[Hallicrafters] Questions for OLD-timers (Hams)

[w7fe]

[Rant generator enabled]

I hereby apologize in advance to the group for the following "hairball" (I 
read in some techie post that an unnecessarily long message or one with 
pages of history attached is so designated) but I'm having a new roof put on 
the house this week. Therefore, all of my wire antennas, appurtenant support 
poles, tripods, guy ropes, "window" line, co-ax, screweyes, and other junk 
on or hanging over the roof had to be removed, so I can't get on the air to 
rant in person (no tower/beam, either). Bear with me...hopefully I'll get 
some wire back up in the air this weekend and return to "lurk" mode (more 
cool techie jargon) on the e-mail lists when I'm again able to induce some 
HF RF into the ether.

I worked a guy a few weeks ago who said that he always purposely tunes his 
latest-and-greatest, multi-kilobuck 
IC/FT/TS/DSP/SMT//RIT/XIT/ATU/TCXO/L.S.M.F.T  ricebox to an uneven frequency 
(like 7.177324 or whatever) when calling CQ, just hoping to elicit such 
comments from the "Moderns" (nice characterization, Ken!). He then questions 
them at length about their observation that he is "off frequency" and tries 
to convince them that, except for 60M, Fred's Candy Company hasn't forced us 
into "channelization" on the HF bands (gee, maybe that's why we call them 
"bands")...yet.

Also, I had my EFJ Pacemaker and 2-B cooking on 40M a while back, and joined 
a QSO where I heard a buddy in conversation with a couple of  Moderns. Even 
though I apologized for likely not matching their frequency down to the last 
cycle because the rig was 50 years old and 10 KC on the dial was about 1/8 
inch, one of the guys mentioned that my audio had a "low pitch to it"  and 
another (in an effort to help me "fix" my "problem"), asked what the "number 
readout" was showing on my Pacemaker....sigh. (The Moderns wondered about 
that "low-pitched hum" on my signal as well, but that's another subject. 
Think I'll try some ten-turn pots in the carrier balance circuit next time I 
have the beast on the bench).

Yeah, I know, it's handy for nets to keep everyone on the same frequency, 
but if everyone zero beats (what's that?) the NCS, who cares what exact 
frequency they are on?
W8DBF and K5LYN always seem to hear us if we're not dead zero-beat with 
their transmit frequency (which is likely not "even" anyway), don't they?

And, while the generally observed convention of 3 KC spacing between QSO's 
is fine, dang it, does it have to be "exactly" 3 KC? Even the newest 
transceivers have RIT to tune a couple of hundred cycles, don't they, if an 
operator can't bear the thought of straying from his "even" frequency?

Perhaps it's the result of decades of VHF/UHF FM operation, or (worse yet), 
leftover CB "knowledge"  (shoot, most of them is usin' them there "sliders" 
nowadays, ain't they?) that has trained the Moderns to always choose 
XXXXX.00000 frequencies on which to operate?  We reap what we have sown, I 
guess.

[The above condescending tone is deliberate (though certainly uncalled for), 
as are my continual "KC" and "cycles" references and capitalization of 
"Moderns"].

Heck, I'm really pleased when I can tune my 100V to within 100 cycles of an 
"even" frequency and observe that it won't move but a few cycles (according 
to my [gasp] TS-440) for an hour or more. That's after only about a 
10-minute warm-up..the darn thing's amazing.

But I digress. Actually, I suppose that the most often cited reason to 
choose even frequencies is to assure that the transmitting station 
operator's vocal timbre, resonance, articulation, and subtle denture clicks 
are faithfully reproduced at the receiving station and vice versa. Swell. 
That's what that delightful plate modulated AM is for, no?

Anyway, purposely (or necessarily) using "uneven" (notice that I didn't say 
"odd", owing to the inevitable personal reference) frequencies can be fun! 
Let's do more of it!!

[Rant generator disabled].

73 de Stu, W7FE
"Not-a-Modern" (is that equivalent to "Geezer", then?)

Phoenix

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kenneth G. Gordon" <kgordon2006 at verizon.net>
To: <Troglodite at aol.com>
Cc: <Hallicrafters at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Thursday, April 24, 2008 1:42 PM
Subject: Re: [Hallicrafters] Questions for OLD-timers (Hams)


> Speaking of frequency calibration, remember that "accurate
> frequency calibration" was considered in those days to be 1Khz or
> better.
>
> I have been called to task by some moderns for being off
> frequency by "as much as" 12 Hz.
>
> Sheesh!
>
> Ken Gordon W7EKB
> ______________________________________________________________