Ian, I don't have any suggestions for a solution beyond what others have already mentioned, but as a side note I would like to discuss the concept of "off frequency".
It seems to me that these days, on the HF bands that I frequent, more and more people tune SSB to where the displayed frequency is on an 500 Hz boundary, and their rigs have sufficient frequency accuracy that excellent copyability results without any further adjustment. This approach is much faster than tuning by listening for most natural voice, which for me takes a few moments. When I look over the shoulder of operators at Field Day, a surprising percentage of people take a long time trying to tune for natural voice, and still don't end up even close to correct tuning, so they should be helped even more by just "going for the zeroes". While I haven't used 6m recently, I would guess that the "zeroes" approach has become common there, although the average rig may not be as frequency-accurate there as it would be on the lower bands. Further to how to tune in other stations quickly, I just found another way to minimize SSB tuning time when scanning the bands. I configured the K3 to use the RIT knob to act as a coarse tuning knob (CONFIG: VFO OFS), with 500 Hz steps (CONFIG: VFO CRS). I also set the main tuning knob to a 500 Hz boundary. After setting things up this way, I use the P3 with a span of +- 25 kHz to identify the next SSB station up or down the band, then turn the RIT knob to put the passband over it. That puts me close enough that only one more 500 Hz step will tune to perfect voice clarity, and many times I will be tuned perfectly with no adjustment at all. Much, much faster than cranking the VFO knob, first to approximate frequency and then fine adjustment by listening. Occasionally it happens that the station is not on a 500 Hz boundary, and I have to turn on RIT and fine adjust by the RIT knob. Then I will usually soon hear that the station saying that he is using an older rig. That is becoming rather rare, though. After I am finished listening to the "off frequency" station, I just turn off the RIT, and the RIT knob lets me tune in the next station quickly using 500 Hz steps, while leaving the main tuning knob alone. Now tuning SSB stations is a bit like tuning FM "channels". I am not advocating "channelizing" the HF bands, as we should have the freedom to select our frequenciy according to the situation, but a lot of times, using a frequency ending in zeroes saves time and effort. 73, Erik K7TV -----Original Message----- From: elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Ian Kahn Sent: Sunday, June 11, 2017 8:46 AM To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: [Elecraft] 6m off-frequency All, I've been operating a little in the ARRL VHF contest this weekend, on 6m, and I'm having an interesting, and not good, experience. Everyone I try to work is reporting that I'm off frequency by about 500 Hz. I don't have RIT/XIT enabled. My K3, s/n 281, went to Elecraft earlier this year for some upgrades and a tune-up, and came back with a clean bill of health and meets/exceeds specs. I admit, I am new to 6m operation, but this constant report of being off-frequency concerns me. Is there some calibration step, specific to 6m, that I missed? I don't get this report on any other band, and have never gotten it in over 6 years of operating this rig. My assumption is that if it came back from the Mother Ship clean, and I've never used 6m before, that it should be properly calibrated. Any guidance/advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks and 73, --Ian Ian Kahn, KM4IK Roswell, GA EM74ua km4ik....@gmail.com 10-10 #74624 North Georgia Chapter #2038 PODXS 070 #1962 K3 #281, P3 #688 KAT500 #860, KPA500 #1468 ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to ebasil...@cox.net ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
