[SCCC] AM to SSB transition

[Wayne Overbeck]

Dennis, I'd really like to see some discussion of the AM-to-SSB transition 
here on the SCCC list.  It would be fun to read what others remember from 
those days.  Here are some of my recollections.

As a young ham in the 1950s I operated several contests on AM before SSB 
became the mainstream voice mode on the HF bands.  The high point for me 
was 1959 Phone Sweepstakes.  I finished second in the L.A. section, running 
a Heathkit DX-100 transmitter and Hallicrafters SX-101 receiver to a 2-element 
cubical quad for 10 and 15 meters (up 25 feet at the center--not very high even 
by 1959 standards).  The guy who beat me (W6LNW) was #2 nationally and 
he had much bigger antennas than I did.  Size mattered, as it still does.

QST published a list of the equipment used by all of the section leaders in those 
days.  In 1959 almost all of the winners were running AM transmitters like Viking 
Valiants, DX-100s or the earlier Viking I and Viking II rigs.  I don't think there was 
much SSB activity in Phone Sweepstakes until a few years later.  I went off to 
college and didn't operate SS for several years after 1959.

By 1965, however, everything had changed.  Almost all of the section leaders 
were running SSB rigs and operating the contest mainly on SSB.  At the same 
time, overall voice activity dramatically increased.  In 1959 Sweepstakes, CW 
logs outnumbered phone logs by a 3:1 ratio.  By 1965, the ratio of CW logs to 
phone logs was only 5:4.  There were more phone logs than CW logs in SS for 
the first time in 1970, according to the tallies of Ellen White, W1YYM (now W1YL), 
who wrote most of the SS articles for QST in that era.

Clearly, the transition to SSB led to a major increase in overall voice activity in 
Sweepstakes.  However, it didn't lead to the kind of increase in overall scores 
that you might expect.  In 1959, the top phone scores were over 200K (on AM), 
not that much lower that the top phone scores now, 60 years later.  However, 
that's really comparing apples to oranges because there was a power multiplier 
then.  Also, the maximum operating period on each mode was longer than it is 
today.  And to be honest, I don't think anyone worried much about "rubber clocking" 
until the 1970s.  Most of us didn't operate anywhere near the maximum time allowed.

I don't remember the best receivers of the 1950s being that bad.  They had good 
sensitivity and selectivity on the HF bands, even 10 meters.  What was different 
was the HETERODYNES on the bands.  With all those AM carriers, during SS the 
phone bands were a sea of squeals and whistles.  Receivers had notch filters, 
but you couldn't eliminate all of the squeals.  (Null one out and another one would 
pop up.)

Voice operating didn't seem all that different back then--except for the awful QRM.  
With my DX-100 (about 100 watts of high-level plate modulated AM), I could hold 
a frequency and run all day on 10 or 15.  S&P was a pain, though.  Without a 
transceive mode you had to zero-beat every station that you called.  I very much 
preferred running--and I hated it when 15 dropped out to the east.  I couldn't ever 
hold a frequency and run on 40 meters.  W6LNW, the guy who beat me in '59 
phone SS, could hold a frequency and run all night on 40.  I spent some envious 
times listening to him.  Size mattered.  Um, did I say that before?

Just some random memories of phone contesting in 1959...

73, Wayne, N6NB (K6YNB back then)




--------------------------------------------
On Sun, 12/16/18, Dennis Younker NE6I <NE6I at cox.net> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [SCCC] Looking For Write Ups, Comments, Observations AM to SSB
 To: sccc at contesting.com
 Date: Sunday, December 16, 2018, 4:02 PM
 
 Some really good stuff has been
 sent along to me for the upcoming article.
 Does anyone have any old photos of that time
 period? Station photos from the
 1950s and
 60s would be a great add to the article! As well, your
 contest
 experience during that time frame
 would be interesting. What was it like to
 operate a contest where both AM and SSB
 co-existed on the bands? Receivers
 were so
 less capable back then that I can only imagine how
 challenging it
 was for a few years there.
 
 As before, please reply only
 to me so that I can capture your comments and
 photos for the article. Thanks!
 
 --Dennis NE6I