Yes. ?Thank you.
On some newer rigs, the pitch does not change if you switch from CW mode to USB or USB-D mode.
Remember, you can listen to CW with the rig in CW mode, the way we would expect to.
You tune the VFO to the transmitting frequency ?(3581.5 kHz for the W1AW CW bulletins).
That is the frequency they are broadcasting on.
This is more critical if you have a narrow filter (250 Hz).
Now, internally the radio has a ?BFO ?(beat frequency oscillator) which mixes with the RF signal and produces the audio tone. ?Old radios had a ?BFO adjust knob. Newer radios have a ?"PITCH' adjustment or MENU. Most pick 400 to 700 Hz as a comfortable listening pitch. ?Of course, FLDIGI does not care, as long as you center the cursor in the waterfall on the pitch of the sender.
The ?CW-U ?or ?CW-L ?only refers to the choice of the BFO frequency. ?You can produce the same audio pitch CW by placing the BFO 700 Hz below the RF or ?700 Hz above the RF wave.
In both cases, the CW you hear is at an audio pitch of ?700 Hz.
The difference is that one setting may eliminate a nearby QRM signal from another ham.
Even with the older rigs, I could just turn the BFO knob and accomplish the same result.
The transmitting RF frequency is your VFO dial freq in CW mode, or, as mentioned, the VFO + the audio pitch if your rig is in USB. ?Or ?VFO - audio pitch if in Lower Sidebanc.
It is very easy to "zero beat" a station calling CQ. ?Just click on his signal trace in the FLDIGI waterfall.
In either LSB or USB, you must be on his/her frequency.
Back to why FLDIGI struggles to put perfect print on the Rx window.
There could be many reasons, but most likely it is that the sender is not sending perfectly timed CW notes. When I listen to bugs (the old mechanical keyers) I oten hear the "dahs" being much longer in duration than ?three "dits".
It sounds kind of like a slang. ?I understand it, but FLDIGI gets confused.
It can be even worse when the CW spacing between letters and words is say 10 wpm, and the individual dits and dahs are at about 20 wpm. ?My brain adjusts. ?FLDIGI does not.
If FLGIDI ?gets the V V V ?correctly, I know I am in good shape to demodulate.
Although I can and often have CW QSO's with my rig in USB (or LSB) mode and key the AUDIO via FLDIGI, and send with my keyboard, not a physical key, I would not call that ?MCW ?(modulated CW) since the rig eliminates the carrier and "other" sideband.
That is, I call the sending mode ?MCW when the rradio does not need a BFO, or when the mode I am sending CW has a carrier with superimposed audio modulation.
Said another way, for it to be called MCW, my rig must be in either AM or FM, since both have a carrier.
Keyed audio into a SSB rig does not produce MCW.
It is just CW, generated a different way from keying an oscillator or buffer.
On a scope, you can't tell HOW I generated CW in my transmitter.
Your ears can't tell either.
Both methods are legal.
Just be careful your audio does not overdrive you SSB radio - ?same advice as when you are on phone with a microphone. ?NEVER use compression when operating CW in SSB mode.
Oh... ?and I never turn on the FLDIGI squelch when operating CW and want to use the Rx window as a kind of backup. ?Squelch might distort the sound.
de ?K3eui ?Barry
K3EUI Barry