A "Little bit off"

[K8JD]

My gripe: sometimes (not often thank goodness) when I call CQ I get an answer so far off my freq that it is only a thumping or maybe so high pitched dogs and bats can hear it fine, not me.
Two soultions immediatly come to mind:
1. Turn on RIT, tune him in and work half duplex (this ties up two discreete frequencies on a crowded HF band). now while I am transmitting, somebody else tunes up on the other frequency, calls "QRL?" of course nobody answers him and he starts CQing. Ruins my QSO!
2. Move VFO to the same freq of the caller. this gets us on one frequency UNLESS the caller does not like my new note in his ear and retunes his VFO instead of using HIS RIT to tune me in ! This puts us back in half duplex and we can then leapfrog on up or down the band!
Why can't people figure out how to get on freq !?!?!?!
Not even a "correct" (BS) frequency, but call ME on MY starting freq for a QSO.
NOW, on 60M the "correct" freq has actual meaning and you better get it right there !!!
^End of rant^
Good night Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are.

[KA9VQF]

Back in the murky depths of time when I first got my novice ticket {around 1986} I had an EICO crystal controlled CW rig. I was told by several operators who had been extra class for longer than I had been born that I could not have a QSO with anyone who was not on the same frequency as my crystal.

The receiver I had was wide enough that I could hear other stations answering my CQ quite a ways away on either side of my crystal frequency. I worked some of them but not others. I worried that I would be getting a pink slip from the FCC every time I worked someone who was not exactly on my frequency. I was new to it all and simply did not understand how it really worked.

One evening I was trying to work an old school friend who had moved to Australia. Several folks came to my frequency to tell me he was answering me about 15kc's down the band. Finally I moved my receiver that far and we were able to have a nice though short QSO.

After that I would put out a CQ then tune up and down the entire novice sub band listening for any station that might be answering me.

I can understand that the new folks these days want to be zero beat and they have figured it out, kinda, but they depend on the digital readout of their rig way too much. For many operators, not just the new guys, as far as they are concerned their particular YeaComWood 'is' the only radio that is on the right frequency and everyone else in the world should tune to them. Like they are the frequency standard. My best guess is if the were to bring their radio to a place with an actual lab grade calibrated frequency standard they would be shocked to see how far off their rig actually is.

Sometimes I think all new ops should be required to use a crystal controlled rig and a separate receiver without a digital readout for a year before they are allowed to have a transceiver.

[KO6WB]

That's interesting. I got my novice in 1975 and even then we were entitled to use a VFO to control the frequency of our transmitters. I didn't ever tune up and down the band to find a contact. They were on the same frequency as I was and there were lots of contacts back then. The broadband nature of the receivers I was using meant it was easy to turn the BFO off and using the VFO on the transmitter I would "spot" the stations I was interested in contacting. It wasn't difficult and it was accurate. The frequency readouts at that time were just starting to have digital displays. A novice station very seldom had that kind of luxury nor did alot of the more experienced stations appear to have that capability.
The frequency that a station is using is the frequency you tune to. Pure and simple. Being thrown off by a station that doesn't exactly tune to the display frequency that ends in a zero is just poor operating. We as amateurs do not have channels. We are allowed infinate tuning capacity within our frequency allocations. With the exception of 60 meters where folks are beginning to call them channels 1-5. Geesh, I hate to hear that. It reminds me of the mindless choices you had on other services.
Have fun
73
Gary

[KA9VQF]

Yes there were many VFO controlled rigs in the world, I just did not own one at the time.

I'm still not really sure why I was told that I couldn't talk to folks that were not on my particular frequency. I think maybe they meant it would be a bit harder and not that I couldn't do it. Even then I knew of folks working splits and even transmitting on one band and receiving on another sometimes using different modes.

There was a local who only had a 20M tiny tuna transmitter who would listen on 10M SSB, for his buddy, with a multiband portable radio but was sending code with his rig.

His buddy had a 10M SSB rig and an old Hammerlund receiver so they could hear each other using the split bands.

[NO2A]

It certainly does get to the point of ocd. You could have the latest high end rig with tcxo and still be "off frequency." By the way,just how accurate is WWV`s signal? :-)

[N4CR]

It certainly does get to the point of ocd. You could have the latest high end rig with tcxo and still be "off frequency." By the way,just how accurate is WWV`s signal? :-)

Quoting: http://tf.nist.gov/general/pdf/1065.pdf

The vagaries of high frequency radio propagation limit the accuracy of WWV and WWVH.
Both stations are referenced to the primary NIST frequency standard in Boulder, Colorado, and
the frequency as transmitted is accurate to about 1 part in 100 billion (1´10-11) for frequency and
about 10 ns for timing. However, the received accuracy is far less due to various propagation
effects. The usable received accuracy is about 1 part in 10 million (1´10-7) for frequency and
about 1 to 20 ms for timing.

In other words, the 20Mhz WWV signal has a worst case accuracy of about 2 Hz. Plenty good for channelized accuracy on ham bands... ;-)

[K8JD]

How many times do I have to spin my analog dial on the TS520 to go 2 Hertz ??/??/??/

Quoting: http://tf.nist.gov/general/pdf/1065.pdf

The vagaries of high frequency radio propagation limit the accuracy of WWV and WWVH.
. However, the received accuracy is far less due to various propagation
effects.
In other words, the 20Mhz WWV signal has a worst case accuracy of about 2 Hz. Plenty good for channelized accuracy on ham bands... ;-)

[WA9SVD]

Back in the murky depths of time when I first got my novice ticket {around 1986} I had an EICO crystal controlled CW rig. I was told by several operators who had been extra class for longer than I had been born that I could not have a QSO with anyone who was not on the same frequency as my crystal.

The receiver I had was wide enough that I could hear other stations answering my CQ quite a ways away on either side of my crystal frequency. I worked some of them but not others. I worried that I would be getting a pink slip from the FCC every time I worked someone who was not exactly on my frequency. I was new to it all and simply did not understand how it really worked.

One evening I was trying to work an old school friend who had moved to Australia. Several folks came to my frequency to tell me he was answering me about 15kc's down the band. Finally I moved my receiver that far and we were able to have a nice though short QSO.

After that I would put out a CQ then tune up and down the entire novice sub band listening for any station that might be answering me.

I can understand that the new folks these days want to be zero beat and they have figured it out, kinda, but they depend on the digital readout of their rig way too much. For many operators, not just the new guys, as far as they are concerned their particular YeaComWood 'is' the only radio that is on the right frequency and everyone else in the world should tune to them. Like they are the frequency standard. My best guess is if the were to bring their radio to a place with an actual lab grade calibrated frequency standard they would be shocked to see how far off their rig actually is.

Sometimes I think all new ops should be required to use a crystal controlled rig and a separate receiver without a digital readout for a year before they are allowed to have a transceiver.

It's not always that situation. If I hear a signal (just an example) Such as a CQ around 14.285 MHz, I will tune in the signal SO THAT IT SOUNDS NATURAL, and reply. My radio may indicate that the other operator in at 14.286 MHz. If I'm doing things according to Good Amateur practice, I am responding on HIS/HER frequency! WHO am I to say the other station is "off" frequency, because they don't seem top be on exactly 14.285 MHZ? Isn't that the height of misunderstanding and arrogance? We are supposed to respond (as close to zero beat as possible) to another station, not on some arbitrary 5, 10, or 50 kHz increment. THAT isn't what Amateur Radio is all about;' we DON'T use "channels."
If an operator (as I originally posted) insisted that the station to which he was listening was off frequency because our op insisted to tune to 14.285 MHz, and heard the station as being "off," I know which operator was "OFF."

The only time such a comment could conceivably be made is with an established net, where a frequency of 14.285 is specified as the net frequency. If the Net Control seemed a bit "off," with no explanation of a shift for whatever reason, then I'd zero beat the Net Control station. If he/she somehow indicated I was "off," I'd then tune to the original frequency, and use RIT to understand the Net Control, logically thinking the other stations would all be using the original frequency.

But I still can't grasp (well, yes I can) the concept that n operator answering a "CQ" can state that the station originally calling was "off frequency."

[K1ZJH]

Unless you can zero beat the carrier frequency it is all subjective regardless!!!! On SSB everyone
complaigns I'm off frequency, because they chose to tune me in the way they EXPECT me to sound,
instead of how I actually sound in person. A 100 or 200 Hz error is pretty common on SSB for that
reason.

Pete k1zjh

[N4CR]

How many times do I have to spin my analog dial on the TS520 to go 2 Hertz ??/??/??/

The best guess here is about 5 arc seconds. You're going to need a really steady hand, OM.