Frequency Step Settings

[Hawkeye82]

I have options for the frequency step settings 5K, 10K, 12.5K, 20K, 30K and 50K. What is this used for and do I need to adjust this? So far my radio has been working fine, but I am unsure what this is even used for.

Thanks in advance!

Hawkeye

 

[N4KVE]

Wow, a member for 8 years & this is your first post. For the ham bands, VHF should be 15 khz steps, & UHF should be 25 khz steps, except in California where UHF is 20 khz. Now if you are scanning above 450 mhz, then set the steps to 15 khz.

 

[AK9R]

Hawkeye, are you talking about a VHF or a UHF radio?

On the 2m amateur band, you will find that repeaters in the 145.110 to 145.490 MHz segment are generally spaced every 20kHz while repeaters in the 146.610 to 147.390 MHz segment are generally spaced every 15kHz. There are exceptions to this "rule", e.g. Michigan where they are spaced every 20kHz. You can probably leave you radio set to 5kHz but if you use the VFO to tune around you'll have to be careful to make sure you are tuned to the center of the transmitted bandwidth. If the received signal seems a little fuzzy, try tuning 5kHz either way.

On the 440 MHz amateur band, repeaters are spaced every 25kHz in most places, though there are exceptions as Moonboots noted.

 

[Hawkeye82]

My radio is a VHF used for public safety, therefore used in the area of 155 mhz. This is my second post, I mostly just try to read and learn from everyone else.

 

[SteveC0625]

My radio is a VHF used for public safety, therefore used in the area of 155 mhz. This is my second post, I mostly just try to read and learn from everyone else.

If this radio is used to transmit analog conventional on VHF PS frequencies, I believe it should be set for 12.5 Khz steps to meet the narrowband mandate on each frequency used.

Since the radio has a lot of other step choices, it sounds like it's one of the units originally targeted at the ham market. It may or may not be Part 90 certified.

 

[QDP2012]

I have options for the frequency step settings 5K, 10K, 12.5K, 20K, 30K and 50K. What is this used for and do I need to adjust this?

The Step feature is useful when tuning/programming your radio using a VFO knob, or a set of arrow-buttons, as you "scroll" or increment/decrement through the possible frequencies for a given band, (which is different than browsing the list of frequencies you have stored in the radio's memory).

If you are entering the frequencies directly from a keypad or a computer, then the Step feature usually will not be involved. Occasionally, (depending on the specific radio model, etc.) certain frequencies will not be able to be entered via direct-entry unless the Step setting is at its smallest value.

...I mostly just try to read and learn from everyone else.

With 698,542 total RR members, there are probably a LOT of people doing the same thing.


Hope this helps,

 

[cabletech]

I have options for the frequency step settings 5K, 10K, 12.5K, 20K, 30K and 50K.

I just HAVE to ask, what type of radio is this with that kind of step settings?

Most commerical radios only have the ablity for 12.5 or 25 and even thru I have never seen them, I know of no ham radio with 30 and or 50k sets.

 

[N2MRG]

I have a related question and hope I can tag it on here--I think it's related.

My Olympia P324 radio has 12.5, 20khz, 25khz steps for each channel entry, but also has a drop down for Narrow or Wideband, also per channel setting.

For ham, I've always used 25khz and wide, and I understand that 12.5khz goes with Narrow and 25khz with Wide, but if there's 2 separate but related settings, what does each actually do? One must control the amount of deviation.

 

[WB4CS]

It doesn't get much simpler than this. Deviation and frequency steps are two totally different things. FM/FMN deviation means how wide or narrow the modulated signal is, or how much bandwidth it occupies.

Frequency (or tuning) steps (2.5, 5, 10, 15, etc) is the increment that the radio tunes when you tune the VFO dial. If you have 5 kHz steps and your VFO is set at 145.000 MHz, when you turn the dial it will go to 145.005, then 145.010, etc. If you had 20 kHz steps then tuning dial would change from 145.000 MHz to 145.020, then 145.040, etc.

 

[N2MRG]

This radio has no VFO knob. It's just got 32 channels that must be pre-programmed (it's a business band handheld) and I have no ability to manually scan or browse frequencies...

Maybe remnant from some other radio the manufacturer makes?

 

[rapidcharger]

...

 

[N4KVE]

I just HAVE to ask, what type of radio is this with that kind of step settings?

Most commerical radios only have the ablity for 12.5 or 25 and even thru I have never seen them, I know of no ham radio with 30 and or 50k sets.

My Icom W2, & W32 have the 30 khz steps, as that was the spacing to scan cell phone freq's when they were analog. I'm sure there were others that had this step setting too.

 

[W2NJS]

You guys won't believe this, but at one time I owned a Vertex VX900U UHF portable that was capable of 1.25 kHz tuning steps, plus all the common steps above that level. That was a radio that was truly ahead of its time.

 

[KB7MIB]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; U; en-US) Gecko/20081217 Vision-Browser/8.1 301x200 LG VN530)

According to the 2010-11 ARRL Repeater Directory, 13 states and at least 3 Canadian provinces use 20kHz spacing in the 2M band. (Alabama and Ontario use a mix of 15 & 20 kHz.) Southern Nevada and 2 Canadian provinces use 30 kHz spacing.