[Elecraft] [K3] CW Sidetone Pitch Change Problem

[Radio Amateur N5GE]

On Wed, 28 Apr 2010 09:20:13 -0700, Phil Hystad <phystad at mac.com>
wrote:

Phil,

I'm confused.  

You say that your side tone pitch is changing, but from your statement
below it sounds to me as though you are talking about the received
signal from the station you are working.  If that is true, then the
problem would not be with the K3 side tone, but with the stability of
the transmitter at the other end.  When this occurs after "a slight
pause in the senders signal", then it would mean that the sender's
transmitted frequency has changed during the pause.  Many older tube
type rigs exhibit this behavior for many reasons.  You will hear this
sort of behavior from many of the Cuban stations on the air, because
they have no access to modern radio equipment (unless they are a "good
Party Member").

TOM, N5GE BT 73 ES GUD LUK
AR DE N5GE SK

http://www.n5ge.com

>A while back I raised the question of whether others had the same symptoms I had been hearing of the CW sidetone pitch of a received signal all of a sudden changing by so-many Hz (maybe up to 50 Hz but just guessing).  It appears to happen when there is a slight pause in the senders signal and it almost sounds like some other station, a few Hz away has jumped into the party but that is not the case -- only a single station sending.
[snip]