so ive been at this for about three weeks now, finally got my tech and jumped straight into studying for general because i really want to get on HF and do some CW. been practicing with a straight key mostly but bought a cheap dual lever paddle off ebay to start learning iambic and man i did not expect this learning curve.

the issue im running into is that when i slow down to like 10-12 wpm everything sounds pretty clean and my keyer (its the MFJ-564 connected to the keyer built into my IC-7300) spaces out the elements nice. but when i push it up to 15 or so it starts getting sloppy, dits run together, sometimes i get extra dahs i didnt intend. not sure if this is a paddle adjustment issue or just my technique being garbage. probably both honestly.

anyone gone through this and have advice on what to actually focus on first? do i adjust the tension/spacing on the paddle or just keep drilling at the slower speed until it clicks?

oh yeah been there, and honestly it's almost always technique before equipment at that stage. the paddle is probably fine. what happens when you speed up is your muscle memory hasn't caught up yet and you start squeezing too hard or anticipating the next element before you've finished the current one. iambic mode especially will bite you if your timing is slightly off because it'll insert elements you didn't mean to.

what really helped me was the K7QO code course — it builds speed gradually and forces you to hear the whole character before you move on. the other thing i'd say is don't chase speed for its own sake right now, focus on clean spacing. a 15 wpm signal with good spacing is way more readable than a sloppy 20. and yeah mess with the paddle tension a little, some people like it lighter than the factory setting, but go one thing at a time or you'll drive yourself crazy.

I had almost the exact same problem and for me it turned out the contact gap on my paddle was set way too wide so i was having to move my fingers further than necessary which meant everything fell apart when i sped up. took like 10 minutes to adjust and it made a noticeable difference. not saying thats definitely your issue but worth checking before you blame your brain lol