I'll ask before the CW guys chime in (we all know their answer). And I know listening to 7.200 at night what SSB operations can do to an alleged functional brain.

I decided to make my last remaining neuron (Bessie) exercise a little more by learning cw in a real, qualitative way. I want to do better than my straight key, multiple mistakes at 10 wpm, any mode has to be better than this, pain in the hind end - existence.

I bought a second hand MFJ-564 Iambic key at Raytown, which has a very nice hamfest, by the way, just across the road from a great breakfast joint named The Big Biscuit. I little cleaning, replace the 1/4" stereo plug with a 3.5mm for the Kenwood TS-480HX, and find the right spot to plug it in. Don't use "key", it will only get you a single contact to key the transmitter. Look for the one labeled (you guessed it) "paddle". Now I get to figure out what Iambic A and B means, how to set the speed, and -Holy Smokes - I have three memories I can put up to 250 dots each into!

But I digress, how can something invented around the Civil Way era help me keep my sanity?

If you said something about it, I wasn't listening. Sorry. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00383/full

Yes, Virginia, there is a study out there that says you can stave off dementia by learning a second language. Maybe this won't be a bad experiment after all. Maybe in an era of dying languages, I can do my part to preserve the lost language of the inconvenienced electron.

Or better yet, can I learn Morse Code without studying the AMECO charts and playing those records for hours at a time in the upstairs bedroom? Why yes, Virginia, it appears so! https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/10/161028115427.htm

Now, who has Google glass that wants to help in the experiment? My wife could benefit from all this science going on! (But don't tell her just yet, she has no idea about my relationship with Bessie.)

'73

de K0PHP sk