so ive been getting back into CW after probably a 15 year break and picked up a used Bencher BY-1 paddle a few months ago. nice paddle, feels solid, but something about my sending just sounds wrong to me when i play it back on recordings. the dits and dahs sound kind of mushy i guess? like they blend together more than i remember them doing back when i was actively on the air.

im running it into a Yaesu FT-891 with the internal keyer set to around 18 wpm which is where i feel comfortable. ive messed with the weight setting a little bit but honestly im not sure what im actually doing there. does the weight adjustment change the dit to dah ratio or is that something separate? i feel like i understood this at some point and just forgot everything.

also not sure if the paddle tension is adjusted right. it came used and i havent touched the screws. could that be part of it? sorry if this is a basic question im just trying to get my fist sounding halfway decent before i start calling CQ again

weight adjustment on most keyers just makes the elements slightly longer or shorter overall, it doesnt change the 3:1 ratio between dits and dahs, that ratio stays fixed. what it does is add a little extra space or squeeze things together depending which way you go. some people like a slightly heavier weight especially at higher speeds, personal taste really.

the tension thing though — yeah absolutely check that. if the paddle is too loose you'll get contact bounce and extra dits sneaking in, too tight and you fatigue your hand fast and tend to over-squeeze. for a BY-1 theres a little set screw on each paddle and you just want it so the paddle returns crisply without feeling like youre fighting it. i usually set mine so i can just barely feel the magnet pulling it back. takes a few minutes to dial in but makes a huge difference in how clean your sending sounds. record yourself again after you adjust it and you'll probably hear improvement right away.

oh man i went through the exact same thing when i first got into CW last year. i kept thinking something was wrong with my keyer but it turned out i was just squeezing the paddle too hard and getting all these extra dits. somebody on here told me to relax my grip and it actually helped a lot more than i expected. also i started using the Koch method practice software to train my ear which helped me notice my own mistakes better. not sure if thats useful for someone coming back to it vs learning from scratch but figured id mention it