"Dee D. Flint" wrote in message igy.com...

Using a straight key in a contest would kill me if I was running a
decent rate. The goofy relics should be outlawed at least in contests
except under unusual circumstances. Do yourself a big favor and get
yourself decent paddles like a Kent and a cheap MFJ keyer and take it
from there. The paddles would work fine with the FD momory keyers.
Beyond that real CW contesters don't use any types of mechanical keys,
they use keyboards. In the end the means used to generate the output
doesn't matter, it's the ears that *always* matter . . .


Yeah if you are out to win or be a high scorer, you are correct.

For better or worse I was "brought up" in that niche. I'm one of these
animals:

http://www.gofrc.org/

However if
you just want to be a casual contester, a straight key is fine.

I just have a silly "thing" about straight keys Dee so maybe I'm going
a bit overboard here.

I fiddled with surplus J-38s long before I got serious about actually
taking the Novice test. Every radio kid did that 'Wayback. Eventually
I got to visit an experienced dx contester (which was what I wanted to
become) who used a bug (those guys ALL used bugs) and he let me futz
with his bug "offline" so to speak. Forthwith I immediately got
irrevocably hooked on bugs vs. straight keys. Net result was that the
nite WN3YIK hit the airwaves for the first time it was with a
well-greased, polished and tuned old USN Vibroplex. I've always had a
straight key or two floating around the shack, they're kinda "core ham
objects" and maybe I've had some straight key QSOs but I don't
specifically remember any of 'em.

Also if you
are doing the "hunt and pounce" instead of "camping on a frequency," it
doesn't make quite as much difference. I like to get out there in a
contest and just see what the variety is. I don't intend to make any run at
a large number of contacts. The last CW contest I was in, I was quite happy
to make 77 contacts and then go do something else.

100% on the button, all of it. It's all in what one wants out of a
contest and/or is willing to put into contesting. The simple fact of
the matter is that if it wasn't for the brigades of casual contesters
like you contests simply would not be worth getting into.


Dee D. Flint, N8UZE

w3rv