[WriteLog] Ok, what do I have mistuned?

[Don Hill]

Interesting question Bill.  I don't know if you have something mistuned
but I can only say that the odds clicking on a packetcluster spot bringing
your radio dead on frequency seems quite slim from my experience.

This past weekend, I was single assisted and did 99% S&P, clicking
mostly on packet spots to find the stations to work (OK so I'm lazy).
I found that rarely did I come up on the exact frequency of the station I
had clicked on.  More times than not, I had to tune slightly higher to find
the DX.

There seem to be too many factors involved here.  The most important
one is that others' radios are not going to match the same frequency readout
as yours.

Since I only recently got back into CW contesting, I noticed a practice this
weekend that I hadn't noticed before.  A lot of US stations were calling DX
stations above the DX station's frequency.  Although I understand why this
is done on big pileups in the contest, I didn't understand why it was done
with not so rare stations.  But a lot of US stations were calling 10 to 40 hz
above any DX station.  I started doing it myself and found that it works!

Do DX stations in this type of contest actually put their RITS on and list up?
Or do they have their filters opened up enough that it doesn't matter?

As for RTTY, I also find that you will rarely click on a packet spot and find
your mark and space all lined up.  You normally have to tune a little to get
the signal tuned in properly, but it's usually closer than a lot of the CW spots
I saw this weekend.

Of course in RTTY, you don't know if the spotting station is using LSB (AFSK)
or Mark (FSK) frequency when spotting and that makes it difficult.  If you are
using FSK and you click on a packet spot and you don't hear the station, go
down about 2 khz.  If the spot came out as LSB, the station will be approximately
2 khz below your readout.  Likewise, if you are using LSB and a spot comes
out Mark frequency, tune up 2 khz to find the station.  After a while, it becomes
second nature.

73, Don AA5AU


----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Heinzinger" <w9ol@billnjudy.com>
To: <writelog@contesting.com>
Sent: Monday, November 27, 2000 6:43 PM
Subject: [WriteLog] Ok, what do I have mistuned?


>
> When using Writelog to copy cw or rtty using the appropriate mode of
> Rttywrite, I find I have to adjust the dial almost ALL the time.
>
> Say a spot comes in for 21025. For me to get cw to print I must tune to
> 21025.20
> Also a very similar situation when in rtty mode.
>
> In cw contests I only S&P and using my FT1K MP and it's 250 cycle filters,
> (I have lots of qrm/qrn here and need the filters), I almost always have to
> tune the rig to bring the cw blip onto the center line get a decoding.
> I find that this seems to put me exactly on the dx freq. but the tone is a
> bit too high for my taste.
>
> In rtty, and cqing with a run going, I find that I almost always have to use
> the rit control to tune for decode even with 2.0 filters in use.
> Almost always the station replying seems to be off by that .20 factor again.
>
> Now do I have the filters in Writelog set wrong or do I have the MP
> mistuned?
> Of course I am allowing for the rounding off of freqs by cluster spot
> software.
> Or am I missing something more obvious?
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> "Rhubarb: A kind of celery gone bloodshot."
> ------------------------------------------------------------
>
> w9ol@billnjudy.com           http://www.billnjudy.com
> w9ol@telocity.com
>
>
>
>
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