By Gil McElroy, VE3PKD Amateur Radio and the Rise of SSB The hams who were first to get on the air with single sideband created a revolution in Amateur Radio. Along the way, sideband would even affect the course of the Cold War.

he cover of the January 1948 issue as the move from spark to CW had been of QST was, well, different. An in the 1920s. Sideband’s impact has been Toscilloscope was pictured, and enormous and the changes it has created though it was a piece of equipment few in Amateur Radio far-reaching. It is ubiq- hams owned or were familiar with at the uitous today, a standard feature on virtu- time, that wasn’t what made the cover ally every commercially produced piece so unusual. Rather, it was the strange- of amateur equipment. And it isn’t sim- looking modulated wave envelope dis- ply useful for voice communication; side- played on its CRT screen. Or actually, band technology is employed in computer only one side of the modulated wave en- modems, and vestigial sideband (VSB) velope. Normally symmetrical about one has been developed for use in digital single sideband transmissions were made axis, the envelope was missing one en- television. from Long Island, New York, to London, tire half. What was this all about? The existence of sidebands as distinct England. In 1927 a regular two-way Inside the issue, there was no “On The from a carrier was first determined math- transatlantic low-frequency radiotele- Cover” to explain the picture. Rather, ematically in 1914. A year later, John R. phone circuit using sideband technology there were an editorial and three articles Carson, an engineer working for AT&T, opened for commercial use at a cost of all devoted to introducing hams to the invented sideband technology for use in $75 for a three-minute call (that’s about arcane subject of “s.s.s.c.”—single-side- long distance telephone carrier circuits as $760 in today’s money!). band, suppressed carrier. The articles also a means of increasing the number of calls It wouldn’t take hams long to take note discussed the messy state of the ham that could be transmitted simultaneously. of this new technology. A series of three bands, clogged as they were with fre- Carson’s invention, which involved the articles on sideband by Robert Moore, quency-hogging AM signals often inter- use of filters to remove a carrier and one W6DEI, appeared in the Amateur Radio fering with one another. “In the usual sideband while passing the other through, magazine R/9 in 1933 and 1934, and QST present-day snarl of ’phone interference,” was patented in England that same year, Technical Editor James Lamb, W1CEI, QST editorialized, “we have the piercing but court litigation held up his US patent published the magazine’s first article on shrieks of heterodynes.” It went so far as until 1923. In January of that year, the the subject, “Background for Single- to predict boldly that “everything points first experimental one-way transatlantic Side-Band ’Phone” in October 1935. An to s.s.s.c. becoming the accepted amateur method in the near future.” The three ar- Figure 1—This photo, from the February 1948 issue of QST, was captioned: ticles that appeared in the issue laid the “Although full technical information on the groundwork for the transformation of single-sideband Amateur Radio that was to come over the suppressed-carrier next quarter-century. For most hams, the transmitter at W6YX is strange-looking oscilloscope pattern on not available at this time, this photograph the cover was to be their first introduc- shows Dave Thomson, tion to what would eventually come to be W6VQB, pointing out simply called “sideband” or “SSB.” the final amplifier to Robert D. Smith, Enormous Impact W6QUW, president of the Stanford Radio If there has been a technical advance- Club… The transmitter ment that distinguished ham radio over was designed by the past half-century, it would have to be Oswald G. Villard, Jr, W6QYT, of the electrical single sideband. The move from AM to engineering faculty at SSB would be as controversial in its time Stanford University.” From January 2003 QST © ARRL Figure 3—This ad, for Eldico, features the company’s new 7-tube, 5-W sideband rig. “Everyone can now enjoy all the benefits of single sideband transmission,” the ad proclaims. Figure 2—This full-page ad for Eimac tubes, published in the July 1948 issue of QST, touts the advantages of SSSC.

editorial introduction to his article noted altering the course of ham radio. built to communicate with W6YX in “A that by “action of the 1933 A.R.R.L. Single-Sideband Transmitter for Amateur Board Meeting, the technical staff of QST W6QYT at Stanford Operation.” A follow-up Stray the follow- was instructed to investigate the feasibil- It was experimental sideband work ing month showed a photo of the Stanford ity of single-side-band carrierless ’phone begun in 1947 on the 75 and 20 meter station. See Figure 1. transmission on amateur frequencies.” bands at W6YX, the Stanford Radio Club The following month, a full-page ad- Some sideband experimentation was car- at Stanford University in California2 that vertisement by the National Company in ried out in the mid-1930s by a small inspired the series of January 1948 ar- QST extolled the possibilities of duplex group of hams,1 but it was hampered by ticles in QST. In the issue, Assistant Tech- sideband. By April, QST Technical Edi- technological limitations of equipment at nical Editor Byron Goodman, W1DX, tor George Grammer, W1DF, was able to the time. World War II changed all of that, described this new mode of communicat- prognosticate: making enormous advances in radio tech- ing in “What Is Single-Sideband Tele- It may not be too much of an exaggera- nology. After hostilities ended and Ama- phony?” In addition, Oswald Villard, tion to say that our present-day ’phone teur Radio resumed, there was no longer W6QYT, of Stanford, explained the re- methods will be just as obsolete, a few any technological reason for sideband to sults of his club’s test transmissions and years from now, as spark was a few years stay on the sidelines and a very pressing informed hams how to go about tuning after c.w. got its start. “Old-fashioned need for a communications mode that in these new signals (“it is very desirable ’phone” will eventually be something that would occupy less bandwidth than did to use the minimum r.f. gain setting when can be tolerated only where there is plenty 3 AM and so free up space on ham frequen- the b.f.o. is used for demodulation,” he of room for it. cies. Sideband was exactly what the doc- would write, advice repeated through In July of the same year, Byron tor ordered, and a concerted push by the many issues of QST for hams unaccus- Goodman’s column “On the Air with ARRL would effectively spread the word, tomed to tuning in these strange-sound- Single Sideband” debuted in QST, keep- ing signals). Finally, Art Nichols, ing hams informed of the increased side- 1Notes appear on page 47. WØTQK, detailed the sideband rig he band activity in the United States and From January 2003 QST © ARRL around the world. The same issue also communications systems, his company, featured a full-page ad for tetrodes from Collins Radio, would end up making Eitel-McCullough specifically aimed at arguably the largest single contribution sideband enthusiasts. See Figure 2. It was to amateur use of SSB when, in 1955, it a sign that the radio industry was begin- all but abandoned production of AM gear ning to see the potential of a market in and threw its considerable resources be- equipment for amateur sideband use. hind development of sideband gear, hav- Another sure sign of sideband’s poten- ing prepared the way with a series of tial could be gauged by letters to the edi- full-page “Engineering Notes” that ap- tor in QST. In October 1948, a writer peared in QST in late 1954. In May of decried “single-sideband gibberish,” and 1957 Collins would make history with the accused the magazine of “trying to shove launch of the KWM-1 transceiver, “the it down the throats of the ham fraternity.” first mobile transceiver,” the advertise- But more hams than not were open to the ment in QST read, “and the first to offer possibilities that sideband offered, real- SSB.” A review of the rig in the April izing that it offered a solution to the very 1958 issue would be positively glowing: real problems that plagued the ham It is the writer’s opinion that the KWM- bands. “I personally have had no experi- Figure 4—This photo of General Curtis 1 may well mark the end of one era and the LeMay, then K3JUY/K4RFA, from the July ence as yet with single sideband,” wrote 1961 issue of QST, announced his beginning of another. This unit is more than a Canadian ham in the December issue, nomination as chief of staff of the US Air another piece of ham gear; it could be a “but anything that may relieve the over- Force. During the mid ’50s, Gen LeMay way of life (in Amateur Radio).5 crowded conditions of our bands today had converted Strategic Air Command communications from AM to SSB, based Byron Goodman’s column “On the Air and make for QRM-free QSOs, I’m all on his ham experience with the newer With Single Sideband” was discontinued for it.” mode. after March 1954 and the ARRL’s hand- book, “Single Sideband for the Radio Filter vs Phasing Amateur,” made its first appearance in The next year, “On the Air With Single December of the same year. SSB had Sideband” was discussing the merits of The Military Takes Note made a secure place for itself within generating sideband signals with filter In the mid-1950s, hams and amateur Amateur Radio. Change, however, didn’t versus phasing systems. The former in- sideband actually had a hand in altering come easily or quickly for a few hams. volved sharp filters and multiple fre- the course of the Cold War. General The disagreement between AM diehards quency conversions, sophisticated Curtis LeMay, W6EZV, was Commander who disparaged the “Donald Duck” technical requirements that many hams of the Strategic Air Command (SAC), sounds of SSB, and those who disdained felt they couldn’t achieve. But phasing charged with deterrence of the Soviet the frequency-hogging of “ancient modu- systems, which used a 90° phase differ- nuclear threat. See Figure 4. New jet air- lation” would continue well past mid-cen- ence in two signals to balance one out craft then being introduced were result- tury. As late as 1963, a letter to QST while augmenting and passing the other ing in the elimination of in-flight radio urging the ARRL to “get on the ball and through, offered a simpler solution to get- operators and SAC was planning on the ask FCC to give the a.m. boys six months ting a sideband rig on the air. Ralph V. L. use of AM voice equipment in the to go s.s.b.,”6 resulted in an outpouring Hartley of Western Electric, best known cockpit. LeMay became aware of the suc- of mail in support of the “a.m. boys.” In to hams for his invention of the Hartley cesses of amateur SSB work, and in 1956 the end, the issue would finally only be oscillator circuit back in 1915, had pat- undertook two flights, one to Okinawa overshadowed by another controversy: ented a phasing SSB system in 1928, but and the other to Greenland, during which the regulatory changes of incentive Don Norgaard, W2KUJ, would pioneer SSB was put to the test using Amateur licensing. its use in “A New Approach to Single Radio gear and hams themselves. Two of Sideband had won the day. Sideband” in the June 1948 QST. By the hams invited to operate on those April of 1950, the magazine would report flights were Art Collins, WØCXX, of Notes that hams using phasing methods out- Collins Radio, and Leo Meyerson, 1“Correspondence from Members,” QST, Feb WØGFQ, of World Radio Labs. SSB far 1948, p 64. numbered those using filter 2 to 1. 2As if its role in the sideband revolution wasn’t Manufacturers began taking more no- outperformed the conventional AM com- enough, Stanford University would later be tice. In the June 1950 QST, a full page ad munications systems then in use by the at the forefront of another technological from the Collins Radio Company claimed military. In 1957, it was formally adopted revolution—the computer—and instrumen- tal in the development of nearby “Silicon its 75A-1 receiver to be the “SSSC Re- by SAC for use in its (then) new B-52 Valley.” Oswald Villard himself was a pio- ceiver of the Year,” and in January 1951, bombers,4 the same year that General neer in early meteor scatter investigations. the magazine announced a commercially Francis “Butch” Griswold, KØDWC, of 3“Technical Topics,” QST, Apr 1948, p 29. produced amateur sideband transmitter, SAC would give the keynote address on 4Charles A. Keene, “Once Again, a Ham Op- erator in Command,” QST, May 1997, p 43. the “SSB Jr.,” new from Eldico. See the subject at the ARRL National Con- 5“Recent Equipment,” QST, Apr 1958, p 23. Figure 3. vention in Chicago. 6“Correspondence from Members,” QST, Jan By April 1953 QST had reported a Writing in the January 1953 QST, 1963, p 87. tally of over 300 US sideband stations Byron Goodman would report that “Art Though his interest in ham radio goes back active, and the first two-way 75 meter Collins, WØCXX at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to the late 1960s, Gil McElroy, VE3PKD, sideband transatlantic QSO. In Novem- is making a lot of the a.m. diehards think didn’t get his ticket until 1991 at age 35. His ber 1956, QST reported the first sideband ‘maybe there’s something to this single- ham radio activities center around his love awards for WAC and WAS (there were sideband stuff after all.’” Indeed he was. for straight-key CW. You can contact the 48 states then). The first sideband DXCC In addition to his personal involvement author at PO Box 7, Colborne, ON Canada, had been accomplished a year earlier. in helping SAC decide on SSB for its K0K 1S0; [email protected]. From January 2003 QST © ARRL