🔍 Key Concepts

• How MF/HF single sideband (SSB) voice signals sound when the transmitter or receiver is slightly off frequency • The difference between a problem at the transmitting station vs. a defect in your own receiver • What a Beat Frequency Oscillator (BFO) is used for and when it affects the tone of a received signal

💭 Think About

• Ask yourself: if ALL other stations sound perfectly normal on this same receiver, where is the problem most likely located—on your ship, or at the distant station? • Think about which component, when faulty, would affect only one received signal versus affecting every signal you tune in. • Consider how an off‑tuned SSB signal sounds in headphones—does it become higher or lower pitched as you tune away from the carrier frequency?

✅ Before You Answer

• Confirm that the question states all other MF/HF signals are normal, so a receiver-wide defect is less likely. • Recall that BFO is mainly used for CW/telex reception, not standard SSB voice—check whether changing BFO would selectively affect just one voice signal. • Mentally simulate: if your receiver frequency reference (synthesizer, VCO, etc.) failed, would only one station be distorted, or would every station across the band be off-pitch?