[CW] Doesn't anyone know how to zero-beat anymore?

[Gregory W. Moore]

GE all, es Merry Christmas es Happy New Year...

While I am positive that many of the old timers know how to zero beat, 
it seems like the modern xcvrs (like my ICOM IC-746PRO) make the process 
  exceedingly tedious and time consuming.  Since one has a "CW Pitch" 
control, the procedure of trying to match your sidetone with the pitch 
of the other guy is not really the way to go....this being said, using 
the "SCP" function helps. because it does give you an idea of where the 
sig is. the problem being that the "SCP" is also inexorably linked to 
the tone of the received signal.  I have had gud luck using a narrow BW, 
Leaving the "CW pitch" as close to the center as I can, and making a 
darn good attempt to match the tones.   I really wish that the mfgrs 
realized that a switch allowing one to tune the exact freq (the way we 
always have done so) was provided, which would bypass the "CW pitch" ctl 
and create a sig on the exact frequency with a tone allowing one to tune 
for zero beat the way we did it before the new crop of "gee whiz" rigs 
appeared on the scene...

If anyone has a sure fire, never fail, wondrous method of zero beating 
quickly, given the "CW pitch" variation, I sure wud like to hear about 
it.  Maybe I'm gettting old, but darn it, it seems as if the more 
technology crammed into the riceboxes, the more difficult it becomes to 
do completely simple things which were second nature before all the 
gimmickry appeared.  At any rate, I haven't had a real prb being off 
freq, as long as I match tone..presently I am QRT due to Meniere's 
syndrome, and listening to the radio and the white noise, QRM/N etc thru 
headphones causes a real problem with vertigo, but hopefully this will 
be straightened out and I can get back pounding brass and enjoying 
myself.  CW is virtually the only mode I run in Amateur mode, since N-MC 
MARS can really take up one heck of a lot of one's operating time, and 
frankly, I spend far too much time fooling around with the darn digital 
modes instead of the pure simplicity of CW>

73 to all

de Greg "GW" Moore WA3IVX/NNN0BVN

Ken wrote:

> Yes, I like that too. Maybe a lot of ops are homebrewing again - "HI!"
> 
> At most I run 500Hz IF BW. When I running as NCS I wouldn't answer those I
> had to look for. Waste of time dialing around on a net. Phone nets if your
> off 20 Hz you get a ass chewing.
> 
> Merry Christmas!
> 
> Ken, KA0W
> Mason City, IA
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: cw-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:cw-bounces at mailman.qth.net]On
> Behalf Of K3PID
> Sent: Tuesday, December 25, 2007 3:27 PM
> To: cw at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: [CW] Doesn't anyone know how to zero-beat anymore?
> 
> 
> I've been sitting here working on my computer for a couple of hours and
> listening to the 40 meter CW traffic. I've had to open up my passband to 2
> kHz to copy both side of most of the QSO's. This is just plain poor ham
> radio and it waste 2X spectrum! I unstood the problem when most of us were
> rock bound but with todays rigs, it's a piece of cake to zero beat the other
> guy.
> 
> Ron H

-- 
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Greg Moore RADIO STATION NNN0BVN PA
NCS/SHARES/ALE
U.S. Navy-Marine Corps Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS)
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