I had the tremendous pleasure of working Wolf ( DL4NCO ) on 20M this month who intrigued me by sending that he was using an “Air Key” and that details could be found on his QRZ page ( see here ).
“The air key, a monitoring pressure switch which is used e.g. at gas burners. The air flow from the mouth is interrupted or released with the tongue to generate cw sigs.”
This definitely demonstrates “CW Character” and hats off to Wolf for this method of keying 🙂
Simon G0FOZ
I remember (badly) a discussion some 35 years ago with an aged “G” who remembered a system of codification of transmission style in punched cards at Bletchley during the war.  He said that they codified “fists” with certain criteria on punched cards and the you could see if a “newly” identified station was an old operator by inserting rods matching the fist.  So you could see if Joe Blogs who used to be a radio op on ship X has moved to ship Y or an operator at Moscow airport was now somewhere else…..
I could not find much on the punched card/rods however similar information on an approach “TINA” is covered in some places on the web. An article on this subject can be found here: Allied Analysis of Electronic Transmissions in WWII by Jerry Proc VE3FAB
Try doing that with a modern TCO stabilised transceiver keyed with an auto-keyer!
Simon G0FOZ
The first batch of membership certificates have just been issued to members #0001-#0005
In line with the value “character transcends perfection” they were issued with a spelling mistake such that Wonky keying was rendered Wonyness !!!!
Enjoy the irony.
Simon G0FOZ
Welcome to QLF the home of straight key amateurs who love the sound of character and can recognise each other by the “fist”.
QLF – “Are you sending with your left foot? Try sending with your left foot!” A humorously derogatory comment about the quality of a person’s sending”
No auto-paddle-keyer with rock-solid PLL/TCO here. We revel in slight chirps and drifting around the receive bandwidth.
“Wonkyness Transcends Perfection.”
Example of fine work:Â Â
We are full supporters of QTT (Quality Telegraphy Time) – Quality not Quantity = Rag Chew not 599 TU.
Free Membership
You get enrolled in the worshipful society of QLF operators (est. 2023) and published to the honour roll; you can see our current member list here:
Price: Free!      
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