Spectra of HD 117290 at the epochs of the lowest and highest radial velocity values that were recorded in this study, v_r = −4.47 km s⁻¹ (2008 UVES spectrum) and v_r = −36.87 km s⁻¹ (2023 SALT-HRS spectrum). If lines of the two components of the binary are visible, this is when the greatest wavelength separation between them has been observed. The laboratory reference frame was used for the wavelengths of the lines of the sharp-lined Ap component. In this reference frame, the blue wing of the Hα line is less depressed in the SALT-HRS spectrum than in the UVES one, and conversely, its red wing is more depressed in the SALT-HRS spectrum than in the UVES one. This is consistent with the presence of a (very) broad Hα line from the secondary that is blue shifted in 2008 and redshifted in 2023 with respect to the Hα line of the Ap star, which has a much narrower core. (The pairs of very narrow lines that appear shifted with respect to each other between the two spectra are of telluric origin.)