[SCCC] FW: Looking For Write Ups, Comments, Observations AM to SSB

Tue Dec 18 20:07:21 EST 2018

Gang - I sent this to Dennis earlier, but here's my input to the discussion.
I recall this well!!  73 - Jim K6ZH

--------------------

I got my Novice license, WN6DPV, in Santa Maria, CA in 1963 at age 15, and
got my General (WB6DPV) later that year.  I was immediately very active with
chasing states and counties, and with being on traffic nets.  My "elmer,"
Jim WA6DRO (now KL7CC) was on a 75 meter traffic net called the Mission
Trail Net (MTN, they still meet), and so I was quickly involved with that
group.  And I handled traffic on CW as well within the ARRL's National
Traffic System - first on the Southern CA Net (SCN), and later as a liaison
between SCN and the 6th Regional Net (RN6).  I did this "big time" for two
years, and then I was off to college.

My station was a Heathkit HX-11, 50 watts of CW, and the addition of a
modulator for something like 30 watts of AM.  And just wire antennas, of
course.  But I got out pretty well considering.  I had an RME-6900 receiver;
really hot!  If it had had general coverage like, say a Hammarlund HQ-170,
I'd probably still have it!

Mission Trail Net had been established in 1937, and had an active membership
of over 100 hams.  The majority of the stations were in CA, but there were
also a fair number of folks in WA, OR, AZ, and maybe a couple in NV.  The
Net met every night of the year.  I got to know, and really like, the folks
on the Net.  I held all of the offices on the Board at one time or other and
was active in the net for almost 25 years.

In 1963, everyone was on AM.  There were some very big signals, and many
peanut-whistles like me.  But traffic got listed and handled.  Much of it
was "Arrived safely MCRD San Diego, will write soon" kind of traffic.  But
it was good practice.  Then a couple of guys bought SSB rigs.  And so began
the debate:  does the net insist that SSB guys inject a carrier so that
AMers could understand them?  Or was it now incumbent upon everyone to
switch between AM and SSB (many people needing to use a BFO) depending upon
which station was sending the traffic?  As more and more people got SSB
rigs, the latter became the procedure.  

I can vividly recall two very opposing views of the introduction of SSB.
Bill, W6KZF, in Mill Valley - a broadcast engineer (I think) and a confirmed
bachelor - was kind of crusty guy anyway.  And when SSBers arrived on the
Net, he not only made them feel unwelcome, he would not respond to them
unless they were on AM.  He'd say something like "Silly Slop Buckets are NOT
ham radio!"   And there were quite a few guys who felt the same way.  I
think I recall that a few members left in a huff.   Perhaps part of it was
they didn't know how to tune in an SSB signal.  And it wasn't easy with some
older receivers!

Jack, WA6ESH (try that call on CW!), in Boron had a much different attitude.
I can still remember him saying, during an After-Net rag chew: "Heck, I
don't care if a guy wants to check in on AM, SSB, CW, or Bongo Drums.  If I
can copy him, he's welcome."  And, of course, eventually this was the
winning argument.

As I recall it was all over in a few short years.  And my epiphany about
changing to an SSB rig happened when one of the early users of SSB on MTN,
Lyle W6KVQ in Ukiah, worked a ZL on 75 meter SSB one night after the net,
and talked about it the next evening.  He worked a ZL on 75 meters on
phone???  Wow, let me at it!  Out with the drifty DX-100, and in with a
Drake TR-3!  That would have been about 1969.  

Since I was in college from '65 to '71, I wasn't as active on MTN as I had
been, so I can't pin down an exact year when it became all SSB.   But I'm
thinking it was late '60s.  When I got back on the air actively in 1971, for
sure it was all SSB.

So, ya, there was a LOT of acrimony on Mission Trail Net about changing over
from AM to SSB in the 1960s.  It turned out that a couple of the main guys
who brought traffic to the Net, e.g. W6KVQ mentioned above, were
early-adopters of SSB.   And the Net had little choice but to take traffic
from them since that was the raison d'etre for the organization.  

Hope this provides a viewpoint, albeit not specifically related to DXing and
Contests.  My solution to those has always been (and continues to be):  CW
forever!  

I personally have no beef whatsoever with FT8, although I don't see myself
using it to "chat" with someone in, say, Illinois on say, 20 meters.  But
DXing - yes.  Working new grids on 6 meters - you bet!  I wish I had known
about the FT8 Roundup in early December; it could have been fun.  Next year
for sure.

73 - Jim K6ZH

-----Original Message-----
From: SCCC [mailto:sccc-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Dennis Younker
NE6I
Sent: Thursday, December 06, 2018 4:29 PM
To: sccc at contesting.com
Subject: [SCCC] Looking For Write Ups, Comments, Observations AM to SSB

Hi all,

The current conversation taking place in Amateur Radio, well, one of them
anyway, is about FT8. Is it fun? Boring? Machine to machine? Going to kill
amateur radio, going to take it over? 

All of that said, it has made me wonder if this is similar to the AM to SSB
transition/migration many years ago. I missed that one. SSB was well
entrenched when I was first licensed back in 1972. I'd like to hear from
those of you that WERE there for that transition. What were the comments
from the hams at large? What were the predictions? What did you think about
it? How did it impact contesting back then? Please reply to me privately.
I'd like to engage you in some conversation via email and compose an article
for the SCCC web page. It will be a joint effort with all write ups from all
of you that participate. If you'd like to be anonymous in the article,
that's okay too. Just let me know. 

I'm looking forward to this. We may do one later on rigs of the past. Boat
anchors to Collins to Heathkit to Drake to Signal Ones to solid state to
modern rigs that we can barely repair ourselves. That too would be a fun
topic but let's start with AM to SSB. 

I am looking forward to hearing from you. Thanks!

--Dennis NE6I

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