[1000mp] cw zero-beat indicator

[Jim Smith]

Hi Mac,

I have found an easy way of tuning in CW signals on the MkV so that I 
can hit the 60 Hz APF button and they're in the passband without 
labouriously centering them in the 240 and 120 first.  The method makes 
getting then into 250 Hz filter very easy by comparison (4 times 
easier?).  Here it is, although not as complete as I would like.

1.  Someone on the reflector described changing the cw offset in one of 
the menu items so that no matter whether you are on CW LSB or CW USB the 
frequency readout is the same when you have a cw sig tuned in.  i.e. if, 
while listening to a sig on cw usb and you push the cw button once to 
switch to cw lsb, the sig doesn't vanish and you don't have to tune a 
couple of kHz to find it.  I followed the suggestion and am glad I did. 
 So, the method I am about to describe depends on having made this menu 
change.  Sure wish I could tell you which menu item it was and what to 
change it to, but I can't.  Let's hope someone can tell us.

2.  Having made the change described in 1, here's how to centre a cw sig 
in the passband.  Tune in the sig and listen to the note.  Hit the cw 
button once to change from cw usb to cw lsb (or maybe it's the other way 
around).  The lsb button will blink for a moment.  The cw sig note 
(audio frequency) will probably be different.  Retune so it is closer to 
the note you heard before.  You want to split the difference.  Now hit 
the cw button again and the usb button will blink for a moment.  The 
note should be closer to what you heard a moment ago.  Retune so it is 
closer yet.  Keep hitting the cw button and retuning until the two notes 
are really close to being the same.  Eventually, no matter how many 
times you hit the cw button to change from usb to lsb and back again, 
the note won't change.  Hit the 60 Hz button and there's the sig.  Well, 
you don't have to make the two notes the same, just no more than 60 Hz 
apart.  Only takes 2 or 3 iterations.  Works just fb on sigs you can 
barely hear.  Also, you don't lose the sig while you're doing it.

This works faster for me than going through the tune to 240, then to 
120, then to 60 route.  Others can do this instantly by ear.  No doubt 
they can also copy RTTY in their heads.  (In 1958 I heard a, probably 
apocryphal, story about a USAF lieutenant who could actually do this 
and, no, his name wasn't McElroy.)

Hope this helps.  Of course it won't unless someone tells us how to do 
step 1.

73 de Jim Smith    VE7FO




J. Mc Laughlin wrote:

>I have no doubt that most people would/do gain little value or utility
>from the indicator.  I find it to have some value as I have a problem
>with being able to identify the pitch corresponding to the center of the
>passband.  Watching the indicator helps me center a CW signal prior to
>inserting the 250 Hz filters.  I can whistle in tune, but I can not sing
>in tune.
>    ....additionally:  I prefer a lower pitch than the "stock" 700 Hz.
>I have found that the indicator on my MkV is not able to be adjusted to
>much below 600 Hz.  So I have adjusted the little-pot-under-the-lid to
>its lowest pitch and then lowered the centered pitch to be a bit below
>that.
>    In short:  I get some value from the indicator while I find the dsp
>settings to be without value at all.  Everyone is different.    73   Mac
>N8TT
>