[Boatanchors] SSB Generation - Phasing VS Filter Opinion Sought

[Whitebear1122]

Pardon my larger Font.  It lets me type without glasses or holding the laptop close.  

Several folks responded and I will respond separately to thank everyone for taking the time to spare opinions, history, and recommendations.

All 5 guys responded with the same theme, that they prefer Phase generation rather than filter method because of how good the audio sounded compared to filter SSB.  All you guys speak lovingly :) of the high quality SSB audio from the phasing method.  

I hadn’t thought of the ‘free’ AM mode aspect.  While I haven’t operated AM much lately, it would be fun to be able to run AM as well.

I have the Don Stoner SSB Handbook, around 1960 I think, and they go into great detail about the phasing method and talk about Wes Schum and Central Electronics.  They included a schematic of the the CE20 as an example.  I glossed over it and instead focused more on the mechanical filter SSB generator.  From all this great feedback I’m going back and looking at the phasing section much more carefully now. 

Bands?  I’d like to cover 80m, 40m, 20m at a minimum, maybe 17 and 15 if it’s not too difficult.  I’d like CW and SSB because I enjoy both.  

While I don’t know if I can use it yet, because I haven’t learned enough yet, I have a Collins 70E8 PTO that covers 1600-2 MHz that is very smooth.  I know I’d like the stability of it!  If the transmitter creates the phased SSB at a fixed low frequency like you say, I may be able to heterodyne it up to the desired operating frequencies.  

I’ve spent quite a bit of time in KG7TR’s Octal 2 band SSB transmitter design. He has a crisp, current, and accurate schematic up there and a very detailed description of every section.  I have been able to go through the schematic and understand what each section, and each part does.  It’s like a training manual for newbies like me.

 Agree, while the external SSB generators were a good idea because they could simply add it to an existing transmitter and suddenly be on SSB, I like the elegance of doing it as a fixed frequency with one phasing network.  The other way would be too complicated for me.  I have a bunch of Miller 50 KHz IF transformers in the junk box too.  My 12 tube Ted Crosby W6TC HBR-13 receiver is the first ham project I’ve ever tackled so simplicity is good for me.    

I’ve been also starting to read William Orr’s Handbook and he also goes into great detail about SSB generation, so I have plenty of material.  Plus I’ve been reading old 1950’s QST articles as well.  I had found the W2EWL article and have it printed out and I’ve been going through that as well.  

It’s exciting for me to finally be learning the specific details of how to build and generate an SSB signal.  While I knew the basic concepts, I really didn’t know the intricate details, so it’s fun learning now. 

Many thanks for your feedback and insight.  

I will have a BFO question to pose to the group soon.  My receiver BFO oscillator has flat topping and is not a clean sine wave.  I was already planning to contact you about it when I spend a little more time with it.  

I have some photos of my HBR-13 up on my QRZ.COM <http://qrz.com/> page.  

73, Scott WA9WFA