-ex- ) writes:
Bret Ludwig wrote:
-ex- wrote:

Gregg wrote:


snip

Dan/W4NTI


Looking at my 1963 ARRL Radio Amateur's Handbook, outboard modulators
were the "in" thing back then.


Not on SSB rigs.
-Bill



That's the point. If you HAD a KWM and wanted to work AM, apparently
this was the thing.


Uh...I was referring to the 1963 Handbook comment.

-Bill

Obviously, if you wanted AM on an SSB rig, you'd have little choice
but to add an external plate modulator (unless you unbalanced the balanced
modulator(s) and bypassed the crystal filter if it was a filter rig).

But yes, external modulators seemed common at that time, and maybe
for a longer period. When the US Novice license came along, it made
a certain amount of sense to have the modulator external, so the rig
was initially cheaper and you didn't need a modulator until you upgraded
your license.

An external modulator was also a way of dividing the weight. Get the
heavy modulation transformer out of the main rig.

But from reading of material from that period, nobody seemed to be
plate modulating an SSB rig.

Michael VE2BVW