R8600 Freqency off

[bearcatrp]

Have a couple days experience playing with the 8600, getting the hang of things. I have a local airport about 12 miles away as the crow flies. 119.375 is there recorded message broadcasted. The 1st time I turned to the freq, everything sounded good. Last night I had to adjust to 119.375.50 to hear it properly. Then while on HF last night, rotated the dial to good size spikes. When I am on the spike, the audio is a little off. Have to go to either side of the spike to understand the voice. Am hoping something isn't wrong but thought I would ask if this is not normal. Appreciate any help on this. Am using a Omni X for above HF and a wire for HF.

 

[R7000]

I suspect the 119.375 is a bit off frequency. I hear military fighters talking to each other and none of them are exactly on the assigned frequency; typically off by .5 khz either way.

 

[kruser]

I've never seen reports of off frequency issues. I own two 8600's and they have both been dead on. I purchased the first when they were released and the 2nd one maybe a year later.

Did you by chance mess with the 'reference frequency' setting in the radio's menu?

For the strong spike signals you mentioned, check and turn off the NB if it's on. It could be set too high which can cause a distorted signal.
Also triple check the mode on those strong HF spikes as well as the filter setting just to confirm it's all proper.

 

[bearcatrp]

Reference frequency setting? Haven’t read the manual yet so will look that up. NB is on so will shut that off and see if that corrects it. No filters are on.

 

[dlwtrunked]

Have a couple days experience playing with the 8600, getting the hang of things. I have a local airport about 12 miles away as the crow flies. 119.375 is there recorded message broadcasted. The 1st time I turned to the freq, everything sounded good. Last night I had to adjust to 119.375.50 to hear it properly. Then while on HF last night, rotated the dial to good size spikes. When I am on the spike, the audio is a little off. Have to go to either side of the spike to understand the voice. Am hoping something isn't wrong but thought I would ask if this is not normal. Appreciate any help on this. Am using a Omni X for above HF and a wire for HF.

Ignore the answers that say your R8600 may be off frequency--they missed you could tune either side to get good sound which invalidates their response. There is a model of transmitters used for this service (ATIS/AWOS/ASOS) that are notorious for FM'ing whas is rally an AM signal. also you may have your bandwidth too narrow.. Note how it sounds in AM (which it is meant to be, make sure you give it 6 kHz or so bandwidth as that could be also your issue); however, it may sound better tuned as FM.

 

[kruser]

Ignore the answers that say your R8600 may be off frequency--they missed you could tune either side to get good sound which invalidates their response.

Nobody ever claimed the OP's R8600 is off frequency. At least not in this small thread.

Sure, if the reference frequency was messed with, then that can screw things up but it was never said the OP's radio is off frequency.

 

[bearcatrp]

Found the issue. Had a notch filter activated. Forgot about that. Thanks for everyones help.