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SSB Radios

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Does anyone still use SSB? I was looking into buying a Stryker 995HP just because it has SSB. I can remember back in the day my father talking skip from the car while sitting atop a rather high foot hill of the Appalachians in West Virginia. I have talked to a couple friends and we all drive trucks and always seem to be just outside of CB range and I thought this would be a better way of shooting the breeze at night while waiting for the place to open and empty us out in the morning. One of my buddies brought up the idea of using SSB while moving down the road and I told him I didn't think it was really all that possible because you have to use a clarifier control knob. I went into telling him how you go about tuning in voices and so forth.

Did I give him bogus info? Can you be running down the road nowadays using SSB? Just asking since this radio goes for about $350.00.
 

PrimeNumber

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It is one more knob to twiddle, but it usually doesn't take much if any twiddling. As stable as most electronics are these days, it's almost a set it and forget it deal.

$350 sounds like a lot for an SSB rig. Looking over at Amazon just now, there's a selection of mobile SSB units for less than half that. But yeah, if you guys are frequently just outside of range, SSB may be all you need. All else being equal, it generally has about 2x the range of plain old AM CB.
 

jonwienke

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SSB is nice to have. It's no worse to adjust than squelch or volume. Or you can purposely misadjust it if you like people to sound like chipmunks.
 

SouthernRoller

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If you're not into all the big chrome knobs and stuff on a radio, you might consider looking into the Uniden 980 SSB radio, they are very stable as far as frequency drift, When I ran one I had to hardly ever adjust the clarifier and when I did it was just tiny increments.
Just a thought.....
 

JayMojave

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Hello wv_M: Yes SSB might get you thru as it is a more efficient radio mode as compared to AM.

A lot of SSB users get a little frustrated as their radio clarifier are not modified to allow the clarifier to adjust both the transmit and receive frequency at the same time. This leaves the radios transmit frequency to be set near the center of the channel as set by the factory, and other stations will tell you that you are slightly off frequency. So having the clarifier modified so that adjusting both the transmit and receive frequency allow you to tune to most all the stations out there. The newer radios are a lot better in not drifting frequency wise, but as mentioned, occasionally you need to adjust the radios frequency with the clarifier once and a while.

You will hear the off frequency stations out there that do not have the clarifier mod.

I hear SSB stations coming from all over the world at times, mostly on CB Channels 36, 37,38 (Mostly) 39, and 40. And there are SSB stations above channel 40 which are illegal, 27.555 USB is a international SSB frequency, great to listen to.

Good luck

Jay in the Mojave
 

Dawn

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Modifying the clarifier for tx or a wider range isn't such a good idea. It only encourages the other guy to shift frequency and you both keep leapfrogging. Pleny of hams use SSB mobile daily and none of them are using clarifiers in tx even though many radios allow the option and hence it's generally called RIT for receiver incremental tuning. Having a shop do a slider modification to exend the range only makes it harder for you clarify someone else. There's no point in doing that. If everybody left their radios alone, there would be little need except a touch up to get good voice color. No reason for the voice to be perfect to communicate mobile either. Listen to some hams on Youtube. You rarely hear anyone that sounds perfectly tune in as it's not worth the bother.
 

JayMojave

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Hello Dawn: Let me disagree with you without being disagreeable.

I didn't say to open up the range of the clarifier as I know and agree with you on this one, having the radio all over the place being less stable in frequency. Do you remember the odd Sidewinder 27, 6 channel SSB Only radio, tube radio made my the corbra manufacture. Talk about slide around in frequency and be unstable. A quick removal of the choke that was in series with the crystal fixed that back to the stock configuration.

I have a S9 Magnum radio that I modified to have even less frequency coverage to allow a quick tune em in capability. But having the clarifier track both the transmit and receive I believe is a good thing. I have about + - 1 Kc up and down the center slot.

You millage may very, every operator is different, but I like to tune em in sounding clearer.

Jay in the Mojave
 

SouthernRoller

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On the Uniden 980 I ran, I hardly ever had to touch the clarifier. It was a bone stock, out of the box unit and always got great reports when working skip on SSB. If it's not broke, why fix it?
 

oldcb

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mantua, ohio
i really like my vintage browning baron, it seams to work ssb very well, skip was really rolling yesterday afternoon and it did very well in both rx and tx..............
 

Dawn

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Pinecrest,Fl
I only brought up the expansion because it's the typical package that these golden screwdriver experts perform along with enabling TX. Anyone new to the hobby that buys a SSB set is going to immediately be sold on the tune/clarifier/limiter job and it goes downhill from there.
 

k8krh

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Dec 12, 2009
Messages
381
It seems ssb is still a lot of fun and not the trash on many am channels. I have a GALAXY 979 I use at home , perfectly satisfied with it and run ssb from channel 36 to 40.
Skip has been in for months and ssb works just perfect, I stay away from AM unless it is a local.
See you on channels on ssb.
DOCTOR/795
 

JayMojave

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Hello D_T and all: Good to hear about your success on the Uniden 980 SSB radio. I am glad to hear the radio is spot on the center slot on frequency, and usable and enjoyable. Hope all the new radios are frequency stable as you said.

My older S9 Magnum drifts about 200 to 300 cycles after being turn on, so the tunable capability is needed for my older radio. At times I do hear a station off frequency by several hundred cycles, an half to tune em in to understand them.

Once talking to a local stations on LSB CH38, doing some antenna work and comparison testing a station from Australia broke in asking were we where. And he thought the #2 Antenna was stronger! Wow every body got to talk to him, and we were all using bare foot radios. SSB is great.

Jay in the Mojave


On the Uniden 980 I ran, I hardly ever had to touch the clarifier. It was a bone stock, out of the box unit and always got great reports when working skip on SSB. If it's not broke, why fix it?
 

krokus

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Has anyone used both the Uniden PC-122 and the Uniden 980? I wonder how the performance compares between the two models.

Sent via Tapatalk
 

iMONITOR

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On the Uniden 980 I ran, I hardly ever had to touch the clarifier. It was a bone stock, out of the box unit and always got great reports when working skip on SSB. If it's not broke, why fix it?


Most of the best sounding CB's are stock! Yes, maybe you can tweak a tiny bit more RF, and over modulate the audio, but almost always at the cost of distortion.
 

70cst

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Sep 10, 2014
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5
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New Madison Ohio
I am using a S9-175 and for what this radio is I am well pleased. I have a HR2510 that I am going to send to the Doc for a tune up but these are my two favories.
 
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