I beleive I have found a way to solve the bit-x problems.  

While QSO ing with another ham, he was telling me that I was FMing (frequency changing on audio changes causing distortion etdc)

(I was already advised that poor power supply connections (high resistance) would cause that, but a check out indicated that I had no more than 0.2 volts voltage drop on transmit.)

On a subsequent call to  14.287. , the other operator said I was "FMing". I turned the frequency to 14.2875 and he could hear me perfectly.

However, my receive was very high pitched.  I now believe I understand the problem.  

a) the frequency counter is off and may be adjusted. (for instance adjust 14.2875 to 14.2870.  This will put me "on" frequency, but leave my receive in a bad place.

b) Adjust the BFO trimmer back to 400 hz down the pass band curve as the instructions state or adjust for best intelligibility.

After performing these functions, I will update.

Andy-KM4TRT