RIT/XIT on 6400M

Mike McWhinnie/GM0DYU

I recently replaced my 6300 with a 6400M and really loving the M version. I have a question regarding RIT/XIT from the front panel of the radio. The manual (latest version Sept 2019) states that a long push on the RIT/XIT button will disable the RIT/XIT but I'm not finding this to be the case, when the RIT/XIT LED is turned off I still see the RIT/XIT on the screen and it is still active then I key up. The only way I have found to disable RIT/XIT is to reduce the value to zero at which point RIT/XIT is disabled and is not showing on the screen. Am I missing something here?

There is also a reference in the manual to 'Use VFO B Knob for VFO A RIT/XIT' which states there is a button for this on the Front Panel tab in the menu but I do not see this button either. I'm running 3.1.12.18

Thanks,

Ken Wells

If you press and hold the RX or TX knob for a bout half a second, the LED between the buttons illuminates, and the RIT or XIT function is enabled.

If you momentarily press the VFO knob for the slice in question, it zeros out the RIT/XIT. (If you press too long, it will open the Slice Control Menu)

Pressing and holding the RIT or XIT button sets the tuning knob back to tuning the main slice frequency, (and the LED goes out) and the RIT / XIT offset will track the change until the VFO knob is pressed to clear it.

Play with it a while and you will get the feel of it.

Mike McWhinnie/GM0DYU

Hi Ken and thanks for getting back to me, just had a tinker with it and works exactly as you described, much obliged.

Regards,

Franksr-N9GQR

Since we use the SDR software, I'm wondering why we didn't buy the 6400 and ordered the Maestro separately?

Mike McWhinnie/GM0DYU

Hi N9GQR and thanks for the comment. I could not find a Maestro for sale in the UK for love nor money, I enjoyed using the SSDR software with the 6300 but really wanted a more traditional set of controls, the 6400M works really well for me and has the bonus of shifting load off my shack PC which has resulted in a better overall setup.

Cheers,

Earle Hancock

[{"insert":"Hello, I am a new user and relatively new HAM, plus I don't have an electronics background. I cannot find an explanation of RIT/XIT or how to use it in the documentation. Can some one direct me to a source of info on the topic?\nThanks in Advance,\nEarle W1IPN\n"}]

KD0RC

Hi Earle - Welcome to the hobby!

RIT is Receiver Incremental Tuning. You can tune it off of your slice frequency to, for example, a station on a net who is off frequency. When that station is transmitting, you engage RIT. When anyone else is transmitting, you turn it off. That way you don't have to keep moving the tuning knob.

With most hams these days using stable, well calibrated radios, RIT becomes ever less important.

XIT is similar, but for your transmit frequency. On older radios, this was often the only way to run split operation. Flex radios have a very good and intuitive split function, so XIT for that purpose is not really needed anymore. Maybe someone can jump in with another good use for it, but for me, it is a holdover artifact from older radios.

Ken Wells

I used XIT extensively with MMTTY to run splits with RTTY DX stations. It was faster and easier than reconfiguring MMTTY to run on a 2nd slice.

I used a FlexControl Knob and had AUX3 button configured for XIT.

I simply hit the AUX3 button and cranked the TX Offset to the spot in the pileup that I needed (visible on the panadapter since it showed the TX Filter where the TX was going to be.) then hit my F1 button to send my call and snag the DX!

This worked well the same way with CW without needing to use the SPLIT function and a 2nd slice. The drawback is that I couldn't hear the "mob" in the pileup. But a great deal of the time I could simply SEE the pileup on my panadapter.

Eventually once they added the SPLIT Button to SmartSDR, and to the FlexControl Knob, I got proficient with using the SPLIT Function and didn't need to use the XIT as much on CW.

However, I still use it at times when I have the other slices monitoring other modes and don't want to interfere with their operation.