[Boatanchors] Questions on 51J4 as Ham receiver

[Eugene Hertz]

Hello all,

I am starting to play with using my 51J4 as my station receiver.  Had a few questions...

1. The meter on the J4 is calibrated in DB (why not dbm?). So how would I give a signal report in terms of "S" or db over S?

2. Seemingly counter intuitive, when I reduce the RF gain, the meter shows larger DB. When the RF gain is all the way down (off), I see the max reading on the meter. This is counter intuitive because generally (with gain all the way up) weak signals produce low db readings and strong signals produce large db readings. Why increase the db readings with lower rf gain?

3. Tuning: When I am listening to CW, I can change the beat note either by adjusting the VFO or the BFO.  As a listener I would not normally care.  But now I want to zero beat my transmitter (central electronics 100V) so that it is transmitting on the frequency I am listening to.  Problem is, depending on the BFO dial position in the J4, my transmitter could be +/- hundreds of hertz (possibly 1k? I haven't measured).  If I want to transmit on the same frequency the other operator is on, what is the best method to adjust the BFO so when I zero beat I am on his frequency?

4. Nearly the same question but for SSB. I have the dallas lankford product detector mod in my J4 which works marvelously (thanks W8UT!).  But here too I can vary the intelligibility both by VFO and the BFO knob (product detector control).  How do I know when I have it "right?"

For the last two questions, I am wondering if -- with an rf generator -- I could determine the right position of the bfo knob and then use a little tape to line up with the knob indicator?

Thanks very much in advance
Eugene