Morse Code is part of what got me into digital electronics design and then programming. It was in the mid-'60s in Tempe, Arizona. I was into ham radio (was WA7

Morse Code is part of what got me into digital electronics design and then programming. It was in the mid-'60s in Tempe, Arizona. I was into ham radio (was WA7DUB, now WJ6V) and started out - like everyone in those days - with CW (Continuous Wave, i.e. Morse code). I could send OK with a straight key - the kind when you push it down for the right amount of time to make each "dit" or "dah" (aka dot or dash). That of course got a little tedious, so I bought a "bug" - a semi-automatic keyer where you push a paddle from side to side. One side has a spring mechanism that makes dots in a row until you let go, and the other side simply completes the circuit as long as you hold it that way. So the dots are automatic and you make the dashes manually. Then I heard about "iambic" keyers, where the paddle has two independent levers so can push either lever alone or squeeze them together, and it's hooked up to a circuit that makes dots for one lever, dashes for the other, and alternates dots and dashes when you squeeze them both. I bought one of those paddle mechanisms and decided to design my own circuit for it. My neighbor across the street worked at Motorola's semiconductor division and was able to get me free samples of their RTL (resistor-transistor logic) ICs. These were pretty primitive - each gate or flip-flop was in its own TO-5 "tin can" package. But they were enough to get me started and I got the whole thing working. It was a lot of fun to design that circuit! Unfortunately, RTL was pretty susceptible to RF interference, and I never shielded the box well enough. This led to some embarrassment when the keyer circuit would start running away with continuous streams of dots or dashes or both, even after I let go of the paddles - and the speed would change on its own too. I remember being on one traffic net where this happened, and the other operators called me a lid and started laughing at my lousy fist. A "lid" is a bad radio operator, and your "fist" is the quality of your Morse code - how precisely (or poorly) you time the dots and dashes. Little did they know I was just a bad circuit designer. You know they are laughing hard when you can tell they are laughing at you in Morse code! Some photos... Straight keys: https://www.google.com/search?q=straight+key&tbm=isch https://www.google.com/search?q=straight+key&tbm=isch Semiautomatic keyers: https://www.google.com/search?q=semiautomatic+keyer&tbm=isch https://www.google.com/search?q=semiautomatic+keyer&tbm=isch (the paddle mechanism is what I was talking about, not the schematic diagrams) Iambic keyers: https://www.google.com/search?q=iambic+keyer&tbm=isch https://www.google.com/search?q=iambic+keyer&tbm=isch (the silver Bencher paddle is the one I have now - haven't used it in years, but it's too pretty to get rid of) Tin cans: https://www.google.com/search?q=to5+integrated+circuit&tbm=isch https://www.google.com/search?q=to5+integrated+circuit&tbm=i... (the round metal ones)