Hi, I just joined this club and want to say thanks to Nicola. I learned Morse in Boy Scouts from a ham, back in the 60s, then had an English teacher who helped a couple of us in high school to get better at cw. My high school buddy and I both got our licences in 1969 and became addicted to cw contests working 40m cw at our local club's Field Day. There was an old-timer navy guy there who used to work 80m cw at Field Day with a Hammarlund HQ-170 and a Viking Valiant, and he was smooth.
I've had hiatuses of ten years or more, while raising kids and focusing on my career, but got back to ham radio two years ago with a K3 and now a KX3. Just worked the CQ WW DX cw contest and had a great time Saturday night in the ARRL 160m contest, doing cw on my inverted L with two radials! Mostly I used the K3, but spent an hour working people on the KX3. I've never actually made an SSB contact on the KX3, it's been cw only.
I've got a couple of Bencher paddles and I just bought an old used Kent twin paddle at a hamfest. It's smoooooth. M0JHA mentioned he has a Kent. I need something smaller for the KX3 when out for a walk. Should I splurge on the Begali Adventure? It looks wonderful. Or should I get the Palm Pico? Or perhaps try to build my own maybe by taking the bearings out of the old Kent?
I'm amazed that it's not that hard to hit Europe on 40m with a KX3, 30 feet of wire in a tree and 30 feet of wire on the ground as a counterpoise.
Vic
VE3YT