| Author |
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0661
| | Posted on Saturday, December 27, 2003 - 8:59 am: | 
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Hello all: I am 63 and getting back into radio after an absence of 27 years. I was first licensed in 1957 with a general class ham license (K9opl), I home brewed my first station, then after about 10 years went to Heath Kit, which I liked very much. Well, in 1976 I got divorced, so there went the radio hobby, had to sell all. (I'm sure some of you know how that goes). I now have gotten a Cherokee 1000, A99 antenna, and a 350W kicker. I'm brushing up on the theory for another ham license, it's rough for this old man though, no TUBES!! Solid state, and I'm really rusty. No problems with the code though except no 40wpm anymore LOL!! After reading this column for awhile I have read about clarifiers. My question is, what is the purpose of modifying the clarifier???? |
Barefoot
| | Posted on Saturday, December 27, 2003 - 9:21 am: |
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So the TX tracks with the RX |
Bullet
| | Posted on Saturday, December 27, 2003 - 9:25 am: |
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0661,
it lets you slide in between channels or have more adjustment over frequency than they come stock. works nice if you use the 10 turn knobs set i thinks its called.(fine/coarse)
wecome to the board |
Radiodude
| | Posted on Saturday, December 27, 2003 - 9:37 am: |
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Modding the clairfier will allow you to "slide" off the center freq to tune those stations that are not on center. It will allow you more flex in you SSB ops. You can use a modded clairfier to get to those inbetween channels. Tieing your clairfier in with rx and tx allows you to move your tx to match your rx, an unmodded clairfier only moves your rx.
I hope this helps you |
Topten
| | Posted on Saturday, December 27, 2003 - 10:43 am: |
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0661,
Welcome to the forum. The clairifier mod's your reading about usaully makes the radio change the transmit as well as the recieve frequency instead of just the recieve. Glad your getting back into the hobby.
Happy New Year to you and yours. Were wavin a hand across the land  73's... |
Cm3885
| | Posted on Saturday, December 27, 2003 - 9:05 pm: |
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We call them split clarifiers up here in Indiana.
they are Ok but if you get more than 2 guys on frequency it can be a little more dificult to use if the guy is off frequency. I have one thats been split in my Cobra 142 GTL and it works superb! |
Znut
| | Posted on Sunday, December 28, 2003 - 6:00 pm: |
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A am a strong advocate of 2 controls: 1 knob for RX only and the other for RX+TX. Either that or VFO plus RX clarifier, or good old fashioned RIT.
Otherwise, I like to get the radio on freq and use the RX clarifier with a CB. I don't care for "sliders" myself. |
2600
| | Posted on Monday, December 29, 2003 - 2:18 am: |
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Hi 0661, welcome back.
One part of the picture nobody has mentioned is the need to get more than one station onto the SAME transmit frequency.
Let's say two guys, Joe and Hal say "let's try SSB on these fancy radios" and go up to channel 38 LSB. Each one tunes in his receiver(only) frequency to make the other one sound right. So far, so good. They hear each other just fine this way. Now a third operator hears them yakking, but there's a problem. The internal trimpot that sets the exact transmit frequency in Joe's radio is set a couple of tenths of a kHz lower than the one in Hal's radio. In practice, it's hard to set this adjustment much closer than that and make it stay there. Joe and Hal can't hear anything wrong, the the third guy on the channel must now choose which ONE of the other two guys to tune in and understand.
This led to a practice that SSB operators used to follow. Run off anybody whose transmit frequency couldn't be set to match THEIRS. Didn't matter if this group of six or seven guys was off by one tenth, or nine. You had to tune your TRANSMIT side to match THEIRS, or they wouldn't talk to you. Sure, all of them COULD have tuned down, and all of them match the exact transmit frequency that your stock radio was stuck to, but they never would.
The modification involves changing the internal switching hookup that runs the clarifier control, or the "Fine" control on the dual-knob models. This will lock the frequency of the receiver to the transmit frequency, making a 'round table' of more than two stations easier to ALL understand each other.
If you never talk to more than one other station at a time on SSB, the effort will be wasted.
73 |
Kiwikid
| | Posted on Monday, December 29, 2003 - 2:54 am: |
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Hi 0661 and the Team,
Welcome back to radio 0661 and the best of luck with that exam.I go along with Znut,in a net situation with three or more stations those sliders are a pain in the butt0cks.
73 to all
Happy New Year and the best of DX for 2004
CEF195
Kiwi Kid |
Scrapiron63
| | Posted on Monday, December 29, 2003 - 12:10 pm: |
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Well said 2600. Split or receive only clarifiers are ok for one on one talking, but for more than two, everyone will be transmitting on a different frequency. One example is our net on sunday, lots of receive only clarifiers being used, and lots of people on different frequencies. Sure, you can understand them, but if you want Sideband to sound like it should, the TX and RX needs to be together. Why would you want to tune another station with only your rx, unless you want to be split, the object is to get together, get your tx and rx on the other guy where ever he is. Lets say he's down 2,3, or 4 kc's, do you want to leave your tx on center. That's an extreme, but the same applies if its just a hundred counts off, your still coming on split, and sounding like a gourdhead that doesn't know how to tune his radio. When I break that other party, I want my tx and rx to be where he is transmitting, if his rx is split, he can easily tune it to my tx, and anyone else can then tune to both our transmits, everyone will be together. But, to each his own I guess, I hear those gourdheads everyday coming on the frequency so far off you can't understand a word they're saying. And they will say," I got you sounding good", well duh, wonder why. scrapiron |
Barefoot
| | Posted on Monday, December 29, 2003 - 1:28 pm: |
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Scrapiron......I'll second that!! |
Znut
| | Posted on Monday, December 29, 2003 - 3:14 pm: |
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Looks like we're split on clarifiers. |
2600
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 30, 2003 - 1:14 pm: |
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Hey, it's just a tool. How you use it is your call, but I've gotten pretty anal about clarifying my transmit before keying up.
I'll put a second radio on the ground plane, and the "talking" radio on the dummy load. The second receiver is fine-tuned to make the group sound right, and then my transmit side (on the dummy) gets fine-tuned to sound good on the second receiver. My second receiver hears it just fine, but nobody else will.
Only THEN will I switch over to the beam and key the radio and say anything. Just a point of sinful pride, I guess. If my second receiver thinks that my transmit is on frequency, their receivers will, too.
Takes two radios and an antenna for each, not to mention the dummy load, but that's how I use a clarifier, anyway.
73 |
0661
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 31, 2003 - 2:55 pm: |
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I want to thank all of you for your input on the clarifier. Everyone seems to come to the same conclusion, a good modification!!! In the Cherokee 1000, the mod is quite simple, add 2 wires and lift one resistor. Once again THANKS ALL. and A HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR.
Dan |
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