Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2001 10:05:21 -0500
From: "David A. Belsley" <belsley at bc.edu>

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Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2001 04:14:11 -0500
From: Arthur Laurent <ALaurent at npr.org>
Subject: [Elecraft] K1 int. keyer

Steve writes,

<...I tried both A and B modes.  I was used to A mode, but
found I liked the B mode better on the K2 keyer...

Would someone please tell me the difference between A and B modes?  Thanks.

Art KD4CSO
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Subject: [Elecraft] Re: K1 int. keyer

Arthur:

  The difference between A and B iambic modes has to do with what happens 
at the end of an iambic sequence (i.e., that period of time when both 
paddles are closed at the same time).  In A mode, things happen pretty much 
the way you would expect: you get an iambic sequence while the paddles are 
depressed, and it stops when you let up.  In B mode, however, an extra 
element is automatically sent **after** you let up.  The extra element is 
opposite that being sent at the time of the let-up.  Thus, if you let up 
both paddles while a dash is being sent, an extra dot will be appended; if 
you let up during the dot, an extra dash is appended.  This means, for 
example, in B mode you can send an R by pressing the dot paddle, quickly 
thereafter pressing the dash paddle (while still holding the dot), and let 
up in the middle of the dash.  The final dot will be automatically appended 
even though no paddle was closed at the time it starts.  In A mode, the 
same sequence of actions would produce a letter A.  As another example, 
consider the letter C.  (This feels like Sesame Street.)  In B mode one 
would start with (and hold) the dash lever, then very quickly thereafter 
close and hold the dot lever.  Both levers are held closed until during the 
second dash, when they are both released (during the dash).  The fact that 
the dot and dash levers were both held closed during the second dash 
automatically creates the final dit.  The same action in A mode would 
produce a K; you would have to hold the dot lever closed after the second 
dash to make the final dit for a C.

  As in all skills, you cannot expect to get any of it right without 
practicing.  And, as with all skills, the more you do it, the more 
second-nature it becomes.  Thus, don't get discouraged.  If you keep 
working at it, you'll get it.  And this goes for those who contend they 
can't break the habits of using a bug.  You will if you really want to and 
really try.  This is not to say that you should want to or should try; 
that's a completely different question.  But if you want to learn 
something, just keep at it.  Of course, it's always helpful to have decent 
tools (or a decent instrument).  There are some keyers out there that 
really do have "minds of their own," and this can be very frustrating.  I 
have known several MFJ menu/memory keyers that just do what they want to at 
times.  (Please, no flames: this is not true of all MFJ keyers.)  But this 
is certainly not the case with the K2 keyer, which is really very, very 
good once you get used to it.

  The difference between A and B modes is at times very subtile and 
requires just the slightest difference in timing.  Likewise the differences 
among various keying protocols is subtile.  But you will learn the proper 
timing if you keep trying.

best wishes,

dave belsley, w1euy

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Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2001 09:31:51 +0200
From: DL2FI at t-online.de (Peter Zenker)
Subject: AW: [Elecraft] K2 programming problem

Be aware of the different "Curtis modes", you can choose from the menu.
There is a mode A and B, actualy the K2 uses an "improved mode B" created by
Wayne himself for the SIERRA KC2. The difference is the timimg. In mode A,
if you leave a paddle early, the actual dot or dash is completed by the
electronic to its full lenght. In mode B the dot or dash also is completed,
but the electronic sends an opposite sign if the opposite sign has been
pressed a little bit longer before.

Example "N"
press dash paddle, add the dit paddle during dash is pressed leave both. In
mode A in any case you get an DahDit. In Mode B what you get depends on how
long you hold the Dash padle. If you hold it until you leave the Dit paddle
(leaving both at the same time) or longer, it results a DahDiDah. To get a
SahDiDah in mode A you must hold the Dash paddle LONGER then the Dot paddle.

Its a well known problem, that those who learned mode A from the beginning
find it very difficulz to use mode B and opposite. If one knows this, its
not such a problem except he is using one of those rigs with a built in
keyer which offers only one mode like all YAESU rigs incl. the FT817.

BTW most Germans use mode A, in US and Japan mode B is more common.

72/73 de Peter, DL2FI

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