Ultimatic Squeeze Keying

All about squeeze keying and why Ultimatic is the best mode!

[@georgebarton5063]

Thank you. Excellent explanation and clarification for a newcomer to cw.

[@tlan77]

Wow - Great Video Ashley. I recently stood up a ‘Sending With Dual Lever Paddles’ class in the Long Island CW Club. Up until now it’s been about using Iambic Mode B for character automation. My preference for Mode B lies in its timing forgiveness VS. Mode A, although your critique of Mode B’s shortcomings is well taken. Your explanation and comparison between ‘Modes’ is terrific; I see no controversy. I sat round-eyed at seeing what Ultimatic mode can do - I had never heard of it. I’m ordering a Winkeyer or Morserino ASAP and adding Ultimatic mode demonstrations and discussions to my class about the virtues and capabilities of dual lever paddles. Thank You es 73, Tom W0FN

[@billygamer3941]

Amazingly well produced and revealing video.

[@Lyndon_K]

Hey Ashley, great video with awesome graphics! I agree with you about Iambic B timing being difficult when keying faster. I kept getting unwanted extra dits at the end of my characters and this was causing a lot of mistakes on the air. I got so frustrated that I switched back to Iambic A. I didn't really know much about Ultimatic keying but I am definitely going to give it a try. Thank you very much for such a high quality video. 73 DE VE3IGS

[@dadoh42]

Ashley, thanks for producing these. Great information here for a beginner like me; I've had no previous instruction on a keyer, let alone the difference in Iambic A, B, Ultimatic, or No-Squeeze. Eric from LICW Morserino group gave me the link. He has commented here also. The graphics of press / dit / dah / press are the best. Wow, would I love a video on the basics, like you were teaching a 6th grader, with the graphics, showing how to press and release for all the letters in each mode. Thanks again. These videos were very helpful.

[@DavidGillooly]

One of the best keyed vids. Thanks. I have a couple dual lever Keydets but always tried learning w/ iambic B. I prefer my straight old fashioned key. Probably because it works for me but I find it tiring in a long QSO. I’ll pull out my hardly ever used Begali and try Ultimatic, although I’ll need to find that old Winkeyer too!

[@marlomontanaro3233]

Thank you for doing this! Great explanation of the A vs B vs U - I've been looking for it for awhile and I think a show n tell video is way better than written explanations. I personally do A, simply because my older homebrew keyer does not do Ultimatic. At this point I would never change. I also feel that a lot of the advantage of Ultimatic is based on when you release one paddle (unless I'm sadly mistaken) and my thinking is you have to release it anyway at some point... so it really doesn't offer as much advantage as you may think. Again- just a feeling, not backing that up scientifically. Also, the big failing of Ultimatic is on the letter C which, last I checked is kind of important (CQ CQ CQ!). It also goes to show how much goes into doing CW correctly and what gets wired into our brain and muscle memory every time we send a character. It truly is a skill.

[@jayj4142]

Memory keyer to call CQ…then it’s really not a problem as it’s otherwise not used too often.

[@thuff3207]

I think you solved my problem trying to squeeze. Thank you.

[@jacktreloar5233]

Thank you for this great explanation Ashley. I have a CW Academy beginner class just starting this week, and I look forward to sharing this video with them. Best 73, Jack

[@davidsmith7791]

Beautiful video!

[@Professzore]

Excellent presentation. I highly appreciate it in every detail. Thank you very much! 73 de Tom, HA5CST

[@fredlodden1538]

Great video. You missed demonstrating the . period character and the / character. I guess the period is used only in rag chew QSOs, but the / character is quite common. I am a relatively new ham and I use mode A, primarily because I did not like the mode B implementation adding elements to my sending after I took my fingers off the paddles. With mode A, you release, it stops. But yeah.. really nice video.

[@ToddDoucet]

My kind of video! Thanks for taking the time to create the paddle diagrams at the left. If you haven't ever tried it, you might want to play with the OZ mode, which is a variation of Ultimatic that repeats dahs on squeeze instead of the last pressed paddle. Many characters are the same as Ultimatic. You lose the ability the squeeze X, but you gain the ability to squeeze C (a biggie) with OZ.

[@AshLeaFen]

Wow, I’ll have to check out OZ mode

[@JonathanAdami]

5:44 "I'll do the same exact motion it'll produce a R" you can see you've squeezed differently, it'd be a K had you done it the same, but point taken ;) Thanks for the video! I had no idea actually... I always thought Iambic A/B was about being left handed or right handed lol

[@JonathanAdami]

also "You can't squeeze, you're gonna have to slap" should be a tshirt! just saying...

[@AshLeaFen]

⁠😂

[@jasoncary7957]

Single lever paddle for the win!

[@Jubileeos]

I have been coming back to this video again and again and it is by far the best explanation of keying modes out there. Thank you for your amazing presentation skills on such a niche technical topic. By the way, what mode did you use before learning ultimatic? Did it take you long to switch to it? Your arguments towards the reduced effectiveness of the iambic modes are very strong, although some of the issues you mention could be fixed by using winkeyer and its more advanced timing settings.

[@AshLeaFen]

Thanks and glad you like the videos! I started with the built-in Iambic-B mode on Icom radios. But only for 3-4 months. Then I experimented with other modes. Made my own keyer to play with ideas, and settled on Ultimatic. I have heard others also say that some of the issues can be addressed by timing settings. Essentially a delay on the cutoff to trigger Iambic behavior is useful. For example, with didah for A, if triggering an automatic didahdit (R) is delayed until 1/3rd or so into the dah then it’s much easier to key A’s and R’s.

[@EricWS4K]

This is the best explanation of A,B, and Ultimatic I have seen. Well done. de WS4K

[@jertres2887]

Thank you, interesting

[@KD0RC]

Nicely done Ashley! I built Ultimatic mode into my FlexRadio control box. (See my QRZ page) It reminds me of my first keyer from the 67 handbook. It was what might be called half-ultimatic. It was dash overrides dot, so there were some limited squeeze options. 73, Len KD0RC

[@AshLeaFen]

Wow, your TeensyMaestro project looks super-cool!

[@KD0RC]

@@AshLeaFen Thanks! It was fun to build. I added the keyer to it on a whim, and I'm glad I did. Your video confirmed that I did Ultimatic mode correctly. I was always a little uncertain about that... 73, Len. KD0RC

[@radioredoctober]

wow Epic morse key !

[@cchimozmin]

Wow. Thanks for this. I'm pretty annoyed that this i the first I'm hearing about this mode. I've gotten pretty used to B now and just from these 13 minutes I wish I stated with Ulti mode (or whatever it's called). The fact that you can bounce between the two is very impressive. Also , that graphic you have of the red and blue for the paddle touches and the the letters appearing during the dits and dahs is really very cool . Is that something you wrote yourself? It seems it would be a good thing to use to "measure" one's accuracy. Thanks again. Subscribed.

[@AshLeaFen]

Here is a follow-up video, answering some criticisms and softening the stance a bit on the iambic modes: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fqKbimuIn9xogaM

[@steveb.548]

Have you tried the Ultimatic mode in the Open Source Arduino based K3NG keyers ? I'd be interested in your thoughts . . .

[@ksb2112]

Ultimatic looks neat, but I have no setting in my K3 for it, unfortunately. Also, I have yet to discern the differnence between iambic A and B. They act identically for me.

[@kulanchandrasekaran4462]

This kind of video is very difficult to make - giving a pattern visual in the left hand side along with the audio and simultaneous live fingering on the video, AND talking and commenting at the same time! And, yes, that key cost you a small fortune on its own, didn’t it? Although at your level of expertise you can make a rat trap sound like a Begali. Great work, keep it up.

[@k9kj]

What a fantastic video. I love the graphics on the left. Wondering how you do that ?!?

[@AshLeaFen]

Thanks! The visualization is something I made that works with my own keyer that I built. I did put a similar version up here, that works with the Ham Radio Solutions USB keyer interface: didahdit.com/experiment/usb_keyer/

[@w4baham]

Beginner here. Showing my ignorance, can you switch modes on the same keyer? Or, do you have to buy one versus the other keyer with the different modes already setup?

[@AshLeaFen]

Most keyers support multiple modes, I believe, and have software (or less commonly a physical) switch. I personally use the WKmini, which is very tiny and minimalistic with no physical controls, but easy enough to change via software.

[@marcinmerrimack1726]

Fantastic video comparing Ultimatic and Iambic CW keying modes. Nice work! Btw, have you seen the article “ Proposal for a fourth ultimatic mode: First paddle priority” ? I’m thinking it would be useful to have this option available to “configure” a dual paddle key to operate as a single-paddle.

[@AshLeaFen]

Ah, I should add that feature to my little keyer - basically forcing you to use as a single-lever.

[@J123G]

After watching this superb presentation I looked at some of the keyers @ hamcrafter2 and I see he has three options for Ultimatic mode in the setup. Normal, dit-priority and dah-priority. Which one of the three would you recommend?

[@AshLeaFen]

I really don’t know about dit-/dah-priority… sorry.

[@jayj4142]

I think I must have originally learned how to use a paddle using this mode, but that was years ago. Neither “A” nor “B” feels “correct” for me… What would you recommend as the best portable keyer that has ultimatic mode please? I am going to be doing a lot of /P operation now that I’m retired and want to be able to use ultimatic mode for cw. Thank you…

[@AshLeaFen]

Ah nice, congrats on the retirement. I personally like the K1EL WKmini (hamcrafters2.com/WKmini.html ). It’s *very* tiny, but has no buttons or dials - everything’s configured in software over USB. I usually have a laptop with me when out so, no problem for power and config. Or you could configure once and then it just needs USB power (a little battery pack). Changing speed: I usually just keep it at 25 (about avg POTA speed) and slow down with letter spacing manually, so no need to adjust on the fly. K1EL also have larger units with memory buttons and speed dial. They all support Ultimatic. Have fun!

[@jayj4142]

@@AshLeaFen Thanks so much for the recommendation! I will check it out, but sounds perfect. :)

[@nhojcam]

thanks for your videos! so, what key is this? it looks like a begali, but i can't find this model on their site.

[@AshLeaFen]

Bengali Pearl :) www.i2rtf.com/pearl.html

[@nhojcam]

@@AshLeaFen thank you!

[@terry.stafford]

I don't see an Ultimatic Mode in my Yaesu FTDX10. Am I missing something?

[@AshLeaFen]

That’s the biggest drawback of Ultimatic. It’s unpopular and so unsupported on many radios. I have to use an external keyer (e.g. WKmini) with my Icom 7300 & 705 for example…

[@ynot6473]

i've just got myself a keyer from Kanga Kits that does ultimatic mode, based on these videos. (xiegu G90 does not have ultimatic mode). BTW, for QRP work, the QCX Mini from QRP Labs has ultimatic.

[@AshLeaFen]

Excellent! And very cool about the QCX Mini. Nice My tiny QRP radio is the MTR4b and it doesn’t support Ultimatic. Have to use a WKmini with it.

[@AshLeaFen]

BTW, here’s an excellent article by Karl Fischer, DJ5IL: www.cq-cq.eu/DJ5IL_rt007.pdf

[@AndrasBato]

I could hardly contain my laughter! What if you had to keep providing -even just the usual- QSO text? To send continuously in QSOs, not to mention contests, is the practice itself! Then, you have no time to think about dots and dashes!

[@Francois_Dupont]

personally i like Iambic A better.

[@richardevans5921]

I learnt Morse as a child, took uk 5 wpm and 12 wpm, then ARRL 20 wpm in 1993, taught myself to use a paddle this way ever since I started, always found it far easier and smoother code,. 73 de G0VCW

[@sleeve8651]

Duh .....could you repeat that ? 🫲🥴🫴 .... ..