Zero Beat WWV

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Zero Beat WWV

joey mcg
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
   
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Re: Zero Beat WWV

Don Wilhelm-3
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
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Re: Zero Beat WWV

Stuart Rohre
In reply to this post by joey mcg
They turn off the tone modulation every hour for a bit.  See their schedule
for time of this.  That is the time you do your most accurate zero beating,
and in CW mode of your receiver.

Stuart
K5KVH


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Re: Zero Beat WWV

Mike S-8
In reply to this post by joey mcg
At 05:25 PM 7/5/2007, 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.

Bounce back and forth between LSB and USB (hold down CW RV for a second
to quickly switch), adjusting the frequency until the tones WWV
transmits sound the same in both modes.  

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Re: Zero Beat WWV

Leigh L. Klotz Jr WA5ZNU
Administrator
In reply to this post by joey mcg
A variation on #1 is to start watching the S meter when you get really
close, with AGC set to fast.  The response on the K2 seems to be quick
enough that you can see if futter when you get with 10Hz and decide
which is closest.  If you are lucky it won't flutter and will slowly
ramp up and down, all at the difference frequency.
73,
Leigh/WA5ZNU
On Thu, 5 Jul 2007 5:54 pm, Don Wilhelm wrote:

> 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'.
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