Operation
Transmitting
You can use the VOX for
t/r switching, if
Clarifier
(Receiver Offset Tuning)
desired. See also the
box
on
FM
Repeater Opera-
The
CLAR
button and knob near the right side
tion.
of the front panel let you offset the receiving
frequency from that originally displayed (and
used for transmission), in 10-Hz steps.
Perform the following steps, if you like, to famil-
iarize yourself with the clarifier controls:
FM
Repeater Operation
The FT-890 includes several features specifi-
cally intended for operation on
FM
repeaters
above 29 MHz.
To locate these repeaters, you can ask around
the calling channel (29.6 MHz), or you may
want to load a block of memory channels
(page 23) with 20-kHz frequency multiples
from 29.62 to 29.68 MHz (and
FM
mode, of
course). Then set the squelch so that the re-
ceiver
is
silent on a clear channel, and press
the mic buttons to scan the memories.
When you find a repeater, press the
RPTK
button once for
"-,I
shift (to transmit below
your receiving frequency). Pressing it again
will select
"+"
shift, but this is not commonly
used above 29.6 MHz. Press it once more to
return to simplex.
Try a quick
ID
transmission to make sure you
have the shift right (by default, the FT-890 also
automatically transmits a low-level 88.5-Hz
subaudible tone during
FM
Repeater trans-
missions, to access repeaters that require it).
Once you have made contact through the re-
peater, you can store the frequency, mode and
repeater
shift/CTCSS settings in memory
(page 23) for later recall.
If the repeaters you usually access have an
offset other than the standard 100 kHz, you
can adjust the FT-890 offset by turning it off
and then back on while holding the
RPTK
button. This displays the offset, which can be
set between
0 and 200 kHz using the tuning
knob. Press
RPTK
once more when done.
Also, if your usual repeaters require a CTCSS
tone other than 88.5 Hz, you can display and
select another tone by holding the
FAST
but-
ton while pressing
RPTK,
turning the tuning
knob, and pressing
RPTn
again (to accept).
The tone you select applies only to the current
VFO, but can be stored
in
memory. The avail-
able tone frequencies are listed on page 35.
0
Press the
CLAR
button and notice that
"CLAR"
appears near the top center of the display. If
any clarifier offset has been tuned before, the
frequency display shifts accordingly. Turn the
CLAR
knob and notice that the frequency dis-
play changes. Now press the
CLAR
button
again several times: the operating frequency
returns to its "unclarified" setting when the
clarifier is off, and adds the offset (to the re-
ceive frequency only) when the clarifier is on.
0
With the clarifier on, press the PTT switch and
notice that the transmit frequency remains the
same as the original (that is, non-offset) fre-
quency display.
A
typical application for the clarifier is when
you are in contact with a station whose transmit-
ter drifts (or perhaps you were not both precisely
tuned to the same frequency when you started).
You don't want to change your transmitting fre-
quency, as that would force them to retune
-
you just want to adjust your receiver. To do this,
you can press the
CLAR
button to activate the
clarifier, and carefully retune their signal with
the
CLAR
knob.
After you finish your conversation, you must
remember to press the
CLAR
button again to turn
off the clarifier. You also might want to clear the
offset (by adjusting the
CLAR
knob) before turn-
ing it off.
The FT-890 actually has an independent clari-
fier for each VFO, on every band, plus two on
each of the 32 memories. This means clarifier
offset settings do not carry over when you
change
VFOs, bands or memory channels, but
are stored until you return to that VFO, band or
memory again and reactivate the clarifier.
VFO
B
ti
Split Frequency Operation
As already mentioned, VFO
B
works exactly
like VFO A, although each is totally independent
of the other. You can use VFO
B
as a general-pur-
pose "instant recall" memory. In the FT-890, VFO
B
has two important purposes: to double mem-
ory storage capacity (described in the next sec-
tion), and to facilitate split-frequency operation
(receiving on one
VFO,
and transmitting on the
page
22
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