The waterfall display is very handy finding signals on a nearly dead
band, especially VHF and microwave (where lacking frequency stability
and precision might find a station more than a few kHz away from the
frequency they thought they were on). On HF it can show you the pileups
so you can investigate to chase DX if you haven't already worked the DX
station. It can show you the frequency of splattering stations whether
that splattering is from them or from your receiver overload. The
waterfall display is often a part of digital programs and allows you to
identify signals by type and activity even when there are a couple dozen
PSK-31 signals in the SSB filter pass band.
Just some uses of the waterfall display.
73, Jerry, K0CQ
On 2/19/2011 4:39 PM, Richards wrote:
Novice Question 2765 ...
Showing my ignorance, and not owning an Orion II ... yet...
(I have an Omni VII)... could someone please explain
how one uses the waterfall in a real world situation?
I have seen them in screen shots, and think I know
what they show... but am not sure I know what to DO
in an operational sense after looking at a waterfall display.
Do you tune to the signal image (the way I tune to a peak
on my band sweep scope display?) Or is there something
else you do to USE the information displayed on the screen ?
I am sure this is a no-brainer for those with one, but I have
yet to use one, myself.
Happy Trails. THANKS !
======================= Richards / K8JHR =========================
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