Ham Radio - Tuning your rig for CW, matching the other station's frequency.

I had to check both my rigs to make sure:

K3 In XIT or RIT Displays Receive Frequency during receive and Transmit Frequency during key down
In SPLIT MODE Displays both Receive and Transmit Frequency
ALT MODE switches to other sideband

IC7300 XIT or RIT Display receive frequency all the time but also shows the offset (+ or -)
SPLIT Displays both Receive and Transmit frequencies but on key down the main display switches to the Transmit Frequency
Has "CW-R" which switches to other sideband

Some older rigs has a variable passband tuning which allowed one to slide from one side to the other.

 

ps to above, some people like the tone to go up when turning knob to the right and down when turning knob to left.
some like to opposite

Larry KB0R

 

Wow, so informative, not like most of the other videos that are out there

 

Does anyone remember how to scan the band looking for signals anymore?
I think we should have a video on how to turn the big knob.

 

Good show and tell.

 

Keep in mind, when working a big DX pileup, that it sometimes is good to NOT be exactly zero beat.... otherwise everyone calling on top of each other and the DX station hears nothing. being 10 or 20 hz high can be an advantage.

Next video -- how to listen to where the dx is calling (and send where the DX is listening) -- AKA how to avoid a SPLIT police ticket.

UP UP UP

 

Enjoyed the video! Always wondered whether the receiver or transmitter was offset during CW.
The tones seen/heard sweeping up the frequency spectrum are probably one of the several ionosondes we have around the country, testing (sounding) the ionosphere to find Maximum Usable Frequency (MUF) and several other parameters.
73,
Keith - KE4TH

 

I strongly agree with W1YW, putting more How To videos on the main page is an Excellent Idea

 

I would say hams who have done any traffic handling on SSB and CW would beg to differ.

Theory is one thing but putting it to the test, practically...

 

Yeah ... not buying it.

I'm speaking as an op who regularly worked other ops on 160 as the band closed down, then sent CW .. so, no, CW DOES have the edge ...

 

I think the video was well made!

I never thought of zero beating the side tone with the incoming signal, that is an excellent idea for the novice CW person.
In practical terms, older Transceivers did not have a BFO or RIT adjustment, so when in QSO they would defacto adapt to the new side tone to avoid dancing around the band. Keep that in mind when working Rockbound or older Xcvers. They will adapt to you.

And a point of clarity, the receive frequency is not offset from the transmitter in CW mode.
The receiver is tuned to the same frequency as the transmitter and a Beat Frequency Oscillator is injected at the mixer.
In simple terms, the difference between the BFO and the incoming signal is what you hear (Which is why you can also hear SSB transmissions).
Old Receivers had a BFO knob to adjust this. On most Transceivers this is fixed, although some, like the authors have one that can be adjusted in steps.

The RIT ( Receiver Incremental Tuning - or Slider/Clarifier in CB terms) is a Receiver VFO Offset. In this case, the Receivers VFO is + or - offset in the amount indicated by the knob or screen.

 

Oh, I thought you were saying that SSB gets through as equally as CW, my bad.

The traffic handlers I know are perfectly sure that CW gets through in lousy band condx over SSB anyday.

 

Until I got my rig which has a little CW tuning indicator, I never worried about it. I just set the dial where the other station sounded right.

How did I ever talk to anybody when all I had was an HW-16 and a handful of crystals?

 

It is all about the band width of the signal. The less bandwidth, the better chance you have of receiving the other station. Find a clear frequency....open the Width adjustment all the way to the widest bandwidth. Now, turn it down. You'll notice the noise goes down as the bandwidth narrows. If you've got a narrow filter, you might get all the way down to 200Hz on CW, and it's perfectly readable. How narrow can you go on SSB without the operator sounding like Donald Duck?

Bandwidth is why FT8 (and all the JT modes) works so well. Your signal "below the noise floor" refers to the noise floor of 2.4 khz. The FT8 tones are 6.8 hertz wide, and when your computer turns it's Width filter that low, it kills a lot of noise, and a signal can be heard well below the SSB noise floor. Yes, SSB has half the bandwidth of AM so in theory it should be more readable at the receiving end, but I'm not sure that's why it was invented. I was awfully young then.

 

Haven't done CW since 1996...I need to get back into it. I wasn't that good but as the old saying goes....Practice makes perfect.