He has the same results either using a keyer or a straight key, although it isn't clear to me whether it is happening with the internal keyer and a set of paddles as opposed to an external keyer. He describes it as having to "turn it on" by sending a dit or a dah (they result in the same truncated did on the output) and then when the relay is engaged sending is normal. it sounds like it is sending something as the transmit relay engages, and again when it disengages, so even if he toggled the relay on before sending, he would get a burst of RF just like he does when it times out at the end.? I'll suggest he play with the CW delay, but it seems to output that RF whenever it times out, anyway.
He is a long-time CW op and currently an NCS on a CW traffic net.
=Vic=
Vic WA4THR