so ive been trying to learn CW for about 3 months now and i finally broke down and bought a cheap iambic paddle off amazon (yeah i know, not the greatest choice but im on a budget). the problem im having is that my dits and dahs keep running into each other and everything sounds like mush when i listen back to it. im using the built in keyer on my ic-7300 and i've messed with the speed settings but i cant quite figure out if its a technique problem or a timing setting problem or both honestly.

i practice on the air sometimes when the bands are slow and a few guys have been patient with me but i feel like im just not improving fast enough. also tried fldigi and some online practice tools but going from keyboard sending to actually using the paddle feels completely different. does anyone have tips for where to start — like should i slow way down and just try to get clean characters first? im currently trying to send around 12-13 wpm but maybe thats too fast for where im at

oh man yes slow down, like way more than you think you need to. 12-13 wpm with mushy characters is just practicing bad habits over and over. drop it to maybe 8 or even 7 and just work on making each character sound clean and crisp before you bump the speed back up. the keyer on the 7300 is actually pretty decent so its probably your paddle grip and squeeze timing more than the radio settings.

one thing that helped me a ton was the Farnsworth method — you set the character speed high, like 18-20 wpm, but the spacing between characters and words is much slower. that way your fingers are learning the rhythm of each character at full speed but you have extra time to think. koch method combined with farnsworth is what most people swear by. also check that your paddle tension and contact gap are adjusted right, if the gap is too small you get a lot of accidental contacts especially when youre tense. took me about a year to feel comfortable but once it clicks it really does click

I had almost the exact same problem when I started and honestly the paddle adjustment made a huge difference for me. I didn't realize how much the contact spacing affects things until someone at a club meeting actually looked at my paddle and said the gap was way too tight. worth checking that before you blame your technique entirely