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New Amateur Frequency Usage?

Bartram

New Member
Sep 13, 2021
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I didn't find an exact match for my post so here I am. Sorry if I am taking up bandwidth.

I am mainly a CW and data user. Recently I fired up one or two of my old but venerable radios on forty meters. At the time I was using my Drake TR-7 on forty meters. I was happy the Sunspot showed up and there was some fairly good propagation.

In two off my my QSO's I was told but not rudely, that I was 50 cycles ( Oh excuse me I mean Hertz I thought they were a Car Rental?) and Although S-9+ I was not readable.

I've been a Radio Amateur for 63 years now and I had never heard of such a thing as requiring to be on a ,00 frequency. I have a suspicion that there is no real loss of intelligibility and of course most any radio has an RIT control especially the newer ones.

Other than my complaining will someone tell me that this is just a preference and not a rule or regulation or better practice if so as lot of Drake, Collins, Swans, Hall ete etc are going to be obsolete.

I doubt that a friends voice is intelligible enough to identify the person most of the time even if dead on frequency.

Maybe I'm wrong but I can learn.

Tony WA6LZH used to be WA2LBY in NYC
 
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We old codgers don't mind to be off a round frequency, our hearing is shot anyway ;)
Most of our radio's are having an accuracy of 0.5ppm unheard off when i started as ham 45 years back, vfo's ran faster away from the frequency as i could run....:ROFLMAO:
Tried all we could to get them stable chosing the right C's for the vfo, get one of the first stabilisers etc.
Used to tune after the station one reason there is a vfo on your radio and it is not channelised.... or use the clarifier...
Still used to listen to the audio tuning in, not looking at what my display says what frequency i'm on.
shows that i must be getting old....:LOL:
Don't worry if i'm 10 Hz off and someone doesn't want to talk to me because of it, his loss.
Next station....:p
 
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Tony ,
I'm a bit lysdexic or code deaf or just lazy . With that said I' have run into the post 23 February 2007 self anointed keeper of the grail that is proper use of the airwaves. This very special breed of short bus riding , window licking, over officious, nothing better to do than take the fun out of life itself, has taken upon itself to regulate the airwaves until every last dreg of enjoyment has been systematically drained from every kilocycle allotted to us.

It's simple , If I'm calling CQ I'm on frequency. I generally make sure to be on anything but .00 or .5 . I just love to bait the mental midgets.
If I'm answering , I'm getting as close as I can and I'm willing to alter my split to provide easier listening (tone) for the other station if they request. Some antique transceivers have a fixed offset in CW and there may not be a separate receiver.

My recommendation is to never call CQ on an even or a five, ignore completely any reference to your being off frequency as if you never heard it and continue to enjoy the art , science, and enjoyment of amateur radio.

:)
 
The "DIGI-HEADS" get all warped over being on the set frequency, from what I have seen.
Oh you must transmit ... even or odd...Only this mode allowed on this frequency...your clock must be set to the exact millisecond on International standard time...BLAH---BLAH

I tune to the RX audio whether SSB or CW sounds best for me and if not agreeable to the receiving station...
I move on...OR THEY will move on:love::D:D:D:D
 
I didn't find an exact match for my post so here I am. Sorry if I am taking up bandwidth.

I am mainly a CW and data user. Recently I fired up one or two of my old but venerable radios on forty meters. At the time I was using my Drake TR-7 on forty meters. I was happy the Sunspot showed up and there was some fairly good propagation.

In two off my my QSO's I was told but not rudely, that I was 50 cycles ( Oh excuse me I mean Hertz I thought they were a Car Rental?) and Although S-9+ I was not readable.

I've been a Radio Amateur for 63 years now and I had never heard of such a thing as requiring to be on a ,00 frequency. I have a suspicion that there is no real loss of intelligibility and of course most any radio has an RIT control especially the newer ones.

Other than my complaining will someone tell me that this is just a preference and not a rule or regulation or better practice if so as lot of Drake, Collins, Swans, Hall ete etc are going to be obsolete.

I doubt that a friends voice is intelligible enough to identify the person most of the time even if dead on frequency.

Maybe I'm wrong but I can learn.

Tony WA6LZH used to be WA2LBY in NYC


Sounds to me like you ran into a CBer-come-amateur that was used to fixed 10 KHz steps and cannot get that idea out of their head. Pretty much all the ones I run into like that fit that description. Back in the analog readout days NOBODY gave a damn about the exact operating frequency.
 
Reminds me of a couple of friends back in the (very) late 60s. They had bought identical Galaxy (WRL) transceivers, and ordered a couple of clock motors from a surplus catalog. A rubber wheel got installed on the motor shafts. Leaning the motor up against the main tuning knob allowed them to carry on a QSO while traveling up the band, and stay in tune with each other. They would greet any QSOs they encountered with "Don't mind us, we're just passing through". Both of them got pink slips from the FCC, but got a pass by promising not to do it again.

Ah, the bad old days of analog.

73
 
I think your ran into a curmudgeon. Where you TX is up to you and a good operator will figure out how he wants to hear you. Radios have many options to tune stations that are not exactly on the same frequency.

Being a CW op you know that it is often a good practice not the zero beat the calling stations TX frequency. If you TX a little off frequency you will often be heard over all of the other stations that are transmitting on the calling stations TX frequency.

Have fun.
 
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