so ive been at this for about 3 months now, finally got my general and immediately dove into CW because honestly that was the whole reason i got into ham radio in the first place. picked up a cheap single lever paddle off ebay and hooked it to a MFJ keyer and... it sounds awful. like the dits and dahs are all clumped together or sometimes theres these huge gaps where there shouldnt be. i can send the alphabet slowly if i concentrate real hard but the moment i try to speed up even a little it just falls apart.

ive watched a ton of youtube videos and i get the concept, squeeze keying vs just using it as two separate straight keys or whatever, but my hand just doesnt cooperate. is this a technique thing or could something actually be wrong with the paddle tension or contact gap? the contacts feel pretty loose to me but i dont really have anything to compare it to. been thinking about just going back to a straight key for a while to build up the rhythm but i dont want to develop bad habits either. any thoughts from people who have been through this?

oh man this was me about two years ago almost exactly. the loose contacts thing is probably worth checking first honestly, on those cheaper paddles the gap adjustment can really mess with your timing if its too wide or too narrow. there should be a small screw on each side of the paddle, you want just barely enough gap that the contacts dont chatter but close enough that a light touch closes them cleanly. takes a bit of fiddling.

but also yeah at three months it really is mostly just a technique and muscle memory thing. the keyer does the timing for you which is the whole point but your hand has to learn to let go at the right moment. i actually did go back to a straight key for a few weeks and i dont think it hurt me at all, gave me a better feel for the rhythm before i went back to the paddle. some people will argue with that but it worked for me. also drop your keyer speed down to like 12-13 wpm, slower than you think you need, and just work on clean characters before trying to go faster. W1AW practice broadcasts are great for this if you havent tried those yet.

the MFJ keyers can be a little finnicky with their iambic mode settings too, if yours is set to mode B and you're not used to it that can cause all kinds of weird stuff especially with letters like C and K. might be worth checking what mode its in and trying mode A instead, most people find that one easier to start with.