so ive been running a cheap single lever paddle for a few months now and finally decided to upgrade to a Bencher BY-1 that i picked up used at the hamfest last weekend. overall its a really nice piece of gear compared to what i was using before but im having this weird issue where my dots are sometimes doubling when im not trying to squeeze them. like ill go to send a dit and ill get two instead of one.

at first i thought maybe i had the contact spacing set too tight on the dit side but ive adjusted it a few times and cant seem to find the sweet spot. my keyer is the one built into my IC-7300 and ive got the speed set around 15 wpm which is about where i operate. im not sure if this is a paddle issue, a technique issue, or something in my keyer settings. anyone dealt with this before? i feel like i was actually cleaner on my old crummy paddle somehow which is frustrating

yeah that doubling issue is almost always contact gap being too tight, even if it doesnt look like it. what happens is the paddle bounces just slightly after you release and makes another contact. try backing the dit contact off just a tiny bit more than you think you need — like seriously smaller adjustment than feels right. also check if the tension spring on that side needs a little more tension. the BY-1 has a pretty decent adjustment range so you should be able to dial it in. give yourself a few sessions with it too, switching paddle styles always messes with muscle memory for a while.

I had almost the exact same thing happen when I got my first iambic paddle and it drove me crazy for like two weeks. Turned out part of my problem was that I was coming from a straight key and unconsciously holding the paddle a split second too long — my brain was still thinking in the old mode. The keyer was faithfully interpreting that extra contact time as two dits. Slowing down a bit and really paying attention to how long you're actually pressing helped me a lot. Also some folks find the iambic mode B vs mode A makes a difference depending on your sending style, worth poking around in the 7300 menu if you havent already.