Bill:
In the Corsair II the spot switch shifts the BFO and the local
oscillator so the received CW signal would be zero beat if you were
transmitting exactly on the same frequency. Otherwise you have to match
the offset of the radio probably 800 hz. When you answer a CQ you need
to be where the other station is listening. If its a contest and there's
qrm he may be listening through a 250 hz filter and you need to be
within that filter or he's not going to hear you. I wrote an H&K about
that for QST ten or 15 years ago after bad results on a FD until I made
the transmitter match the receiver in the transceiver used that day.
RX off and TX off are used with a single VFO to accomodate a station in
the round table that hasn't matched yours. Instead of you tuning the
main tuning (then he, then you... to walk across the band) you use RX
0ff to accomodate his difference in tuning preference and switch it on
and off for him. You could use TX off similarly, though maybe you'd use
it to correct your transmitted frequency slightly if the gang though you
were off but you liked what you heard, then you'd leave the receiver
alone, enable TX off and adjust it until the gang was satisfied. I can't
speak for the Paragon, but generally these offset ranges are smaller
than required for DX splits, often only +/- 2 or 3 khz. The Corsair has
two ranges, 2 khz and 20 khz. Which IS enough for many DX Cw splits.
The spot switch and zero beating with the spot button pushed should get
you closer to the received frequency than just depending on the narrow
filters.
I was just comparing my TS-130 to the Corsair listening to thunderstorm
static (I've only had the Corsair on the air about 10 days) and there's
a world of difference the crashes on the Corsair were crisp and on the
Kenwood, they turn into bashes of filter ringing noise... Not crisp at
all on the Kenwood. I'm going to LIKE this Corsair II!!!
73, Jerry, K0CQ
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