[Boatanchors] A short Vent

[Barry Pfeil]

Interesting thread.  In one-on-one QSOs with folks using boatanchors I find
it's not THAT unusual to use my RIT (sorry, no separate RX here yet) to
chase a drifting boatanchor TX signal around - and I actually kind of enjoy
it (if it doesn't get too extreme).

True story - Not too long ago I heard someone (with a newish-sounding five
letter call sign) answering another station's SSB CQ and actually tell the
station calling CQ that he was "a little off frequency"!  I guess the CQ'g
station wasn't exactly on XXXX.000 kHz :-)

Merry Christmas all,

73, Barry K6RM

On Tue, Dec 16, 2014 at 9:04 PM, Bill Cromwell <wrcromwell at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi Rob,
>
> Some of the radios can resolve milliHerz and filter at that level too.
> Apparently the super slow QRSS and the WSPR modes *require* it. I use some
> of that software with my radios and there are benefits. I can use the
> spectrum analyzer on the computer screen to get netted right on another
> station. Yes Rodger, I know it's only a pan adapter <evil grin>. I can't
> tolerate bandwidths much tighter than about 90 Hz and some sound card DSP
> software can do that with little to no ringing. Since those things include
> a waterfall - aka panadapter - I can see where others are operating eben if
> they dodge around a little. In many cases I can see them when they are weak
> enough I can't hear them. Helps avoid QRM. Even with DSP, the signals sound
> better (to me) and we will notice other stations more easily if the band
> width is wider.
>
> As for netting the NCS.. well the NCS transmitter frequency *IS* by
> definition the net frequency. Be there or be square as they say (or used to
> say). The net frequencies are given along with the "+/-" qrm caveat.
> Transmitters are more easily identified (copied in qrm) if they have a
> little bit "character" and some small amount of drift can be part of that
> character. Much of the week a drifty transmitter probably won't trash some
> other QSO but on busy weekends it's pretty thoughtless to use one that we
> know drifts more than a few 10s of cycles. The guys who don't know any
> better than to use 'inappropriate' setting will just keep trying until they
> get it right.
>
> I have very few xtals here. VFOs are pretty much trivial compared to "back
> in the day" but I have used those xtals sometimes. Using Xtals is just for
> fun. The same as using tubes.
>
> Trying to elmer new hams (the ones who actually want to understand things)
> over the internet is a lot more unproductive than some face time in front
> of the bench. If we have to elmer that way we might find something like
> YouTube can be a good friend. Or Skype.
>
>
>
>
>
> On 12/16/2014 08:09 PM, Rob Atkinson wrote:
>
>> I like how my Johnson 122 drifts for 20 or 30 seconds when I come back
>> to someone on CW.
>>
>> This is one of those things for which there is a happy medium.  What's
>> a few kc between friends.  But 5 kc or more?  Probably not good for
>> spectrum use.  It can get to be a nuisance when you have a big group
>> and everyone is here and there.  I have a homebrew ceramic filter in
>> my 75A-3 that is kind of peaky so I retune a lot and worse, if I am
>> using a sync. detector it has to re-lock all the time.  But I don't
>> get all that worked up about it.  I do try to zero beat the other guy
>> but sometimes forget.
>>
>> I bet some of this has to do with the modern rigs and their TCXOs and
>> dial resolution down to 1 cps and an assumption everyone is running
>> something similar.
>>
>>
>> Rob
>> K5UJ
>> ______________________________________________________________
>>
>>
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