[ARC5] A very interesting item...

[Robert Nickels]

On 2/9/2012 11:53 AM, Kenneth G. Gordon wrote:
>   I was amazed!:-)
It's a nice piece of work, I think.  Lakeshore Engineering was based out 
of Manitowoc WI in the 1950s, and like Central Electronics, was a 
pioneer in bringing single sideband technology to the ham market.  Their 
transmitters were, like CE's, based on the phasing design of Don 
Norgaard of GE and others,  and in large part what they did was to 
commercialize the designs to the point where they could be built, 
aligned, and maintained by ordinary hams.

Part of this meant coming up with a way to build a stable VFO, which was 
made a little easier by Norgaard's innovation of mixing a 5 mhz VFO with 
a 9 mhz SSB signal to cover two of the most popular ham bands.    
Central Electronics popularized the notion of using a converted BC-458 
for this purpose, and sold a kit of parts to improve the cosmetics, add 
other bands, or for the really frugal, just a re-calibrated dial for 
$2.   But they kept the entire Command set intact and they didn't sell a 
complete VFO, only the conversion kit (in fact, CE sold both wired and 
kit versions of their products).

Lakeshore only sold assembled units, which I'm guessing is what enabled 
them to utilize the BC-458 in a more "embedded" way as you can see.   
They also made a complete transmitter with this same VFO unit inside 
called the Phasemaster I B.   Early SSB is an interest of mine, and I've 
got one awaiting restoration, and pulled it open enough to take a 
top-view picture:

  http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg210/scaled.php?server=210&filename=dsc00064jx.jpg&res=medium

As you can see, it's the same VFO which includes it's own power supply, 
even though the transmitter next to it already has a power supply.   
Just a re-packaging of the two units into a common enclosure.

I've been using my CE 10A with it's 458 VFO to check into the Vintage 
Sideband Net on Sunday afternoons, and am amazed that it is stable 
enough that I never have to adjust it more than a few hundred cycles 
even after being powered off for a week.     Incidentally, the VFO on 
eBay sold for $139 in 1961, which is about a grand in today mini-dollars.

73 Bob W9RAN