it and spotted it immediately. might be worth having someone who knows paddles take a look at yours before you spend too much time adjusting technique around a mechanical problem.