A good microphone can improve your results as much as a high gain antenna Ever notice that two signals of the same "S meter” intensity sound dif- ferently? One is muddy, dull, a liale hard co read—the sibilant letters like S and F almost alike. The other signal is sharp, clean and readable even in QRM and QRN—because there's usable intelligence. No mistake about the call of comments. ‘rophone. A sharp peak adds no intelligibility but limits the modulation to that value. A peak of, say 6 db, which is usual in many ordinary microphones, reduce voice power by HALF. Don't be fooled by a rophone that sounds “louder”—loudness by itself is not a criterion of perform- ance; quite the contrary since ic may indicate undesirable peaks. An E-V microphone with smooth, peak-free response, replacing an inferior instru- ment, often will do more for a phone signal than a new antenna or increased power. Asa further plus, of course, you get well-known E-V durability, style and perform- ance. An E-V microphone, to raise stations, to carry through a QSO, is your best station investment. SPE Mt So E85 " see your EV Dit (upper right) Model 950 Carday en-tovel crystal cardioid, wit ee Model 626 'Simair" wide range cynamie. Pop-root head. @ @ lop alopnragm. Ono Suntch optional Uist, $70.00 = Gower rent) Medel €23slim‘ype high sips nanle, wilt EV CICE Sleoutalloy sinniroem, 09.01 sr teh Uist, $430" Blso Model $2 enystal, lege suitch she comactor. List, $24.80. ELECTRO-VOICE, INC.* BUCHANAN, MICH. (Other EV microphones for mabile and, aircraft communications, Telecasting, ‘brosdcasting, recording, and public adgress.) Export: 13 E.40th St.,Now York16,U.S.A.Cables: Arlab$1.50 Single Sideband Techniques Jack N. Brown W3SHY bata C0 eC Technical Series Edited by Ma MadSINGLE SIDEBAND TRANSMITTER, EXCITER = RECEIVER We're excited about these two gMmbingle sideband units developed here at the “world’s largest hagfilm™™ek.” The compactness of each unit, the completeness, the Hling and, above all, the features that will make both f frafters transmitter exciter and receiver J ked about ham news in years. Check the features beld Vlicrafters jobber or write complete sf b sure you'll agree with us. D Highly Bal gear drive a pre Stability compareble to most nO ee Sere ee SU ae Mas bu Co See oe ta Sa ° k f See eT Se Ud Se Ae ue . A ieee CL al Bree : Model) S196 SELECTABLE SIDEBAND RECEIVER CLC a cURL LT! : hallicrafters CHICAGO 24, ILLINOISSINGLE SIDEBAND TECHNIQUES by Jack N. Brown, W3SHY Contributing Editor, C@ Published by Cowan Publishing Corp. 67 West 44th Street, New York 36, N-¥., U.S.A.Copyright, 1954 by Cowan Publishing Corp. 67 West th Street, New York 36, New York, U.S.A, Pan-American and Inicmnational Copyright Pending Translation Rights Reserved, librory of Congress Catalog Card Number 54-12654 First EditionContents Chapter 1 What is $SB?. Chapter TL The Filter Method. Chapter UI The Phasing Method Chapter 1V Linear Amplification Theory. apter V High Power Linear Final. Chapter VI Balanced Modulators....... Chapter VIL Phase Shift Networks... Chapter VIIL A 35 Watt SSB Transmitter... Chapter 1X High Level Heterodyne Unit. Chapter X Filters and Filter Alignment... Hints for Better §SB Operation An Antenna T-R Switch... An Oscilloscope Monitoring Scheme. Index and Bibliography About the Author Advertising Index 7 23 29 39 47 55 61 92 . 102 waves OB 46 110 2 12 V2FOREWORD J once had a professor cell me that the easiest way to become an “expert” was to pick a more or less renioce subject, rea all the material that way available on the matter, and then publish a series of articles or write a book resuiting the inany points that had heen covered in the teading material, You therelore automatically beeon xpert.” T must confess to falling in that same general class of seriter. Rather than become an “expert.” 1 prefer to consider myself an outspoken proponent of single sideband. 1 have advanced uo earth shaking ideas or inventions, but if T have contributed anything: F hope it ix because | have presented che teelinic: so that they cau be more easily understood. During the period of time tar it wok mie to build my frst single sideband exciter, | formulated plans to conduct comprehensive comparative tents of AM versus SSB, ‘Then came the first night when I worked WSASW with aiieasured peak ourput power of Ovo watts, From that date on the filaments of the \M modulators were never lit again, Forgetful? Unscientific No, The difference was so marked that 1 didn’t need any tests to persuade me how much SSB was superior to AM-double-sideband tansmission The modulator was long since been given awiy and, 1 presume, pased on sul again because the station to which Jd given the unit is now on single sideband also, After almost six years of operating on singte sideband | never cease to be amazed at how well a mere few’ watts of SSB alway to be heard. ‘The number of Hams that arc on SSB. with only a “barefooted” exciter testifies 10 that fact. In putting together, under one cover, information on single sideband, T have attempted to give enough information to bring a comple “outsider up to date on the techniques. “The reader will find that the material in the first five chapters is an edited and rewritten version of the six-part series, “Getting Started on Single Sideband,” that was published in CQ Magazine during 195%. The comments from readers was so gratifying and requests for reprints of the material were so numerous that itwas felt that this old material would make a good fundameial primer for this handbook. Upon a] is buil the other two-thirds of the book. The anthor is personally indebted to Harel! Carr, W3YEFL, aud J. Edward Wiley, W3VPT for the assistance in building the transmitter thac is described. ‘Their workmanship and attention io detail relieved me of a very geeit burden, The following companies generously contributed many of the parts for the SSB wansimiter in Chapier VHL—Automatic Electric Go., Barker & Williaiason Co., Bud Radio, Inc., Collins Radio Co., Chicago Standard Transformer Corp, Blectro-voire, Hammarlund Mfg. Gos James Knights Co., James Millen Co., J. W. Miller Co., PR. Mallory Co. The Nation al Co., The Radio Corporation of America Victor Dix.). and the Simpson Electric Co. © Perry Ferrell, the editor of CQ Magazine, has fallen the tremendous job of coordinating and assembling the material for this book. My back still stings from the driving whip lashes of “o,p.l." but to him goes a special word of thanks. Also a few words of appreciation t© Toin Smith, W2MC/ who supervised all of the wonderful drafting and to Ed Kephar!, W2SPT for the photographs in Chapter VIII. 1X and X. To the everloving XVL, Caroline, who labored long and lace over the typewriter, this humble effort is dedicated. considerations in words of one syllable Jock N. Brown, W3SHYChapter | What is SSB? What makes singlesideband cransmission ap- peal to everincreasing numbers of amateur Is ic dhe hope of gleaning 6 to 9 addition: decibels from their equipment, or is it the voicebreak-in type of operation chit has he come attractive after being forced to listen to Hi-minute transmissions in old-fashioned AM roundtables? Or, perhaps it is just a matter of “keeping up with the Jones's.” Whatever die incentive, the fact is obvious that increasing numbers of amateurs are chang ing to single sideband transmission. ‘The usnal such a big thrill ‘The ability of a few watts of single sideband ignal to be heard even under the most tying band conditions is not to be taken xs ovel enthusiastic propanganda, but an uncanny tmuth that has yet to be fully resolved in the minds of many. The apparent superiority. of the SSB signal cannot he fully explained in terms of the bandwidth occupied, the relative power involved or the receiver used. ‘The *suull” just gets through. ‘The presence on the air of many higher powered (500 to 1000 wats) SSB stations is an indication, not that SSB is for those with money to spend, but that a one- Kilowatt SSB transmitter. is more economical to construct than an AN-kilowatt transmitter. The "sideband concept” of "phone transmis- sion may he new to many readers who like che author were brought up to understand that modulation was the process whereby the amp! tude of the carrier was “varied” in accordance with the impressed signal. Many amaceurs when exposed to single sideband tcehniques re puzaed as to “what's Jefe” when the ear rier is suppressed and the microphone is spoken imo. They shonld not feel self-conscions ahont these questions for it is a matter of record that one of the early pioneers in the field of com- munication derived the mathematical expres- sion for the modulation process and then promptly dismissed the two sideband terms as hom “imaginary roots” that could not pos sibly exist! le was taken to. task by others in the field, although actually the fued went on for several monuis in the seiencific journals of the day. Hone stops to consider, human speech is actually single sideband transmission of the simplest form. It is upper sideband in nature with a carrier of zero frequency. To betier understand SSB we must start with something with which we are familiar aud draw our analogies accordingly, Let's consider the ordinary double-sideband with curier phone igual sketched in Fig, I-f-A. ‘This signal is an idealized phone signal. Only the necessary speech Irequencies are transmitted. For good intelligibility, experience has shown that only the speech frequencies between 500 eyeles and 3000 cycles need be wansmitied, By use of a low-pass filter in the speech equipment, the frequencies above $000 cycles can be eliminated, pARRER AF 1990 HC # oes 390 a FREQUENCY Ins KILOCYCLES A, Relative amplitude-versus-frequoncy representation of a double.sideband AM signal. Note the equal distribution of energy (hence intelligence) into two sidebands.8 and by proper choice of coupling condensers the power-wasting low frequencies below 800 cycles can be attenuated. The horizontal axis of Fig, 1-1-4 is a scale of frequency as indicated, and the vertical axis fy relative scale of voll. age just for comparison purposes, ‘The shaded portions represent the general arca acenpied by each sideband. Any speech frequencies trans: mitted will appear as voltages lying under the boundary of the shaded area (for example the 1O0-cyele tone which appears at maximum 0.5 relative amplitude). If there is more than one tone present in the modulation, as in speech, each frequency as represented by a sideband component under the shaded boundary canuot equal « maximum value of ().5 relative voltage. Depending on the phase relationships between the speech fre- quencies modulating the transmitter, the peak voltage of the composite wave form could. pos- sibly be equal to several times the amplitude of any one of the individual frequencies. In more direct words the instantaneous stun of all the speech component voliages in one side- hand cannot be greater than one-half of the carrier peak voltage. Tf the sum wore to ex- ceed the one-half limit, over-modulation would take place with all of its splatcer and con. sequences. At this point “actual proof” of the existence of sidebands might well he presented. The photographs of signals shown in this chapter were taken with the cooperation of the Panora mic Radio Corporation and Barker & William: son, Ine. Pictures were taken of the oscillo- scope presentation of a Panoramic SB-SA Spectrum Analyzor, Model T-200, This unit is what might be called a high resolution pan: dapter. As the cathode-ray beam moves cross the face of the tube it indicates the amplicude of the signal present at a frequency which is continuously varying as the beam moves. “The sweep rate used for these pictures was onc sweep per second, The selectivity of the in- ternal amplifier unit was set for 70 cycles. ‘Thus it was possible to separate the carrier [rom its sidebands and to determine just what band- widths were involved for various types of transmission, The picture captions explain i detail just what is being observed. RELATIVE VOLTAGE Fig, I-1-B. This ts the common r-f envelope pat- tem of » double-sideband AM signal with 100% modulation (1000 eycle tone) at the lft. The nvolope appearance in on unmodulated condition iz shown af the right. What Is It? Figure LLB shows the well-known 100% modulation oscilloscope pattern as comparcd to the unmodulated carrier condition, Tt can be seen that the instantancous peak-to-peak volt- age at “\" is twice that of the unmodulated cartier at “B." This means that across a dum my load the peak voltage will be twice that of the unmodulated carrier, Since Powe R where Ris the dummy load resistance, the peak power at the instant of point “A” in Fig. 1-18 will be four times that of the unmodulat ed condition, ll this is leading up to the follow. ing point, The final amplifier must be capable of delivering peaks of power four times greater than that of the carrier. Look again at the xclative power involved in the carrier and the two sidebands. ‘Take for example a 100-watt phone transmitter. The carrier has a power of 100 watts while each sideband contains only 3 of that power, or 25 watts. Since each side band carries the same intelligence and the re- ceiver upon detection combines the andio from each in-phase, the total useful sideband power is 50 watts, Can this be trie? Unfortunately it is crue that to deliver 50 watts of intelligence ing power our liver 400 watts on peaks of modu happens if we get rid of erate only the sideband signals? The useful sideband power is still 50 watts and the maxi- mum power required of the final amplifier is also $0 watts, The Useless Carrier What function does the carrier serve? A very minor one actually: In the second detce- tor of your superhct it mixes (heterodynes, if you prefer) with the two sideband signals to recover the original audio that was fed into the transmitter, Does it do anything else? Nothing else except hold up the needle of your Sameter, Then let’s arrange the transmitter so that we do not transmit any carricr, but only the two sideband signals. Keeping the same peak sidchand power (50 watts) take a Took at your final whe, Cool as a cucumber, isn’t it? Now, back to the receiver, Ugh! Tt sounds pretty bad. Let us see if we can copy the double-sideband suppressed carricr (DSSC) sig nal by inserting a local carrier with the b.f0, Unfortunately, it is practically impossible to do his. ‘That villain carrier that we just got rid of did have one point in its favor. Te was of the correct frequeney and the correct phase. It is this phase condition that we cannot meet when we attempt to copy a doublesidehand suppressed carrier signal by using a b.fo. We can make a first approximation of the frequen cy. but never in this world will we be able to maintain the correct phase. We have failed i this attempt, T would Tike to say at this point that it is possible to detect signals of this mature if aPanoramic Photos : 9 This is a spectrum enalyzor picture of » double-sidebond AM signel. A vowel sound is spoken into the microphone. This transmitter wes equipped with a 3500-cps low-pass filter in the speech amplifier Note hew the concentrated in the lower speech frequencies sppeering close to the carrier In this spectrum analyzor pleture 2 vowel sound is spoken into the SSB filter-type exciter described in A epectrum analysis of & "two-tone" linearity test on the filter-type i The signal at the center of resulting com # 2000-cyels fone, The small “pip” on the upper side of the carries is 40 db. below the reference signal.ee secure tes es Bats INSTANTANEOUS VOLTECE L-1-C, Vector presentation showing te ‘examples of how sideband volteges of a double- sidebond signal combine in the detector of a reduced carrier is transmitted. ‘This carrier must be restored or “exalted” to a high enough level to demodulate the sidebands, For an ex. planation of DSR radiotelephony (double sideband with reduced carrier) see Gramm Getting back to our lide experiment, what would happen if we just climinated one of the sidebands? Better siill we could run the 50 watts peak power in one sideband and still not increase the strain on the transmitter. Ac the receiver we can detect the single-sideband signal successfully by inserting a carrier at the cor. rect frequency with the bfo. ‘The phase re- lationship between the carrier and the sideband has no effect on the audio recovered. How ever, you will notice that the carrier supplied antificially by the b.L0, must be very dose to the suppressed carrier's frequency, How close? For distortion free copy about 50 cycles and for intelligible copy about 200 tw 400 cycles depending’ on the signal Our doublesideband signal mentioned above with 25 watts maximuin power in each sideband (total 50 wats maximum) will produce twice the audio power in our receiver than will the SO-watt, singlesideband signal. This comes "What I like about... SSB is that... it is s0 nice to tune in. __ Are Sidebands Necessary ? about for the following reason, The double- sideband signal produces in the receiver detec or circuit the two sideband voltages that can he represeuted by the two vectors EY and £2 in Fig, F1-C, ‘The wo vectors ate equal in amplitude (say for example | vol) but they rotate as shown in opposite directions at the rate of the modulating frequency. Example: A 1OG-cycle tone modulated signal would ha sideband vectors revolving at the rate of 1000 revolutions per second. These two voltages are added vectorially so that the resulting output voltage lies along the vertical Tine, and, in the case shown, the resultant voltage is El. This Ft will vary as the vectors whirl around from a maximum: value of 2 volts in the positive (upward) direction through a zero value and downward to a maximum value of 2 volts in the negative direction. Thus we have a total change in audio voltage of 4 volts. The Power Function in the Sidebands Now let us consider what happens with the S0-watt maximum-power single-sideband signal, We said that we put all of our power in one sideband, To double our power in one sid band, we inerease the sideband voltage by onk a factor of TA14 since Power = F2/R. [Note: (IAL? = 2)] So in our detector we have only one sideband. vector whirling around whose amplitude is 1414 volts. See Fig. FLD. Since it has no ocher sideband vector to combine with it swings around from a maximun value of LAM volts positive to 1414 volts negative. This yields a total peak-to-peak audio voltage of 2.828 volts upon detection. Since the double sideband signal gave 4 peak-to-peak volts and dhe gave ak-to-peak volts, the result is 8 db, in favor of the double-side- band signal. Iu order for our SSB transmitter to produce the same 4 volts at the receiver, we must generate 100 maximum (peak. if you pre- fer) watts power in the one sideband, Norgaard pointed this out in his 1948 article. Getting back to the wansmitier problem at hand, we notice that our maximum capabilities of the amplifier were 100 watts when using doublesideband-with-carrier. We can safely an A3 signal afterwards.” (Courtesy “Short Wave Magazine November, 1968)Power Economy INSTANTANEOUS VOLTAGE Fig. This vector diagram illustrates hew 2 SOwait tingle-sideband signal yields 70% (3 db.) less audio voltage upon detection then 2 double-sideband signal with 25 watts in each ideband—see Figure I-1-C, incr se our singlesideband maximum power to 100 watts which gives us a power gain of 4 over the donblesideland condition. “This of { is an increase of 6 db. in system gain attained at the transmitter. Tt must be pointed out here that in order to make our 100-watt AM final amplifier deliver 400 watts on peaks in singlesideband service we will have to donble our plate voltage. You can see that in the AM case the modulator furnished the extra voltage upon peaks of the audio wave-form. It is not at all uncommon to find 1200 to 1400 volts being used on a pair of 807's used on SSB. The tubes stil] operate with- in rated plate dissipation, but the maximum value of peak power fs in the neighborhood of a halt-kilowatt! 1.2—The Receiving System Since our signal is now concentrated in one sideband we can now concern ourselves with postble improvements in our receiving aytem, it is possible to reduce the bandwidth of the receiver to match the reduced bandwidth of the transmitted signal, we can also gain another 3 db, in system gain. This comes about for the following reason: For any given handwidth the signal-to-noise radio is the limiting factor chat determines how weak 2 signal can be copied successfully. Where receiver thermal noise (1 noise) is the limiting factor it is also trne that the noise power will be reduced by 3 db, if we cut our receiver bandwidth in half. ‘There is considerable difference of opinion whether there is any signal-to-noise improvement in halving the bandwidth in the presence of im- pulse-type noise. The nuisance value of this type of noise is strictly a subjective matter and as far as this writer is concerned has yet to il be resolved to everyone's satisfaction. So, rather than be accused of tying to claim 3 db, that might not actually be merited, we will conclude (for now at any Yate) that we can gain 3 db, in the case of thermal noise and none in the case of impulse noise. How much of this total of 9 db. is actually realized in actual operation? 1c all depends. For the conditions outlined, the first 6 db. are snre-fire available. Since under most ama- teur operating conditions, signals are not usually marginal—that is—competing with re- ceiver thermal noise, the extra 8 db. are not usually noticed even though they are there. However, there is the more insidious matter of co-channel and adjacent-channel QRM from our brother Hams, This type of interference cannot be evaluated easily in terms of db. gain. Everyone knows that cutting down the receiver bandwidth will do wonders for this too. So you can safely conclude that we can gain 6 db. at the transmitter plus an undetermined num- ber of db. at the receiver. The actual receiver advantage will depend on the conditions under which you are operating at the moment. 1.3—Power Economy ‘There is another way of looking at thi doublesideband versus single sideband compari- son, Suppose that we have a onekilowatt, average-power, doublesideband AM transmit ter and a one-kilowatt, peak-power, single-side- nsmitter. Please take a second look at ized words. Without regard to the ndwidths involved and assuming ‘no noise or QRM problems, from the previous discussion we know that the two transmitters will pro- duce exactly the same amount of audio at the receiver output, Again look at the italicized words. The conventional AM transmitter is running | kw, average-power all of the time when you are not talking, and 4 kw. on peaks of 100% modulation. On the other hand, the SSB uansmitter probably runs about 300 to 500 watts (depending on the persons voice) average power only when you are talking. With no voice input, there is no wansmitter output and only a small amount of idling plate power pat (usually about % to 4 of the maximum plate dissipation of the final tubes). In our foregoing comparisons of the AM and SSB operation of a transmitter we have neglect- ed the slight differences in operating efficiencies of the class C (in the AM case) and the class B (SSB case) amplifiers. We feel that this is only worthy of passing notice since the class C efficiency is about 75% while the class B effi- ciency is about 65%. There is one further point that should be made at this time, The FOC has interpreted its “one kilowatt input to the final amplifier” for SSB transmitters in this way: ‘The product of the average plate current in the final amplifierTuning In Same Final Amplifier Used on §.8.B. 400 watts Maximum power on voice peaks 400 watts 100 watts (Continuous) ‘Average power ‘Approx. 100 to 200 watts (only when taking) ‘Sldcband power Bandwigth Recelver oatpet power (relative) D.C, plate voltage and the plate voltage applicd should not ex- ceed one kilowatt. This average plate current is the maximum value to which the needle swings on normal voice input. ‘The meter used must have a time constant not to exceed 14 second. This is the time constant found in practically al] milliammeters normally used for amateur work. No additional damping of the meter may be used. What does all this mean? Tt means simply that the average input power may go to one kilowatt while the peaks of the SSB signal go as high as the linearity of the amplifiers will permit. The pcak-to-average ratio in the operator's voice will be the deter- mining factor in this matter. The usual male voice Tanges anywhere from 134 to 1 up to 3 to 1 in peak-to-average ratio, ‘Thus, the maxi mum power for a “legal 1 kw.” SSB transinitter may be anywhere fram 134 kw. to 3 kw. input— and please note: all of this power is useful. 1.4—Tuning In SSB Signals Using a conventional superhet receiver, we have a choice of two systems of tuning in single-sideband, signals. Merion A: (Front-end carrier insertion®.#0): ‘The receiver is operated in the usual manner for phone reception; that is, aw.c. turned on, b.£o, off, and rf gain fullon. A BC-221 [re quency meter, or similar auxiliary oscillator is used in conjunction with the secciver inthe following manner: Center the SSB signal in the pass-band of the receiver's i-f stages by tun- ing for maximum kick on the S-meter. Tune the auxiliary oscillator slowly through the fre quency occupied by the SSB signal and you will find that the signal will pass through ‘the characteristic “Mickey Monse” high pitched sound to the guttural “Mortimer Snerd” sound. In between these wo extremes lies the narrow margin of intelligible copy. If by chance you have the artificial carrier on the wrong side of the SSB signal, the region between the high and low pitched sounds will not yield under- standable output, so move the oscillator signal over to the other side of the signal. You may have been trying to copy a lower-sideband sig- nal as an upper-sidchand sigual, or vice versa 50 watts G sidebards) 600 volts (example) 400 watts (1 stieband) SSB and AM Comparison. Here is a rule-of-thumb to remember. To tune in a lowersideband signal the carrier must be on the high frequency side, and to tune in an uppersideband signal the carrier must be on the low frequency side of the SSB signal. Assuming that you have the carrier correctly placed, you can tune the receiver itself back and forth across the combination of the SSB and oscillator signal for optimum receiv: ing conditions. The amplitude of the artificial carrier should he adjusted by varying the oscillator coupling, to the receiver antenna terminal, so that the maximum audio is recovered from the SSB sig nal with no signs of distortion due to over- modulation of the carrier. If heavy QRM encountered, inserting a stronger carrier will prevent “capture effect” of the second detector hy other strong carriers. ‘The caystal filter may be used in a normal manner to notch ont interfering heterodynes and to reduce the receiver bandwidth to match the SSB signal bandwidth. You can tell which sideband is being wansmitted by determining to which side of the carrier the ‘receiver must be tuned in order to derive the maximum audio output from the signal. ‘The receiver must be reasonably sclective to do this, however, MetHop B: (b. the receiver still carrier insertion). With the conventional AM posi- tion, tame in the SSB signal for maximum S- meter kick. Turn off the av.c, back off the rf gain, turn the audio gain up to maximum, and lastly turn on the b-Eo switch, Slowly tune the bfo pitch control (not the front end of the receiver) so that the b-Fo frequency passes through the band of frequencies occupied by the SSB signal. At one point in its journey the bfo will correctly demodulate the SSB signal and the “stuff” will come out as English and not Chinese. Bring up the rf gain until a comfortable level is available. Advancing the gain too far will produce a garbled signal that Cannot be detected no matter where you place the b-fo carrier. Too much gain causes the SSB signal to overmodulate the blo carrier causing plenty of second-harmonic distortion,Receiver Adapters 1.5—Adapters For Receiving SSB ‘There are three prime requirements that must be preseut in any good single sideband receiving system: (1) Stability @) Selectivity-8 ke, bandwidth with re- jection outside this range, this means ood skirt selectivity. (8) Exalted carrier reception—this incans having the b-f-o voltage at least ten to one-Inindred times as great as any other signal that is present in the second detector, This reduces the monkey Chauer caused by suong QRA-ing signals cross-modulating with each other upon detection. 1 don’t believe that much need be said about requirement (1), cither you have a stable re- ceiver or you haven't and in the latter case you may be forced to do something about it However, requirement (2), selectivity, can be dealt with to good results. ‘The most desirable place to achieve selectivity in a receiver is as lose to the front end as possible. This means immediately after the high frequency mixer. Preimtermediae frequency selectivity is de- sirable because Ic prevents strong adjacent channel signals from producing distortion prod- ucts in the latter if amplifiers. These distor- tion products appear as splatter on the signal mixer ve saz, Ree 8 to which we ure listening while in reality these products are not transmitted by the ollending stations, ‘The only means available to us to achieve pre-i. selectivity are crystal filters?33 of some configuration, or one of the new mechanical filters recently introduced by Col- lins Radio Cos Postintermediate frequency sclectivity is fairly common in the Hum shack today. ‘The “Lazy Man's Q-Fiyer"\4 is probably the most familiar of the double-conversion arrange- nents, This unit, the BC-453 surplus receiver, is quite cflective in increasing the selectivity of a receiver, The b.£0. of the outboard receiver is used to furnish carrier for SSB signals, ‘The b.Lo. frequency must be off-set either to the high side or the low side of the 85-ke. inter- mediate frequency to accommodate whichever is being copicd—upper or lower sideband signals. ‘The av.c. of most receivers is useful for listen- ing co SSB signals when the BC-453 is used for detection, Coil Winding Data Lisstngle win (luc tuned). 12-68 mh., wotnd om type P-L76080 toroid form, |—1/4 mrumiber of turns as on L2, wobnd on sane P-i76830 form, tapped every ,20 twene, 14-175 number of (orm as-on 12, wound on same PorTéese form, from 455 ke. dof transformer ‘scLLAToR 4552169 KC 30, Sate Ri—0.5 mexohm, thw. Ws9—5,000 ohm, a9. 2860 ‘ohm, 1%, U1 100,000 ohm, Bw, FE lo,oit om iow, G1=19 ata. mies HA 23,000 km, 2 2, 67, Cay 100 aaa. ‘RS—27,000 ohm, Yaw. €2, C4, CM, C15, C18. 633,000 ohm, 34w. RI—250 ohm potentio~ meter feuron) RS—1 megohm, ow, R9—-10,000 ohm, 2. 6.01 efd., aise eorami C679 waa, midst warlatle Fig. 1 B+ 2000 8, €8-1.500 gata. 1 crit a, stiver €12—0.002, t8, compres- sion adder 13.003 ha, make © 2f4., 2008. ined Hauer CLT. ta, BOD. metalized paper SIma pdt water eniteh Walanecd 500 ohm to sinule sri transformer RICI—5 mb. choke REC2—25 mh, choke YL, ¥2, ¥8, T4—Copper oxide varistor WE, type D-98914. (Ger manium diodes INS may be used) ‘A. This is the "modified Single Sider," filter type, SSB receiving adopter.SSB Receiving S000 aL. voting “Titan tepaby. Cana, ren es Spiga | Wee coay | Mater the winding & nt cat) Ty seconary | te a 0987 for tap aaa % oss ons = 21.80 5 mais 1499 ~| -etmtee tap | asa as 14 2000 | cama tor up on Ts ia Zee | -tnR86 or up 920 Us 1206 in| -tasea tor op 70.50 iy ime Sas | elton foray | —ieses Ty Primary ie ee “ONDE for ae 1, Sepeary [100 Goa =r HEEL for ie ese | tas wang Fig, 1-5-B, Sidebond filter Z20-B (cou test capacity is used only 4o adjust the « must be tuned to the test frequency by its own 0.005 ufd. mica conden: it, Molybdenum Permalloy toroid forms are used with Le forms being type P-476930 ond L2 through LY forms bein torcids may be purchased from the Arnold Engineering wired into the ci More clegant means may be built to copy SSB signals. Two such adapters are described brielly. It is recommended that the original references be consulted for the whole story. 20 Ke. Filter Adapter ‘The first of such adapters is the double-con- version 20-Ke. filter adapter222 as seen in Fig. Void. Gperation. is a bellows: “The ht signal x POWER INSERTION LOSS ~ 08, «<8 FREQENCY WW Ke 2 Mees 1-8-C, Attenuation characteristic of the 2-20-8 sidebend filer shown in Figure 1-5-8. FM. Berry, WOMNN}, Note that the inductance fo the tap, The total winding and then re LI and type P-284395. The 4 Merengo, Ill. from the receiver are mixed in the GSAT stage, TZ, with the oscillator signal from dhe Clapp. oscillator, V2, to produce i-f signals in the 20- ke. region, ‘The conversion oscillator operates approximately 16.9 ke. higher or lower thant the 455-ke, frequency, The signals then pass through the 25-ke wide bandpass filter which selects only the desired signal. ‘The signal is then detected by amixing it with an exalted carrier at 16.9 ke. in the ring-modulator mixer using copper-oxide rectifiers as diodes. Ger- mianium diodes such as the IN34 may be used. ‘The detected signals are then amplified by a conventional audio aniplier, 3b." By leavin the reinserted carrier at 16.9 ke. and switching the first hetcrodyning oscillator from 16.9 ke. above to 16.9 ke. below the 455-ke. input fre- quency sideband switch may be accomplished. Figure 1-5-B shows the schematic of a very fine filter which can be used in the adapter, Figure 1-5-C shows the response curve of the aligned fiter.* 1 suggest that you consult au article by Berry? for particulars on how to wind toroids and for fier alignment procedures."* ¢ & Willinmson, See Bdvertisement page, #6 Or write P.M. Dery, WOMN! face, Kansas City, Mo. 1200 Kast 49th ‘TereAdapters Phasing Type Adapter The seeond adapter is the “Signal Slicer” originally described by Norgaard. ‘This unit, Fig. 1-5-D, utilizes the phasing principle of detection ‘and post-detection combination to iminate between sidebands of a received ‘The principle is very similar to that of the phasing-type single-sideband exciter. The incoming if signals arc detccted by the two diodes in the 6AL5, V2, by mixing them with the r-f voltage from the 455 ke. oscillator, Mla. This rf voltage is divided into two equal parts and shifted in phase with respect to each other by 90° in the R/C networks R3-C8, C9 and R4-C7. The two separate signals after detee- tion are passed through the phase-shift net: works designated PSZ, and then combined the oueput of 174. One stage of audio amplif- cation, I'1b, is included, The net result is that depending on the position of the switch, SI, va, 3 eats Wear? ap, "S300 cmt, “Un RS“10.000 ohms, tw, RS, RYT mugolim, Re, 1410 51,000 ohms, “in 8 R9-29,000 ohm, Ym RU, RI2—3.5. mezohms, T15—680,000 ohms, Rid, KiS--2,000. ohms "awe, 196 prectaion 230,900" obms, No, 6 “1080 wh Rd2=100,000 ha, YE H38— 5.600 oti, "awe 900 ‘ohrns, 3a. Tate mecolns, Sw C1140 utd. variate C2250 anf. mica €3—0.008 fa, mien C4—0,003 afd. mica €5—0.001 td. mien Ce. a paper ag, HIT 7.000 ohms, tam pute BY een Ris, R21—-133,300 ohms, C815 autd., 5%; miea Vis, 1h precision C350 uyfd, variable 1-5-0. The parts list and wiing diagram of adapter, modified by W9DYY, from the = the signals on one side of the 455-ke. oscillator frequency will be combined in such a way as to be canectted out to a major degree while the signals on the other side of the oscillator will be reinforced and will be heard in the head phones, This unit effectively splits the receiver selectivity characteristic in half—rejecting the one half while receiving the other, Again, 1 snggest that the original article be consulted for detailed constructional information and for alignment. The phaseshift network, PS-1, is ailable commercially fom the James Millen Co. ‘The unit is aligned and no further ad: justment is needed. “The complete adapter is also being marketed either in kit form or in wired form at a reasonable price. “Apparent” Broadness Of SSB Signals This subject is just a little “touehy,” but must be treated openly for the good of all The complaint of many phone men of broad ‘RESISTORS ae war ExcePT ‘wiene horeD ‘SuITeH $4 FUNCTIONS sett, FE socomo1 2 wo 3 Sokomo 2 2 Neat ner 1p, C1119 afi mes tohed within "2"2) CTO fut mica O01 afd, mica cas 210 auta, (pariletod 0.002 fa, 19-041 fa, a paner C2310 pt. Tie J -epen cireuit phone heck Li, L2, 13, 14 National R100 raf choke: modi= fied so that second i C4850 aya, (paralleled 0.0083. 44d, hd 170-080" ua. trimmer) 178085 pata, (paralleled 600, outa, aod 8380 jutd. ‘The rematning pi's are connected in se trimmer) PS.1—two channel 99° 181,215 aut. rase shift network Uoaratihet On ata, Paes SRE networks aod '50c880 ytd, 1a, Stb-2-pale, 4-nosi- trimmer) thon water switch hasing type sugle-sdebend inal design of W2KUJ.SSB signals adds up to about this: The re- ceiver used is being operated with a.y.c. turned on and at full rf gain. When tuned to a chan nel next to that occupied by a SSB station and copying no signal (or at least x weak one) the receiver is really wide open. The nonexistence of av-c voltage has raised the gain of the rf and iff stages so that the effective bandwidth of the receiver is perhaps 15 or 20 kilocycles in- stead of the 8 kilocycles measured by the manu facturer at the “hal-power” points, Naturally, when the adjacentchannel—S$B_ signal. starts up it is going to be heard and quite londly! ‘The “jumping-up-and-down” of the SSB signal creates quite a terrifying effect on the ave SSB Reception SSB receiving adaptey yeloped by W2KUJ ond featured in the "G.E. Hem News" (November/Docom- ber, 1948). Readers moy obtein a useful "SSB Pack: fage" containing all the ma- jerial published in the G.E, Hem News" by writ- ing to Lighthouse Larry, Tube Department, General Electric, Schenectady 5. New York (Courtesy General Bleetrie) system too, Consider now what the casc mi; haye been if the SSB signal had been an un- modulated carricr of the same peak amplitude, The receiver av-c voltage would have been raised and eld dhere, the resul—reduced re ceiver sensitivity. The effective receiver band- width would have been reduced some and de- pending on its strength the desired signal might not have been heard at all. In the SSB case, the remedy is to increase the receiver selec: tivity by using the crystal filter, turn off the aw-c, and manually adjust the rf gain for just enough gain to do the job. You may be surprised to find that the SSB signal is not broad after all,Chapter Il The Filter Method As in the receiving adapters described in Chapter I, there are two methods of generating 2 single-sideband signal available. The older method in use for many years is the filter method, The other system which has become popular in the last few years is the phasing method. Fach has its own points and careful work will produce a satisfactory signal using either system. Gonversely sloppy workmanship will yield a sloppy signal with elther system, 1 would like to spend a little time dealing with each system, outlining what takes place, so that die beginner can beter understand what he is arying to do when he tackles an SSB exciter. 2.1—Filter Methods and Designs As we saw in Chapter Ian AM signal is com posed of a curier (occupying no bandwith) and two sidebands. The sidebands are like the car- rier, in that they are actual rf signals distrib- uted either side of the carrier in the spectrum. The sideband components corresponding to the lower audio modulating frequencies are close to the carrier, and the higher audio frequencies are proportionately farther away from the car rier. The two sideband signals are identical, in that they carry the same intelligence. ‘The filter- type of SSB exciter must separate these two side-bands, transmitting one and attenuating the other. The matter of carrier suppression is Secondary, and can be accomplished with tela- tive case, Tt is not feasible, from a practical standpoint, to accomplish the filtering process at the final operating frequency for these reasons: First, finding circnic components to separate the side- bands, whether coils and condensers, or crystal i filters, would be an almost impossible job. Second, if we wished to move frequency, all the circuit components would have to be retuned for the new set of conditions, There is, how- ever, an easier way, Generate the SSB signal at some lower fixed-frequency, and then hetero- dyne it up with conventional mixers to the desired frequency. This procedure solves both problems for us, in that it niakes our filtering. problems simpler, wid because the VFO can be used as the heterodyning oscillator to put us anywhere in a particular Ham band. Early Model Filters ‘The first filters built for this purpose were in the higher audio frequencies, ie., from about 10 ke, to 25 ke. Direct heterodyning into ama- teur bands from this low frequency is noc prac- tical, because, when two signals are mixed (or heterodyned), the output products are the orig- inal signals and the sum and dillerence of these original signals. If we heterodyned to 4.0 Mc., for cxample, the tuned circuits would not allow the original 25-ke. signal to appear in the out put, but the original mixing oscillator near 4.0 Me. would be present and both the sum and difference of the ovo signals would appear in the ouput. This would give us a steady carrier and an uppersideband 25 kc. above this car- rier and a lowersidchand displaced 25 ke. lower than this carricr. This is undesirable, to say the Teast. Thus it was necessary wo first heterodyne the 25-ke. SSB signal up to about 450 ke, so that normal if transformers could discriminate between the various products of mixing, and select the desired one. ‘Then it was necessary to heterodyne once more into the desired amateur band, making this last mixing- oscillator variable for v--o control of the out- put signal, The first transmitters described for18 amateur use utilized this systen.4242. “They were a little comples in adjustment, number of tubes, and tuned circuits used; however, they produced a very high degree of sideband ennation. The advent of crystal filters for amateur use,71 made possible the generation of SSB signals in the region of 100 to 500 ke. This eliminated the necessity of the extra heterodyning operation. ‘Ihe sideband filter, whether at 25 ke. and made of toroid coils and condensers, or at 450 ke. and made of quartz crystals, must have cer- tain characteristics to be acceptable for use. ‘The Liter, whether bandpass, or high-pass or low-pass in nature, must be capable of separac- ing the sideband components close t© the cat rier on the high-frequency side from those dose to the carrier on the low-frequency side. This dictates a sharp drop-off in the filter re- sponse characteristic, or, as the boys say, a good skin response. We cannot obtain practical racteristics with a vertical drop olf, so st be content with an attenuation of to 60 db, in about 600 cps. We can res soca. ‘seme draracteristic and specch amplifier be enough for good specch intelligibi means that frequencies above $000 eps should be attenuated, first of all, to conserve spectrum space, and to result in a pleasant sounding signal, Since we have eliminated the low-fre- quency speech components, cropping the high frequencies will produce a balanced-sounding signal that will be more intelligible, ‘The only thing remaining now is to hetero: dyne the 450-ke, SSB signal up to a desired frequency in an amateur band. Refer to Fig. 21-4 for a block diagram of a simple crystal- filter SSB exciter, You will nove that an upper. sideband signal is generated in the filter, and when it reaches the 4.0-Mc, band it has changed into a lower-sideband signal. How come? ‘Take a pencil and figure it out for yourself. Take 450 ke. as a suppressed-carrior frequency, and 452 ke. ns being the frequency of an upper- sideband resulting from 2 2000-cps input tone. If we use the dilferencesmixture of these fre- quencies, and a 4350-ke. v-£0 voltage, do the following: (1) Subtract 450 ke, (carrier) from ee fea 7 ‘ eet ‘APL woaltiros [soe Fibs winatts [lowe LL ae cackittron Fig. 2-l-A. Block diagram of simple crystal: help quency part way down this slope of the filter is situation by moving our carrier fre- characteristic, We accomplish two things by doing this: (1) We attenuate the useless, power wasting, low speech frequencies below about 400 cps and (2) allow the filter to be more effective on the portion of the undesired sideband near- est the carrier. .A good rule of thumb to follow in placing the carrier on the slope of a filter is to put it about 20 db, down on the response of the filter characteristic. "This should result in the transmission of few Frequencies below 500 cps. If the cartier is so placed and the speech response is not up to maximum until you reach a frequency of 700 or 800 eps, the filter skirt is not steep enough, and measures must be taken to correct this. "The commercial standard for 2 good sideband filter is 80 db. drop in the filter skirt in 1 Kel This is a bit more than required. for amateur use, but it will give you something to shoot for! ‘The high-trequency response of the filter ve, atore jer type SSB exciter, 4350 ke. Result—3900 ke. carrier frequency (2) Subtract 452 (sideband) from 4350 ke. Re- She 668 Ke. sideband frequency. So, in the 75-meter_ band our sideband is lower in Ire. quency than the carrier—a lower sideband, 2.2—Heterodyning ‘This section applies to the phasing type of excilers as well as to the filler exciters. Hetero- dyning, or mixing, as it is more commonly known, is the process whereby two rf voltages of different frequencies are combined in a non- linear device so that either the sum or difference ‘of the two frequencies is present in the output Normally, tuned circuits are_nsed to select the mixture product we want. The nonlinear de- vice mentioned in the formal sounding defini tion can be an ordinary vacuum tube, either triode or multigrid type. Diodes, either vacua or germanium, also serve as uonlinearCrystal Filters elements. In the transmitter-exciters to be de scribed, both types are used. In mixing i non-linear device, the output amplitude of the desixed product must be in linear amplitude relation with its corresponding input signal. What docs this fancy sounding statement mean? It means that when heterodyning an SSB sig- nal from one frequency to another, the output SSB signal must vary in the same proportion, amplitude-wise, as the input SSB signal. To accomplish this, the mixing oscillator voltage must be several times greater than the SSB signal, the usually accepted ratio being ten to one. For every volt of signal, we will requit ten volts of mixing oscillator voltage. This is a safe figure and should eliminate any pow bility of signal distortion taking place in the mixer 2.3—Amplifiers We have dealt briefly with the filter systems used in generating a SSB signal. ‘This SSB signal has variations in amplitude of its various rf components, which means that we cannot use conventional class C amplifiers to amplify it. As we must faithfully reproduce the signal as originally generated, the amplifiers must be linear, Linear amplification, in words of one syllable, means that, if the input voltage doubles in amplitude (from 1 to 2 volts, for example), the amplified ontput voltage must change in the same proportion (20 to 40 volt increase). ‘There are various classes of linear amplifiers —depending on how much driving power is used and what amount of grid-bins is used, Class A, AB), ABs, or class B amplification may be used depending on the voltage or power level involved. Ordinarily, class A or class ABs amplifiers are used at low levels for voltage amplification of generated SSB signals. Class AB: and B stages are used for power amplifi- cation in the high-level final amplificr stages, Amplifiers will be dealt with in more detail a later chapter. Here, we will be content with only the voltage amplifier stages—class A and AB:, Further discussion will be deferred antil we cover the section describing specific exciters. 2.4—A Crystal-Filter SSB Exciter As representative of the filtertype cxciter, the circuit shown in Fig. 2-f-A was chosen. Basically, the circuit is that of Edmunds and has Jong since been nicknamed the “WIJEO filter.” “The author fele that the original filter has some inherent disadvantages, namely: The alignment was a compromise one, in which best sideband sapprenion did not oceur when best passband characteristics were realized. ‘The slope of the filter characteristic would not be steep cnough when the adjustments for maxi- _19 mum undesired sideband suppresion were made, Generally, there would also be a latge dip in the middle of the transmitted sideband characteristic. Many of the boys using this type of filter had successfully modified it as follows: Following Edmunds’ original. align- ment procedure with the three-crystal filter, as described in QST, careful adjustment was made for best pass-band shape, without worrying too much about the suppressed sideband charac. teristic. Then the frequencies at which humps appeared in the filter characteristic on the sup- pressed sideband part of the curve were noted. Additional FT-241 crystals were chosen so that their seriesresonant frequencies were at the frequencies of worst attenuation. ‘These extra crystals were then connected in parallel with the input erystal (Crysial “B” in Fig, 24-4), with the output crystal (Crystal “D”), or both places. As few as two or as many as (en extra crystals have been used. Ken Stiles, W2MTJ, original ly conceived these modifications, aiitl suggests that additional crystals may be used to. im- prove the steepness of the filter cutoff charac- teristic next to the carrier frequency. Exact Determii The series-resonant frequency of a FE-2I1 low-frequency crystal miay be determined in the following manner: Connect the crystal in series with the hot lead of a BG221 frequency meter (or a signal generator) and the inpur lead of a scope, sensitive rf vacuumeube volmeter, of some other indicating device that will respond to the frequency range of 100 to 500 kilocycles. Slowly tune the signal generator through the range of the crystal, and a sharp kick will he noted on the VIVM or oscilloscope. This sharp rise indicates the series-resonant frequen- cy of the crystal. Carefully check this peak, Shunt cirewit capacity should not move it, so no great care need he taken in cireuit arronge- ment. One of the SSB gang, WIRL, who tried this modified filter scheme, said (hat he used wo additional erystals. One of the evystals was chosen for the channel between the carrier crystal (Crystal A) and the rejection crystal (Crystal B). ‘The other extra crystal was chosen to be very close to the carrier suppression crys: tal (Crystal D). As in Edmunds’ original article, Crystals A and D are chosen at the catrier fre: quency. Grystal @ is the bandpass aystal— used to pass the desired frequencies—and for upper sideband generation is one channel higher than the carrier frequency crystal. Crys: tal B is the lowersideband suppression crystal and is two channels below the cartier frequency crystal, ‘The above-mentioned modifications will im- prove the sideband suppression of the WIJEO filter to approximately 40 dh., as opposed to the 25 db, available on the unmodified filer. ation of Crystal FrequenciesCoil Winding Data 14, 18, 122.5 mh 18, L645 turns, #28 formex on National XR-50 ott form, LA, L5-8 turn link of inoulated wire wound on cold endef TS and Le. LS—18 turne #18 former seine on Nations) XR50 coil form. 19-8 tuens Gnsulated wire) wound on cold end of LE. L10 ; 49 Me: 30 tums, #18 on 1147 Ta Me plug-in 16 turns, =18 on 114° din. form. LUL—4 turns, *18 wound on cold end of L10. Cirevit Particulars Certain requirements were outlined for the exciter shown in Fig. 24-4. These were: (1) Band switching operation on at least wo bands, (2) carrier reinsertion for working the unen- lightened, (8) voice control, and (4) enough output to drive most of the higher-powered final amplifier tubes without an additional amplifier stage. Referring to Fig. 24-4, we will consider the schematic in logical order. The speech ampli- fier, Vla and Vb, is conventional, and has sufficient gain for a high impedance micro- phone. 2a, the mixer portion of V2, is con- ventional also and is pretty much as originally described by Edmunds, However, the carrier crystal oscillator, V2b, has been changed to a Pierce oscillator because it was found that the arid-plate type of oscillator used originally was very. sluggish. By varying condenser G9 the oscillating’ frequency of the carrier crystal may he moved a sinall amount so that it may be moved into the attenuation notch of the carrier rejection crystal of the filter (Crystal D). ‘Transmitter carrier insertion is accomplished by 3, which serves as a conventional amplifier with choke, L2, as plate load. Potentiometer, R15, controls the amount of carrier insertion. ‘The filter has been discussed previously. It was felt that sideband switching is not normally required, so only the one sideband filter is shown. You will note that the filter is set up for upper sideband generation. Normally the lower sideband is tansmitted on both 75 meters and 40 meters. In order to come out with a lower sideband on the 4.0-Mc. band, the vo. must operate above the T5-meter hand in frequency by an amount equal to the filter carrier frequency ‘This will make our v.£0, tune the range of approximately 4.25 Mc. to 445 Mc. If 40-meter phone is contemplated it will be best ¢@ operate the unit in the manner just described. IP the filter is set up for lowersidehand generation, and the vo. operated at 8.55 Mc, the second 8 The Modified WUJEO Filter harmonic of the v.£0. will fall in the 7.0-Me band. This signal when passed through V5, the second mixer used for 40-meter operation, would appear in the output as an undesired ew signal, The donbletuned transformer, L3 and £6, was used to further attenuate. the harmonic output of the mixer and prevent the generation of spurions “birdies.” Even if the second harmonic of the v-fo. is negligible as far as actual radiation is concerned, it would certainly be strong enough to block the local receiver even when fot transmitting. Tt is xenerally the custom to leave all heterodyning oscillators run when in the stand-by position in order to insure better frequency stability. How- ever, with the v.£o. at 44 Mc, the second-har- monic is at 8.8 Mc. and even the heterodyne- mixture of the fundamental 4.4-Mc, voltage and the 3.3-Me. mixing voltage of V5 will fall well outside the 7.0-Mc. band at 7.7 Me. You can see that this business of heterodyning sig- nals here and there must not be taken too lightly. Always sit down with a pencil and paper and figure out all the possible combina- tions ‘The BC-457 Command transmitter lends it self nicely for v.fo. use, Tt is recommended that not over 150 volts regulated platesupply be used. This will minimize the drift and will still provide plenty of v-£o signal for the 4.0- Mec. mixer stage. For 4,0-Me. operation, the mixer stage em- ploying V5 is not used, as can be seen by the position of switch S1 in Fig. 24-4. 40-meter operation makes necessary the changing of SZ, as already indicated and the changing of plug: in coil, £10, in the output stage, V6. The second mixer output circuit will be broad enough to cover the 100 kc. of the 40-meter phone band without re-peaking when QSY-ing, Fig. 2-4-4, Parts list and wiring diagram of the crystal Filter exciter Ri, R27 250,000 ohm, 2, R6—2,7000 ohm tw. G24. C25, C26, 28, C29, 32, C33, C340 pr ‘800v- dice ceramte, Ra, Re, Higa coy tata tisaaer ‘hme, av Gla, cr 66" gute nf Ri io.009 ohms, camise (mathe im, eet {e "53,000 chm, 20. compression Aricimer. 300 tam Chen T nd, eaten potentiometer 1, Gao oc eh, RS TT, E0520 ohn, ioe C21, C23—140 gota, yer Ssctfon, gua} section. Cm 300' gtd, silver ‘ minis, mis, ma, Ree Fat sane ig 4 BEE Loe ent Hasse came, ae wT Shs, 130 Seem iy: Bet tase deme ow. Tea esc ae saan 6, Cheat, ee eM tnee, SB SIR ADH. Ur teed Ntal A,B, CD sce "io CR—T40 ota, ate variable, Ca O08 gytd., 600%. ‘oed-theouss ceramic, 1, T2tshke St aetallized : cre de B00 agin’, Ro, 1950 ‘oetalliaed yaper, ast, Xtal 1, 2 8, 4, 5, bse C50 at Cas, Cas) Cis," cx,wa Be et22 ‘The 6SB7Y tube was chosen as the mixer be- cause of its very high conversion-transconduc- tance. This makes for a very “hot” mixer and a minimum of stages. The choice of the 2E26 as output stage was brought about after hearing the complaints of many of the boys who have experienced trouble “taming down” the GAG7. ‘The excellent iso- lation provided by the 2E26 was a “natural.” Also the fact that the 2E26 was capable of more output at higher plate voltage made it desirable for driving some of the larger tubes directly, without any additional amplification ‘The fewer amplifier stages you have to use, the less trouble you are going to have keeping the system linear—and linearity means a clean SSB signal. ‘One note on construction in the 2E26 stage Keep the grid circuits below the chassis, and the plate tank coil and tuning condenser above the chassis. Use of the ceramic feed-thru condenser, 631, is recommended. Alignment After the filter is aligned per the original procedure and preceding suggestions, the fol- lowing should be done: Using the Hamshack communications receiver set up the v.£0. on approximately 4.45 Me. Placc S? in the 4.0- Mc. position. Feed an audio tone into the microphone input, or insert carrier by advane- ing R15. Tune the receiver to the difforcnce- frequency of the low-frequency carrier crystal (Crystal A) and the v.fo. This should be in the neighborhood of 4.0 Mc. If you are unable to find the signal at this point, lightly couple an insulated wire from the receiver antenna The Crystal—Filter Exciter post to the grid of the 2E26, pin #5, With che ganged condensers, C2 and C23, set about two- thirds engaged, adjust the slugs of £3 and L6 for maximum signal as indicated on the re- ceiver S-meter. Disconnect the receiver, use an ‘ontput indication device (neon bulb or other r£ indicator), and tune the 2E26 plate wank circuit to resonance. For 40-meter operation, change S7 to the 7.0- Mc. position and plug the 40-meter coil, LI0, in the 2E26 output. First, tune the receiver to the frequency of the 3.3Mc. crystal to make sure it is oscillating. Then, tune the receiver to the sum-frequency of the 4.0-Mc. SSB signal and the frequency of the 8.8-Me. crystal. This should be in the 7.3Mc. phone band. Adjust the dug of L$ for maximum output signal then again resonate the 2E96 output tank cir- cuit by adjusting C30. You should now be ready for operation. The unit described should give between 10 and 15 watts output “without a sweat.” Properly load- ed by an antenna or by a following amplifier, the 2E36 should be perfectly stable and free of regenerative tendencies. If such should not be the case, a swamping resistor should be placed across L10 to discourage self-oscillation. ‘The exact value of this resistor will depend on how bad a case of instability you are afflicted with. Start with a high value and gradually reduce it until the stage tames down. It is hotter to be conservative in this matter and overswamp slightly than to suffer periodic seizures of instability. Under normal operation the plate current of the 2F26 should kick up- ward slightly. No grid current should flow in this stage, however.Chapter III The Phasing Method ‘The heart of the phasing rig is the audio phase-shift network. ‘This formidable sound- ing gadget is merely a group of resistors and condensers chosen carefully and arranged in a certain way so that if a single tone in the voice frequency range is fed into the input the fol- lowing takes place: ‘The voltage is immediately divided into two channels and the phase rela- tion of the separated voltages with respect to each other is changed, so that instead of the two voltages being in phase at all frequencies, they differ by 90° when they reach the two sets of output terminals, This 90° phase difference is maintained at all the speech frequencies in which we are interested—normally from 250 cps to 8000 cps, The other requirement of the network is that the two output voltages must have exactly the same amplitude with respect to each other for all frequencies in the speech range. These are quite rigid requirements, and it was only in recent years that designers have been able to come up with practical networks that could be buile3 You will note that 1% components are used in the network—this ac curacy is very necessary, and any deviation from this will adversely affect the degree of side- band suppression, 3.1—R.F. Phase-Shift Networks ‘There is one more pitase-shift network in phasing exciters that must be considered. It is the 90° rf phase-shift network. This is con- cerned with only one frequency (not a band of frequencies like the af network), and isa cinch to build and to understand, ‘There are various ways of obtaining rf phase shifts, The easiest method is that of using two lightly-coupled tuned circuits as follows: One of the circuits is detuned on the high-frequency side to the 3 db. point. (This is where the voltage across the tuned circuit is 8 db. or 70% less than the voltage when tuned to the carrier frequency.) The other tuned circuit is tuned to the 3 ab. point on the low-frequency side of the cartier. Under these conditions the voltages existing across the two coupled link windings (see Fig. 3-2-4) are 90° apart in the phase relationship, Now that we understand all about these phase-shift networks (who said that?) let's pro- ceed with the theory of what happens in a phasing exciter. Follow along with the block diagram, Fig. 3-2-4. The speech amplifier out- put is fed into the audio phase-shift network, where, as we mentioned, two equal outputs are aa Oty H i ie J PRESB * bs i ‘PEECH soar] | a ae 1 | ao Lassa i 4 PHASE Suet] | 4.0. SHET Me, a fervor | | Netwowe | | [TEED ox fae] UMAR adhe i | — rt aad ca woSueroR| poe od Fig. 3-1-A. This is a block diagram following page. It is 2 fundemental-f Full details in the Nov-Dec. 1950 23 of the “SSB, Jr." shown on tho: requoney type of phasing exciter issue of the "G.E, Ham News.24 Sideband Switching obtained, ‘These equal outputs are cach fed into separate diode balanced-modulators. These balanced modulators are crystal mixers (men- tioned in the section on heterodyning in Chap- ter HI) that are arranged so that the mixing oscillator voltage is balanced ont in the output tank circuit, The rf carrier is generued in a crystal oscillator and fed into the rf phase- shift network, where the two outputs are fed into the balanced modulators mentioned above. Look again at what we have. We have two separate channels where a carrier is combined with a modulating frequency. The carriers have the same frequency, but are 90° out of phase with each other. The modulating fre: quencies in the two channels are the same an plitude, but also differ by 90° from eacli other. ‘The individual balanced modulator outpnt consists of a doublesideband suppressed car- rier signal. Remember—we balanced out the carriers, These two sets of sidebands are then combined in a common tank circuit. Sideband Switching All of this fooling around wich phase rela- tionships now pays off, Let's take a specific example: ‘The upper sideband voltages of the uwo channels will be equal in amplitnde, but due to all the phasc changes we have purposely made along the line the component voltages of the two upper sideband are exactly 180° out of phase. ‘This means that when combined in a linear device like the tuned tank circuit, the upper-sideband voltages will cancel each other. However, tlhe lower sideband voltages in both channels will not be ont-of-phase, but will be exactly in-phase and will add up vectorially to give a lowersideband voltage twice as large as that existing in either channel, In order to switch sidebands—attenuate the lower and transmit the upper sideband—all that need be done is to reverse the phase of the audio volt- age feeding one of the balanced modulators. This is done by interchanging any wo audio Ieads going into oue of the balanced modu lntors. Ordinary donble-sideband-with-carrier_ trans: mission may be accomplished with a phasing transmitter. To accomplish this, one of the balanced modulators must be disabled, and the curier of the other balanced modulator un- balanced sufficiently to provide enough carrier to permit proper demodulation of its side- bands at a distant receiver. There is one good point about producing AM this way. If over: modulation takes place, negative peak clipping does not occur, therefore, there are no spurious splatter products generated. However, there is second harmonic distortion present upon detec- tion, but 2 fair amount of this may be tolerated before the signal becomes unintelligible. Phase Modulation Phasing-type exciters can also be made to produce phase modulation. Phase modulation is produced by having a double-sideband sup- pressed-carrier signal as produced in either of our balanced modulators combined with a car- rier that is shifted in phase by 90° from that originally present in the balanced modulator in question. ‘This can be easily accomplished in our exciter by taking the sidebands with no carrier from one balanced modulator and add- ing a carrier with no sidebands from the other balanced modulator. Switches can be easily provided to do this.Phasing Exciters 25 3.2—The Phasing Exciter We are grateful 16 WODYV of Central Elec- tronics for permission to publish 2 portion of his “Multiphase” exciter schematic. These very popular wuits are available commercially, either in kit form or completely wired. The circuit is basically that of the “SSB, Junior,” devised by Norgaard bur with im- provements that make multiband operation possible. ‘The original SSB, Jr. exciter was Tundamentalfrequency operating gadget. It operated fundamentally ai 4.0 Me., and if the operator wished to QSY more than a few kilo- cycles, he found it necessary to realign the rf phase-shift network in order to maintain good sideband suppression. Wes, W9DYV, modified the idea by generating the SSB signal at a fixed frequency of 9.0 Mc. and heteradyning into the desired amateur band with a separate mixer stage, just as was done_in the filter-type ex- citet. V..0. operation is, of course, possible when using this scheme, Remembering the foregoing discussion about the phasing method of generating SSB signals, we now refer to Fig. Via and Vib are the usual speech preamplifiers. 20 is the af driver stage which feeds the audio phase-shift network through the transformer, TZ, Con- struction by the average Ham, of the a-£ phase: shift network, is possible, but a complete ned unit is available for about the same price for which we could bny the necessary pre- cision stable components. V3a and V3b are the dual-channel amplifiers wherein the audio balance is obtained by ad- justment of the cathode resistor, R/S. The transformers, T2 and 73, are plate-tolow im- pedance line transformers used to drive the diode balanced modulators. W9DYV indicates that suitable units are not easily obtained on the market so he has special transformers built for his production needs. Switch, SZ, is the fane- switch which permits selection of side- bands, or of AM or PM transmission. Studying the switch positions will show that changing from one sideband to the other merely inter- changes the conections on the output of T2, while switching to the AM and PM positions disconnects the secondary of T3 from its asso- ciated balanced modulator. ‘The audio in the vwo separate channels is applied, in series with the r.f from the link windings on LI and 12, to the balanced modu. lators. -¥/ and ¥2 are the diodes of the bal- Above chassis 1 power supply not show: pages. The output sta r view of the Model 108 "'Multiphas ‘he general schemet 5, with plug-in coils is in the upper I section. In the contor of the chassis is V4, Tho audi is mounted in the rectangulor can beside the of th i in the shielded hase, ait network, PS: lay at the lower ti Y eurtany Genial tateCoil Winding Data 1a, L2—9.0 Me., tank wound on Cambridge ‘Ther= mionies slug-tined form 15-8. 128.0 Me,, balanced mod. tank wound on L&2 ‘form, 15, LI-19 Mo, v-fo harmonic trapa wound on 1s, Ltt Me, LS3 form. 1A, Lao Mt a Be. 15 turns FIB on 134" dias ptuesin veto harmonic trap wound on 80 turns #18 on 114° dia. plug Note—L1 through Lif may be obtained ready-made From Central Eleetrontes. anced modulator involved with LI and 72. Likewise ¥3 and Y4 are associated with L2 and 73. The Ref Circuitry ¥2b is the 9.0-Me. crystal oscillator, and utilizes L7 as its plate tank coil. The resonant frequency of the L1/C11 combination must be higher in frequency than 9.0 Mc, in order for the crystal to oscillate; therefore, to obtain our 90° rf phaseshift, L2 and C13 will have to be tuned lower in frequency than 9.0 Mc. You will notice that there is no physical connection from L2 to the oscillator tank. Lf and L2 may be mounted physically within a couple of inches of each other, and the circuit capacity furnishes sufficient coupling to do the job. Condensexs C9 and G/0 prevent rf. from getting into the audio transformers; yet they must not appear as a low reactance at audio frequencies, Carrier balance is accomplished by adjusting R23 and R24. Both must be carefully balanced in order to cancel the carrier completely, ‘The balanced-modulator output transformer 13 is the point where the outputs of the two previously separate channels are combined, The R11 megohm, 46. fe, Rene a0e oh 1 Ry t00900 ame, iv, fd—220'000 ohms, Se Re 220000 chien) 2m RE, Bigestos 800" ohms, ‘ct Nae 111 210,619 obme,_ 183, R9—100,000 ohms, Ri3560 ohms, law, Le, JAW. R37—100 ohms, 1w. oe eae R39—10,000 chme, % R13, R26—47,000 ohms, RAO. 100,000 obi, EW ie 1, C8—0.005 uf, 800%, ie ite, ma1—,000 taper, ima, iw. cee ta, 500., R15—400 ohms, 1%, t4w. electrolytic, Rug—00 ohms. 1%. C1250 pat, mics we ie, Rot BR27—189 ohms, tw, U3 —1.700 emis, 2, 25, Ro 15,000 ohms, Sie. Roz,” Rse—swamplng 52.480 wal shims, “iw. “afd, anton" 5 1RiS=2"000" ohm rosie era. terme potentiometer in pacalel) 122-00,000 "ohh nag, Re4~—1,000, potentiometer. 1,000 ohns, C6 4,860 musd., (0.0018, fd, “wmten 3 5% with 170-790 uh trimmer Io parallel) Fi ig. -2-A. Pertial schematic of the “Mulfiphese™ exci Central Electronics additional double-tuned transtormer, consisting of Z¢ and L5, is necessary to further attenuate the second-harmonic of the 9.0-Mc. oscillator, generated in the germanium diodes of the balanced-modulator stage. The mixer stage, V4, is conventional with the exception of the wap circuits, L6 and 17, and their associated tuning condensers. They are necessary, when operating in the 14-Mc. amateur band, to attenuate the third harmonic of the 5.0-Mc. mixing voltage. The same vo. may be used for both 4.0- and ]4-Mc. opera tion, for the difference between the 9.6-Mc. SSB signal and the 5.0-Mc. mixing voltage will put the output at 1.0 Me. Tf the sumamixture is selected by the mixer plate tank circuit, L8 and C27, the output will be in the 14.0-Mc. amateur band, ‘The output amplifier, 75, is the inevitable GAG. The output is shuntied, and obtained by means of a tap on the plate coil. ‘The swamping resistors, R32 and R38, are usually necessary in order to stabilize the 6AG7 stage. Without these resistors self-oscillation often results. The exact values of these re- sistors are not shown; the highest value of resistance commensurate with stable operation should be used. Always insure that all stages are rock solid hefore the unit is “buttoned up.” You will note, when in stand-by position (S3 open), that there is a minus 100 volts of bias applied to the conirol grid of the 6AG7 and the oscillator grid of the 6BA7-mixer. This thoronghly squelches the output of the exciter. When $3 is closed, the mixer returns to its nor- mal operating condition, and an operating bias of about minus 10 volts is applied to the con: trol grid of the 6AG7. Forty-meter operation is also possible with this unit. However, it is not recommenced dhat a mixing voltage at 1.8 Me. be used, hecause of the various harmonics of this frequency that CT1.215, wate, (0,001 Tata’ male” See with 0-380" untd., iriemer In parallel) 3" cbt uatd., (509 uid, mica) 10% with $180 puta, timer in ‘paralien. 9, G16, C12, G25, C35 6.00] ‘ate,’ mica, ext, CiS—Tb0 uaa, ert, Cis, c18—0.008 ibd mm cat, G1s—o-001 ata, C21, 026-380 put, ate variable, 80-941 ata. paper 270.28 ata., paper. Sta pole, 4 pesition ‘water, switch, S2-a.p.dt, water switch, Si—relny contac on ‘olve contre) rela (see text). ~ THe sntermege trans: Harmer (apeciny Gentray Bleetronice Se mica, Te AMEE. ct E50 puta, 12, T3-inale piate to ice coll. (special). cat, ca, 2s, c2s, cn, Bae cr epee Gin, GR cae ke See is, tice or ceramic, (gl a cas—i6 sata, 3% Cie pratced trom Ee ‘nica, teat Electronics CU putt, coramie or Gentes TR) ie, V1, Y2, Ya, YIN Ca—2h peta, rales, Gerrinnivim diode, courtesy Conical eletonies)Phasing ExciterFig. 33-A, Voie cont ult for use In conjunction with the "Multiphase" exciter, or the filter-type exciter described in Chapter Il. RI—260,000 ohm, Yow 2, HB, RS—2200 ohm. tw. R3—100,000 ohm, 2w. RA—250,000 ohm potentiometer. R6—10,000 ohm, 2W. RII megohm, Yew. R9—4700 chm, 1. C1, 3, CoO pt, 600v., metalized paper. will fall in or near the 7.2-Mc. phone band. ‘These harmonics are not necessarily present in the v-fo output, but are generated ia the elec- tron stream of the mixer stage. In view of this, the use of a 16.2Mc, v.£0. is recommend ed, This might take a little doing, but is not an impossible task. In any case, a frequency- stable v-fo voltage of about 3 to 8 volts is needed. Alignment Adjust the 9.0-Mc, oscillator tank, LJ, for oscillation of the crystal. With an appropriate mixing frequency fed into the v-fo jack, and the reeciver tuned to the desired mixture-out- punt frequency, adjust L3, Lf, 15, 18 and Le for maximum output with one of the carrier- balance pots slightly off-balance. Connect a oscilloscope to the ontput of the 6AG7 amplifier and use a recurrent sweep rate of about 30 per second (see Chapter X). Now, carefully balance R23 and R24 for as perfect carrier balance as possible. Feed a steady tone of about 1000 cps from an audio oscillator into the microphone jack, Make sure that the audio waveform is good and that nothing is being oyerdriven. You will see on the ascilloscope a attern that resembles a modulated AM enve- lope, Next, adjust the audio balance control, R18, and the rf phaseshift network, 12, for minimum ripple (or modulation) on ie oscillo- scope pattern. The pattern for a properly 2, C4—1.0 fd, 200¥. ‘metalized paper. con8.0 afd, 450v, ‘electrolytic, ‘RyI—$000 oF 10,000 ob "vacuum-tube relay, pat Si-sps.t. torale TI interstage audio transformer. Single plate to single or push-pull grids. aligned SSB exciter with single-tone input is a pure cw envelope with no modulation. The presence of ripple indicates one of three things (1) Presence of undesired sideband signal: (2) carrier unbalance; or, (8) bad wave-torm in the input audio tone or distortion produced by overdriving the audio stages. 3.3—Automatic Voice Control Operation Voice control operation may be accomplished by using the arrangement shown in Fig. 3-3-4. The theory of operation is quite simple. Some of the audio signal is taken from the speech amplifier ahead of the gain control (to insure independence of operation) and amplified u to a relatively high level in fa and VIb. This audio is then rectified by the diode-connected half of the second 6SN7, V2a, and applied 10 the gtid of the second-half of the tube, ¥2b. ‘The plate curtent of V2 operates a high-in pedance relay, which in turn operates the keyed circuits of the exciter. ‘The filer excicer described in Chapter 11 may be keyed in the cathode circuits of the two mixer stages, plus the cathode of the 2E26. Proper precautions should be taken that the cathode lines are “cold.” Good by-passing at the tube socket will insure this. The phasing exciter should be keyed as shown by making ‘53 the relay contacts.