[SFDXA] AWA Video: SSB was Slow to Catch On as a Ham Radio Mode - From The ARRL Letter

[Bill]

AWA Video: SSB was Slow to Catch On as a Ham Radio Mode

Hams are often early adopters of new technology, such as FT8, but this 
was not the case with single sideband (SSB) amplitude modulation. First 
referenced in Major General George Squier's 1911 patent that had nothing 
to do with RF applications, SSB didn't really catch on as a popular ham 
radio phone mode until the 1960s.

Antique Wireless Association (AWA) museum curator Ed Gable, K2MP, 
recounted "The History of Single Sideband 
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBRntPJTr5Y>" as part of the inaugural 
"AWA Shares" program, presented on August 19. Gable described Squier as 
an "early idea man" in the history of SSB at a time when hams had hardly 
adopted AM in /any/ form.

As Gable explained, John Renshaw Carson built on Squier's patents to 
define the principles of SSB radio transmission theory, using a balanced 
modulator and filters. AT&T went all in with SSB, basing its first 
long-haul telephone system on the technology. Its SSB voice service to 
Europe, which kicked off in 1923, lasted for more than 3 decades. A 
receiving site in Scotland took advantage of Beverage antennas put in 
place for the ARRL transatlantic tests.

Gable credited Robert M. Moore, W6DEI, with introducing SSB to the ham 
radio community, through an article in /R9 Magazine/ in the early 1930s. 
The technology remained more of a curiosity, however, in part because of 
the Great Depression, cost, and technical difficulty. Besides, hams of 
that era saw no real advantage to narrowband modes, since bands were not 
that crowded.

The mood began to change after World War II, though. In 1948, Oswald 
Villard, W6QIT, engineered the airing of SSB signals via Stanford 
University's W6YX, re-introducing the mode to a burgeoning and more 
technically savvy post-war ham community that included a lot of 
veterans. A 1950 /GE Ham News/ article by Don Norgaard, W2KUJ, described 
plans for a 5 W, three-tube SSB transmitter he dubbed "The SSB Jr."

*The Central Electronics Model 20A.*

Expanding on this, Central Electronics' Wes Schum, W9DYV, built the 
first SSB exciter, the 10A, in 1952, and it became the company's first 
product, spawning a series of successor products that included a VFO 
based on a modified BC-458 military surplus transmitter, an "SSB slicer" 
for receiving, and even a linear. SSB equipment was neither inexpensive 
nor accessible, however.

"Cheap and Easy S.S.B." by Anthony Vitale, W2EWL, which appeared in 
/QST/ in 1956, spoke to hams' attitudes, helping to advance the adoption 
of SSB among radio amateurs. Byron Goodman, W1DX, addressed receiver 
improvements with his /QST/ article, "The Product Detector."

*The Collins KWM-1 is considered the first "true" transceiver, sharing 
receive and transmit circuitry.*

In the same decade, General Curtis LeMay, K3JUY/K4RFA, promoted the 
advantages of SSB to the military, heralding a phase-out of AM as the 
dominant voice technology. Many hams were not convinced of SSB's 
advantages, deriding the signals as sounding like Donald Duck. Adoption 
didn't really take off until the Collins KWM-1 came along in 1957. It 
was the first SSB transceiver to share receiver and transmitter 
circuitry. Heathkit, Viking, and B&W produced SSB adapters for use with 
current AM gear.

Other manufacturers including National and Swan came along to further 
boost adoption of the mode, and it wasn't that many years before SSB 
eclipsed AM as the predominant voice mode on the HF bands.

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