'You're Off Frequency!'

Ever since the invention of the VFO, hams have been telling each other, "You're off frequency." The situation became more noticeable when SSB transceivers became popular because different people tuned SSB differently. Some nailed it properly so that voices sounded natural -- they were on frequency, or zero beat -- but others, probably caused by differences in hearing, tuned SSB so that signals often sounded high- or low-pitched -- what I call off frequency.

Manufacturers then responded with receiver incremental tuning (RIT) on transceivers so stations in QSO wouldn't walk themselves up or down the band with constant retuning.

In those days -- the late 1960s and early 1970s -- we thought we were high on the hog when rigs came out that featured analog dials with 1 kHz resolution. No two rigs read the exact same frequency but as long as we were in our band, or license sub-band, it didn't matter. You tuned a SSB signal until the other guy's voice sounded natural and that was it. You were on frequency. The precise frequency didn't matter and most of us couldn't determine it anyway.

Then along came digital readouts. They were nice -- and often were real close in their readouts -- but different rigs from different manufacturers seldom agreed with each other when it came to the digits on the right side of the last decimal point. But again, as long as you were in the band, it didn't matter. But that didn't stop some folks from telling others "You're off frequency."

But now some newer hams are tuning to specific frequencies -- often whole numbers ending in zero -- and not tuning SSB so that it just sounds natural.

I noticed this a few months ago when a Texas station answered my 10-meter SSB CQ. When he began calling, he was very, very high-pitched. I turned on my RIT and began tuning. He was more than 400 Hz off my frequency. After chatting a few minutes and learning that he was new to HF, I told him he was way off my frequency. He replied that I was the one who was off frequency.

Hmmm, I thought. Since I was the one who called CQ, I thought he should be tuning to my frequency. But in talking with him, I learned that he'd been told that on the HF bands, you should always tune to a frequency ending in zero-zero. It was easier that way, he said.

A few days later, I finished a SSB QSO and another station called me. He was off frequency but I just turned on the RIT and tuned him in without saying anything. He knew I had a new rig. Then he announced that it was too bad that my new rig was off frequency. Since he had called me, I wondered how that was possible. He was supposed to tune me in. Then I realized why we were on different frequencies. He hadn't tried to tune me in so I sounded natural -- he was tuned to the nearest zero-zero frequency. Duh!

I suppose I'm a throwback to an earlier generation. When I find a clear frequency (and ask if it's in use), I just call CQ. It doesn't matter what the digital readout says -- as long as I'm in the band. The "zero-zero" strategy seems rather silly to me -- particularly since different rigs from different manufacturers still won't always agree with each other.

Reading the mail on the bands in recent months, I've heard a few other old-timers commenting about this new tuning practice of zero-zero. I even ran across it the other day on a ham club web site. An experienced HF operator had published a list of operating tips for new HF operators. I was surprised when he suggested the zero-zero strategy for tuning. It makes it easier for everyone by alleviating the argument of what's the right frequency, the list said.

Wow, I've been a ham since my junior high days in the late 1960s and have never tuned SSB stations that way. Have I missed something along the way?

I am the first to admit this is not a huge deal. That's why our transceivers have RIT on them but it's still kind of annoying to have to retune so many people.

Where did this idea come from that HF ham radio only uses whole-number frequencies -- what amounts to the channelization of the bands? Is this operating practice something from Citizens Band, channelized VHF FM or illegal operations below 10 meters? -- Just wondering -- and wondering what others think of this "new" way of SSB tuning. (By the way, I think it's a good idea for nets, when possible, to stick with whole-number frequencies.) But it's apparent that the phrase "You're off frequency" now means different things to different hams -- depending usually on how long you've been on the air.

73, Dave, N4KZ

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