so ive been trying to get back into CW after a long break, maybe 15 years off, and i finally picked up a used Bencher paddle and hooked it up to my radio's built in keyer. the problem is everything i send sounds like garbage to me. the dits and dahs kind of blend together and i cant tell if its my timing being off or if the iambic mode is doing something weird i dont expect.

i was running around 15 wpm which felt comfortable back in the day but now my hand just doesnt cooperate. i keep squeezing both contacts at once by accident which makes the keyer go into that iambic alternating thing and it just throws off whatever i was trying to send. not sure if i should switch to mode A or mode B or just turn off iambic entirely and treat it like a single lever. anyone dealt with this coming back after a long break

yeah the iambic thing trips up a lot of people who learned on a straight key or took a break. honestly if youre fighting the squeeze thing just switch to mode A for now, its a little more forgiving than mode B when you accidentally catch both paddles. some guys actually prefer to just disable iambic altogether and use it in single lever mode while they rebuild muscle memory, theres no shame in that at all.

the other thing i'd really suggest is dropping your speed way down, like uncomfortably slow, maybe 10 or even 8 wpm for a few weeks of practice. i know it feels like going backwards but your hands have to relearn the motions almost from scratch after that long. i came back after about 8 years off and it took me a solid month of daily practice before 15 wpm felt natural again. G4FON's Koch trainer is free and it helped me a lot, you can set it to just drill specific characters you're weak on.

just wanted to say im kind of in the same boat, newer to CW but the iambic mode confused the heck out of me when i started. my elmer actually had me practice on a straight key for the first few months before ever touching a paddle and i think that helped me understand the rhythm better. might not work for everyone but its something to consider if the paddle keeps frustrating you.