Welcome to the forum, monorailmedic,
The solution is certainly to change your keyboard layout through the options menu, to use the shift key temporarily, or to read the manuals particularly mvsmith's tutorials (http://80.95.161.114/shipsim/forum/index.php/topic,2886.0.html).
Also, the "Search" function is done down from your present level in the forum boards.
Regards,
Luc