Barry, here are my comments on Orion's keying:
1. The internal keyer sounds too light to my ears, even
with Weighting at the max 150%. It doesn't bother me
since I prefer my external Logikey anyway. This was not
an issue in the waveform you saw since that was using
an external keyer.
2. CW Rise/Fall could affect the weighting of all keyed
signals (internal or external). Default is 5 mS but 3 mS
may be better for QRQ and 10 mS for QRS. I normally
leave mine in the 8-10 area for normal 25-30 WPM DX-ing.
In contests, where I typically use 32+ WPM, I set it to
5 mS.
3. My Logikey has a weighting control which I set to
55 with my previous MP and TS-930S. I found I liked
the sound with Orion with it set at 58, so there may
indeed be some slight shortening of the elements
compared to former radios. This could also have to
do with the shaped CW elements Orion uses described
below. This may make the elements sound lighter to
my ear since the Rise/Fall time is probably shorter. I
recall unmodified clicking MP's have a rise time of 2 mS.
http://www.doug-smith.net/cwbandwidth1.htm
4. I dislike QSK for many reasons that have been
discussed before and would much prefer PTT in CW.
Given that PTT is "impossible", I've learned to live with
Semi-Breakin (with my QSK capable amp) with QSK
Delay set to 75-90%, depending on sending speed
and with EXT T/R Delay set to 75-100% delay.
5. FYI, the K2 that was tested likely had clicks
similar to unmodified FT-1000MP's. Elecraft has just
developed a mod which greatly reduces clicks but I
doubt that was implemented in the unit ARRL tested.
Would be interesting to see the modified K2 waveform.
None of my comments really address your question
regarding the initial dit shortening, but are made FWIW.
73, Bill W4ZV
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