DEV: Keyer Efficiency

The tables below show the number of strokes (there and back) required to send each character with a straight key, bug, single-lever paddle, or dual-lever paddle (using an ultimatic or iambic keyer). The best and worst counts for each character are highlighted. The iambic keyer is the most efficient for every character, and the straight key is the least efficient for every character but there is not much difference between the ultimatic and iambic keyers, and of course other factors may override pure efficiency. It's worth noting that, owing to the design of Morse code, the most common English language characters (E, T, A, O, I, N) are all efficient to send with any key type (with the exception of O on a straight key perhaps).

For more information on keyers see Keyers: Iambic and Ultimatic, and for an introduction to the different physical key types, see Straight Keys, Bugs, Paddles, Sounders and Keyers. You might also want to try an emulated keyer.

This analysis was inspired by this document by K7QO, which includes stroke count analysis (and unfortunately includes an arithmetic error in adding up the stroke counts for the bug).