[ARC5] W2EWL type SSB Exciter on eBay

[Robert Nickels]

I'm a big fan of Tony Vitale W2EWL and this major contribution to early 
SSB.   His original March 1956 QST article "Cheap and Easy SSB"  
subsequently appeared in several ARRL publications over the years.

The article refers to operation on 20 meters (as he did), or switchable 
80/20 meters (as the switch on the panel of this example indicates),  my 
experience was that really didn't work well - I ended up separating the 
mixer and driver functions in order to get proper drive on both bands.   
The original did not provide a VOX function and a close look at the 
photos will show that there is no PA tank coil present.  It's normally 
suspended between the two variable capacitors but the wire from the 
plate coupling cap just dead-ends at the plate tuning capacitor.   The 
original design does not have a VOX function and the panel layout here 
is different,  but on the other hand,  the 9 MHz crystal and 2Q4 phasing 
network are present, so it's definitely restorable.

As you'd expect, the first step in building a Cheap and Easy was 
"removal of all of the original wiring from the BC-458 except the 1626 
oscillator circuit".

73, Bob W9RAN
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