notbob wrote:

I want to invest in quality, but am not wealthy. I was gonna buy a
Vibroplex Know Code key, but the reviews are less than heartening.
So, I talked to Al at Milestone Technologies and he said something that
kinda set me back on my heels. He claimed a straight key is not much
good for anything over 15 wpm. Yikes!

When I was studying for my Novice we had a club member who was military
trained.. We also had a military surplus code practice set

This device used paper tape, you could vary the speed with which the
tape was pulled past a light sensor.. It also had a key input

Now if you pressed the key you got one tone, if the ink strip did the
"Pressing" you got another tone and if you pressed the key at the
precise moment the ink strip keyed the unit you got a 3rd tone (or at
any time when the ink was keying it)

This guy was sending in step with the tape

There was only one tone (Indicating he was in perfect lock-step with the
tape and that he was sending "Machine perfect" code)

It was pulling at 30 WPM