so ive been a tech for about 3 years and just upgraded to general last month, and i always told myself id learn morse even though its not required anymore. got myself a cheap set of paddles off ebay — not sure of the brand honestly, the label is in chinese — and plugged it into my old kenwood and started messing around with the keyer built into the rig.

the problem is everything i send sounds like garbage. i can copy probably 10-12 wpm when im listening to slow code practice but when i actually try to send at even 8 wpm it falls apart. letters that should be dits are coming out as dahs and i keep squeezing wrong. im not sure if its the paddles, the keyer settings, or just my hand being dumb. probably my hand honestly.

also i keep second guessing myself mid-letter which makes it worse. is this just a thing you have to grind through or is there something specific that helped you guys get past it?

oh man this brought back memories. yeah the second guessing thing is brutal and honestly the only thing that fixed it for me was slowing way way down. like embarrassingly slow. i was running 5 wpm for weeks and felt stupid but then one day it just clicked and i bumped up to 10 without really thinking about it.

one thing that actually helped me a lot was practicing each letter in isolation until i could send it without thinking — not in words, just the letter over and over until my thumb and finger knew what to do without my brain getting involved. the brain is the enemy when youre learning CW honestly.

also check your paddle tension and spacing, if the gap is too tight youll be sending accidental dits all over the place. most cheap paddles ship with the gap way too close. just a tiny adjustment can make a huge difference.

im in basically the same boat so not sure i have great advice but i found the G4FON trainer software really helpful for receive practice, and i heard somewhere that if you practice sending and receiving together instead of separately it helps your brain connect the two. havent fully tested that theory yet though.

what keyer speed and weight settings do you have the kenwood set to? i had mine set wrong for weeks and didnt realize it.