so ive been at this for about three weeks now and finally got myself a cheap dual lever paddle off amazon to replace the straight key i was learning on. the thing is, my hand keeps tensing up after maybe 10-15 minutes of practice and my characters start falling apart. im using a MFJ keyer built into my radio (ic-7300) and i've got it set around 15 wpm because i read somewhere you're supposed to learn at a higher speed and slow it down with farnsworth spacing.

i think my paddle tension might be too tight? or maybe my elbow position is wrong. i honestly don't know. i just know my wrist gets tired and then my dahs start sounding like dits and everything goes sideways. any elmer types out there who've been through this?

yeah this is super common and youre not doing anything wrong, your hand just hasnt built up the muscle memory yet. three weeks is nothing, i was cramping up for the first two months easily. the tension thing though -- i'd actually loosen it up a bit more than you think feels right. a lot of people crank it down because they're afraid of accidental contacts but lighter tension means your hand doesn't have to work as hard. also check where your elbow is sitting, if its hanging in the air at all that'll tire you out fast. rest your forearm on the desk and let the fingers do the work not the whole arm.

the farnsworth method at 15 is fine but honestly if your hand is tensing up that bad just drop the character speed too for now. get the feel right first, speed comes later whether you want it to or not.

I went through almost the exact same thing last year. What helped me more than anything was just shortening my practice sessions -- like 10 minutes, take a break, come back. Your hand literally learns better that way apparently, something about muscle memory consolidation. Also I switched to a single lever for a while because I was confusing myself with iambic mode on the dual lever. Might not be for everyone but it simplified things for me while I was getting the basics down.