Here is another important bit of SSB history. In May 1960, Joe Galeski W4IMP published an article in QST describing his super-simple SSB transmitter. While Tony Vitale's "Cheap and Easy" rig was a phasing design, Joe came up with a filter rig. He built USB filter at 5775 kc. With it, he ran a VXO at around 8525 kc. This put him on 20 meter USB.
Here is the QST article: http://marc.retronik.fr/AmateurRadio/SSB/A_3_tubes_filter_rig_%28SSB%29_%5BQST_1960_5p%5D.pdf
In discussing how to put this rig on other bands, Joe got the sideband inversion question exactly right:
Thank you Joe!
Joe even provides an comment that seems to capture an important element of the homebrew SSB ethos. Joe homebrewed his filter, but he mentioned the possibility of using a store-bought filter:
That's the spirit Joe!
Along the same lines, Jim Musgrove wrote in Electric Radio:
Having built Lew McCoy's Mate for the Mighty Midget receiver (which also used just three tubes), I can't help thinking that an IMP-ish transmitter would be an excellent complement to the Mate for the Mighty Midget.
Jim Musgrove K5BZH knew Joe Galeski and wrote about him in the January 1992 issue of Electric Radio. Jim wrote that Joe was an optometrist by profession. When OE1FF wanted to know the cost of building an IMP, Joe Galeski boxed up the original and sent it to him. FB Joe.
In December 1961 Joe Galeski published a QST article describing a transistorized version of the IMP -- this rig ran on 15 meters. K5BZH wrote that Joe later published an article about a small, solid-state transceiver, appropriately called "The Shrimp."
A great article and a great rig. I remember reading it in the 60's in high school. The rig is the "essence" of a ham radio spirit rig. Exactly the minimum requirements for SSB. Very easy to understand!
ReplyDeleteMusgrove's article also hits home. I clearly remember as an early ham in the 60's spending nights with the locals on 15M discussing how to get the 813 amplifier (out of QST) we agreed to build to work without killing ourselves. We would drive around to local hams to see what parts they had we could "borrow". This seems impossible today, but who knows?