Lafayette Telsat SSB-100 "clarifier" question

[KA3ALP]

Greetings R.R. Forum Users:

I have a mid-seventies vintage Lafayette Telsat SSB-100 (23 Channel) CB transceiver that is fully functional and quite the nice looking unit. It is nearly flawless in its appearance and equally flawless electrically. The only problem is it is 23 channels and produces specification RF power on both AM and USB/LSB. There is little activity in my area and I do not have enough power to make contacts with all the mega-watt stations operating on the lower AM channels. Does anyone know what the approach (crystal modification) might be to make my SSB-100 operate on channels 36 through 40 at the expense of losing three or four other channels? Please note that I do not own an external VFO and do not care to employ one as an option. My desire is to not make visible modifications that would require drilling, carving or jack-hammering. Also, does anyone know how to electrically open the "clarifier" so it adjusts the transmit frequency a few KHz (+/-) and tracks linearly with the receiver? Any advice and/or tips would be most appreciated and thank you in advance for sharing. 73 de KJM

 

[gary123]

for 40 ch operation the only way would be to add in extra crystals. You will have to work out the math and crystal combinations. The clarifier is a lot easier. if you measure the voltage on the clarifier you will see that its XX volts on RX and 0 volts on tx. What you will need to do is bypass the fixed TX clarifer pot and modify the clarifier control to XX volts on both TX and RX. If you have the schematics it will be easy enough to find the needed modifications.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

Pretty much what Gary123 says.
There have been various write-ups on the crystal synthesis technique on similar radios of the era. \

You would have to make up a small board with the required crystal(s), trimmer capacitor(s) etc and devise a switch to override the channels you wish to substitute.

There may have even been kits to do this for certain radios. I had a Lafayette Comstat 25 which AKA as 23 plus as it added two channels 23 A and 23B . That radio used tubes, but the 2 crystal synthesis was similar arrangement. You might look it up to see if the frequencies are same in the crystals.

RigPix Database - CB, "Freeband" and more - Lafayette Telsat SSB-100 (99-33060W)

Sams Photofact #:

CB-114 (March 1977)

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

This board inside your radio appears to have a matrix 4 x 6 crystals, potentially 24 channels. Most likely one of the 4 would need to be supplemented by one crystal that mixes with the other 6 to derive the channels you want.