Tom,

Immediately to the left of the RIT/XIT knob, there are two buttons.  When 
you're in CW, pressing the lower button activates the Auto-Tune function.

Steve

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tom Behler" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, March 09, 2014 12:15
Subject: Re: 4WeWhoDoCW,AGudRtikl;dd:Zero beating, what is it, how do we do 
it and why should we do itf, By N3EF


> If anyone knows how to activate the TS590 tone frequency auto-tune 
> function
> in CW mode, please pass the info along.
>
> I think I remember reading about it in the manual somewhere long ago, but
> trying to find it might be akin to looking for a needle in a haystack.
>
> Will do some checking here, though.
>
> Tom Behler: KB8TYJ
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: For blind ham radio operators [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> On Behalf Of Steve Dresser
> Sent: Sunday, March 09, 2014 12:01 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: 4WeWhoDoCW,AGudRtikl;dd:Zero beating, what is it, how do we 
> do
> it and why should we do itf, By N3EF
>
> Tom,
>
> I'm pretty sure the 590's side tone adjustment causes the CW pitch to 
> track
> with the side tone.  The 590 also has a feature that causes it to
> "auto-tune" to the pitch of the CW station.  It's not perfect, but it 
> works
> fairly well, especially when the signal is strong.
>
> Steve
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Tom Behler" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Sunday, March 09, 2014 10:03
> Subject: Re: 4WeWhoDoCW,AGudRtikl;dd:Zero beating, what is it, how do we 
> do
> it and why should we do itf, By N3EF
>
>
>> Lou:
>>
>> I'm hoping the TS590 sidetone is set up similarly to that of the K3.
>>
>> I have a preferred pitch for CW listening, and I always thought that
>> the
>> TS590 would allow me to use that side tone as a reference when zero
>> beating the other station.
>>
>> I am just a bit concerned that the tone frequencies don't perfectly
>> match when I listen to another station in CW and then in CW reverse 
>> modes.
>>
>> I'll be curious to see what other have to say about this.
>>
>> Tom Behler: KB8TYJ
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: For blind ham radio operators
>> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>> On Behalf Of Lou Kolb
>> Sent: Sunday, March 09, 2014 9:41 AM
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: 4WeWhoDoCW,AGudRtikl;dd:Zero beating, what is it, how do
>> we do it and why should we do itf, By N3EF
>>
>> Danny,
>>
>> Great article on something that has long been a pet peev of mine. Most
>> ops probably don't even know  where they have to tune a signal for it
>> to be exactly zero-beat with the other station. They just tune to a
>> pitch they like which may or may not be right on frequency. The K3
>> sidetone tracks the transmitter offset frequency so its extremely easy
>> to zerobeat. You just choose a sidetone you like and make sure your
>> receiver matches it when you tune in a signal and you're good to go. I
>> think several newer transceivers are set up like this but for far too
>> long it was harder than it should've been to zero-beat on CW.
>> Lou Kolb
>> Voice-over Artist:
>> Radio/TV Ads, Video narrations
>> Messages On-hold:
>> www.loukolb.com
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Dan B Dyer Jr,/Danny" <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: Sunday, March 09, 2014 8:03 AM
>> Subject: 4WeWhoDoCW,AGudRtikl;dd:Zero beating, what is it, how do we
>> do it and why should we do itf, By N3EF
>>
>>
>>> Found this referenced on the QRPL list, and thought it a good simple,
>>> wake up call-reminder, and one which will cause me to make sure my
>>> side tone is set as required. HTH, Wb4idu.
>>> Zero beating, what is it, how do we do it and why should we do it
>>>
>>> By N3EF
>>> First, lets define what zero beating is in general. Zero beat is the
>>> condition reached during a measurement or calibration when the beat
>>> frequency between two input signals is no longer detectable. And the
>>> beat frequency is the frequency produced when two signals are mixed
>>> or combined.
>>> The beat frequency equals the difference or offset between the two
>>> frequencies. In cw, we are using two audio frequencies to do this.
>>> One frequency is your sidetone and the other is the pitch of the
>>> received cw signal which changes as you adjust the tuning dial. In
>>> reality, we are not listening for the beat frequency. We are
>>> listening for the sound of the two signals going in and out of phase
>>> with each other as the two frequencies get close to each other. The
>>> two frequencies are so close, you can barely tell the difference
>>> between them, but you can hear a change in intensity as they go in
>>> and out of phase with each other adding and subtracting in level. It is 
>>> a
> "wow...wow...wow.."
>>> sound that gets slower and slower as the two signals get closer and
>>> closer in frequency. It is more pronounced if the two signal levels
>>> are the same so you may need to adjust your volume and/or sidetone
>>> level. It is easier to hear the "wow...wow" sound when listening to
>>> two steady tones, but you can also detect it with one steady tone and
>>> one switching on and off such as cw morse code. Once you get the hang
>>> of it, it becomes second nature and you can do it very quickly. Here
>>> is the sound of two steady tones of around 750hz that start out at 50
>>> cycles apart and gradually get closer until they are identical in
>>> frequency. The sound of the two frequencies going in and out of phase
>>> with each other is very
>>> distinctive. wowwow.mp3   And here is what it sounds like when receiving
>>> a
>>> cw signal as I tune above and below his frequency. You can clearly
>>> hear the distinctive sound made when the two frequencies are at or
>>> very near each other. They start out with just the received cw and
>>> then you hear my sidetone come on. zerobeat.mp3, zerobeat1.mp3,
>>> zerobeat2.mp3.
>>> Now, some of the old timers will tell you that this isn't "real"
>>> zero-beating. They will tell you that zero-beating is the way we use
>>> to do it when we had separate transmitters and receivers. Well, they
>>> are wrong in telling you that. The way they did it was just another
>>> way of getting your transmit frequency the same as the one you are
>>> receiving and was also known as zero-beating. The way we do it now is
>>> different, but it is still zero-beating.
>>> So why should we zero-beat anyway? Well, if we don't, then we are
>>> transmitting on two different frequencies and using more bandwidth
>>> than necessary. You may be QRM'ing another nearby station. The other
>>> op may not like the pitch of the tones he hears and must use his RIT
>>> to
>> change it.
>>> The
>>> other op may be using a narrow filter and not even hear your reply. I
>>> recently operated with a special event callsign during the Straight
>>> Key Century Club's first anniversary special event. There were
>>> operators from each call district using the same callsign appended
>>> with their respective call district. I was calling CQ 1Kz away from
>> another SKCC operator.
>>> People
>>> answering just threw out their callsign without indicating who they
>>> were responding to. This is normal and acceptable as a response but
>>> some of them were 500Hz off frequency directly between us...so who
>>> were they responding to? And what about the QRM they were causing
>>> because they didn't take the time and effort to zero-beat. There was
>>> no big pile-up going on here as it is an often used tactic to be
>>> heard when there IS a pile-up. I was amazed at how many stations were
>>> calling me so far off frequency. Some people don't know what
>>> zero-beating is, some do but don't know how to do it, and some know
>>> how but think it is totally unecessary. You don't have to spend a lot
>>> of time and be exactly on frequency, but you should try to get close.
>>> There
>>> are many aspects of working CW that mark you as a good operator. I
>>> think zero-beating is one of them.
>>> There are other ways to zero-beat the other station. If your rig has
>>> a cw-reverse mode, you can just switch back and forth from cw to
>>> cw-reverse and adjust your dial until the tone sounds the same in
>>> each mode. You can tune until you think your close and then turn on a
>>> narrow filter and tune for max signal level. Some rigs like the Yaesu
>>> FT-897 have a zero-beat indicator lamp. There are also zero-beat
>>> indicator kits that you can adapt to your rig. If you have an audio
>>> output to your computer you can use one of several programs available
>>> to do it via your soundcard.
>>> One other thing you need to be aware of is that some rigs have an
>>> adjustable sidetone pitch that does not track the rigs transmit
>>> offset. If you change the sidetone pitch, you can't use it to
>>> zero-beat properly.
>>> I hope this article and sound files have been of help and I hope you
>>> consider zero-beating an important part of your operating practices.
>>> Long live CW!
>>
>