[Elecraft] Zero Beat WWV

[Don Wilhelm]

Joe,

Let me see if I can help.  First I usually think of 'tuning WWV' rather 
than 'zero-beating' just to keep my mind straight - I leave the Zero 
Beat term reserved for CW use when you want to tune the desired signal 
to match your sidetone pitch.

Tune WWV in using LSB or USB because the K2 does not add an offset for 
LSB and USB.  There are 3 ways of doing it:  1) Tune the carrier to an 
audio frequency of zero (which you cannot really hear, but go as low as 
you can) and refine it by tuning until the voice announcements sound 
'natural'.  2) Understand the sequence of tones transmitted by WWV - for 
the most part they alternate between 500 and 600 Hz on alternate minutes 
(there is also a 440 Hz tone transmitted one minute of each hour).  Set 
your sidetone pitch to either 500 or 600 Hz and use the SPOT on the K2 
to match the transmitted tone at the correct minute.  Or 3) My preferred 
method is to use Spectrogram (yes, this is an audio 'spectrum analyzer') 
and feed the K2 audio into the computer soundcard input - with 
Spectrogram set up properly, you will be able to see the transmitted 
tones on the Spectrogram display, set a marker in Spectrogram to 500 Hz 
and another to 600 Hz and watch the display to be certain the tones 
alternate between those two markers - when they do, you are accurately 
tuned to WWV.  I find this is the easiest method for folks like me who 
have trouble discerning the pitch of a tone - if you are a musician and 
have 'perfect pitch' you will not likely need such a visual aid.

You can download the last freeware version of Spectrogram from Tom 
Hammond's website www.n0ss.net.  If you need some information on how to 
set up Spectrogram, read over the K2 dial calibration article on my 
website http://w3fpr.qrpradio.com - the latter part of that article (CAL 
PLL) has information and links to setting up Spectrogram.

73,
Don W3FPR

joey mcg wrote:
> Ok, totally confused by the zero beat to WWV.  I can zero beat an un-oscillated WWV carrier at two points, in USS and LSB.  When they add the odd-hour 600hz tone, things become even more confusing.
>    
>   I suppose I am relagated to obtaining a spectrum analyser, but which mode should I use to zero beat when I do so?  USB, LSB or CW?
>    
>   Killing me here...
>    
>   KQ4FW - Joe