so ive been licensed for about 3 years now and always told myself id learn CW eventually and finally sat down with it seriously about 6 weeks ago. im using a cheap beginner paddle i picked up off ebay, plugged into an old MFJ keyer i borrowed from a guy at my club. i think i understand the basics of how a paddle works vs a straight key but my dits and dahs are coming out really uneven and sometimes i get these weird runaway strings of dits when i barely touch the thing.

i went through the settings and im pretty sure the squeeze keyer mode is on but honestly i dont fully understand what that does vs iambic mode A vs mode B. the club elmer told me to just use mode A and not worry about it but id love to actually understand the difference at some point. right now i just want my letters to sound like letters lol.

im practicing with the G4FON software and slowly working up from like 8wpm. anybody have tips for getting the paddle tension and timing adjusted so it actually feels comfortable? or is it just a matter of hours and hours of practice and it clicks eventually?

the runaway dits thing is almost certainly a contact gap issue on the paddle — if the gap between the paddle and the contact is too small even a light touch holds it closed longer than you want. most paddles have a little setscrew or adjustment nut on each side, worth spending 10 minutes with a business card or a folded piece of paper just getting the gaps even on both sides. took me forever to figure that out when i started.

as for mode A vs B, honestly your elmer gave you good advice, just use A for now. the difference is subtle and mostly matters when you're sending fast and squeezing the paddle for certain letter combinations. you'll know when you care about it. right now it won't make or break anything at 8 wpm.

the G4FON software is great by the way. just keep at it, there's no real shortcut, but one thing that helped me was shadowing — like listening to a QSO at a comfortable speed and just copying in my head without worrying about writing everything down. feels less stressful than trying to pass a test.

im kind of in the same boat as you, been at it for like 4 months now and just started making actual QSOs on 40m which feels surreal. the paddle adjustment thing is real, i had my gap way too tight and kept getting garbage output and thought i was just bad at it. also try slowing the keyer speed down even further than you think you need to, like embarrassingly slow, and just focus on making clean letters before worrying about speed at all. thats what finally got it clicking for me anyway