[Boatanchors] A short Vent

[Glen Zook via Boatanchors]

Unfortunately, not that uncommon these days.  There are, unfortunately, a number of amateur radio operators, especially newcomers, who absolutely believe that transmissions should be made on frequencies that end in either 0 kHz or 5 kHz.  This comes from the fact that most newcomers start operating on FM, primarily 2-meters, where the accepted channels end in 0 or 5.
Of course, with FM, because of the nature of the beast, the actual frequency can be a kHz, or 2, sometimes even more, away from the absolute frequency and that difference cannot be detected.
Then, there are those who get into discussions, sometimes heated, about the accuracy of their frequency readouts.  Each person usually insists that his/her frequency "is" correct and the other person's readout is incorrect.  Often, neither operator is really "that" close to the actual frequency.  Most people forget that the reference oscillator drifts and that what the display indicates can definitely be somewhat away from the actual frequency.  Frankly, the reference oscillator really needs to have the calibration checked periodically.
Occasionally, I check the frequency, using a well calibrated service monitor, when I hear operators discussing the absolute frequency.  Often, neither station is that close to the stated frequency with variations of at least 100 Hz and often more, sometimes up to a kHz, or more, away from the actual frequency. Glen, K9STH

Website: http://k9sth.net
     
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