xterm and emacs keybinding issue in FC3

[J.Underwood]

Dear All,

I'm experiencing a bizarre key binding issue with xterm as shipped with FC3:

a) If I open an xterm and inside it start emacs -nw -q inside it, then Alt-x simply prints a greek phi symbol. 

b) If i start an xterm and then ssh in to a remote FC3 box (from a localFC3 box), and then emacs -nw -q I see the same thing with Alt-x as above, and also the "old" problem with backspace giving out C-h instead of Del.

None of these problems occur inside a gnome terminal. Just for kicks, I confirmed the same thing happens running xfce4 (as shipped).

I remain perpetually confused as to where the problem comes with keybindings, and where I should be fixing it, so all help greatfully received.

Best wishes,
Jonathan