Ultimate 60's station - the SB Twins

[Stu Lyon]

I have had four SB-301/401 combo over the years and have found them most 
satisfactory in the "Transceive" mode. I recently sold my last setup for 
reasons having nothing to do with their performance.

Generally speaking, they work very well in the SSB mode, poorly in CW 
(side-tone issues) and I have never used RTTY. There is no reason to 
operate in other than the Transceive mode. In this mode the only crystal 
in the -401 is the tune crystal.

My last combo -- http://home.earthlink.net/~stu.ebay.2/images/sb_all.jpg

My other comments are interspersed.

Now let me tell about my latest kit;  a Elecraft K2/100. 1st it has 7 
microprocessors . . .
73, Stu W6CUX

Kenneth G. Gordon wrote:

> Now, I have a few questions for those of you who have and use the SB 
> Twins: how do you like the quality of their operation? 
Operates very well as separates or as a transceiver. There is no reason 
to operate as separates unless for some band splitting arrangement I'm 
not aware of.

> What difficulties do you have with them, if any? 
>   
CW sidetone poorly handled. First off the frequency is too high (1000 
hz) and there isn't a convenient way to feed them into a headset which 
is usually how we operate on CW. I recently posted a method to lower the 
-301 BFO for a 600Hz sidetone ( 
http://listserv.tempe.gov/admin/WA.EXE?A2=ind0702&L=heath&F=P&S=&P=850  )
and I have calculated the values for -401 600Hz tone generator that were 
not posted.

> What DON'T you like about the setup?
>
> How well does the combo work on CW? RTTY? SSB?
>
> What method does the combo use for CW sidetone?
>   
In the CW mode a 1Khz tone is turned on a permanently to key the VOX 
system when the CW key is closed. The tone is then keyed to an AF amp in 
sync with the keying of the RF circuits. The level of the tone generator 
is such that it leaks through in to the AF circuits even when not 
keyed.(That one should have stayed at Collins.)

The 24" RG-62 cable is only required on the HET signal. The LMO anf BFO 
lines are buffered and will work well on any video-type cable of 
reasonable length.

I have used the combo w/ an aadi digital display ( http://aade.com/#dfd 
) and was able to drive the LMO/BFO lines from a RCA-Y adapter but 
required a preamp to provide a seperate drive lne from the -301 HET osc 
to the digital display.   http://aade.com/applications2/app2.html#preamkit 
> Have any of you installed the 2 and 6 meter converters, and how well 
> do they work?  No comment.
>
> Did you have any trouble aligning the units as separates? (I am not 
> talking about them being used together in this case.)  No 
>
> What sorts of problems did you run into when operating them together?
>   
Faultless.
> Isn't it a good idea to have installed the heterodyne oscillator crystals in 
> the transmitter?
>   
There is no reason to install the crystal pack! They sold most of them 
w/o. The xtal packs are still not cheap on ebay.
> Why?
>
> The reason I am asking these questions is because I own an SB-301 
> and an SB-401 and am about to put them into operation together. I 
> used the SB-301 for years, and really liked it, but have not yet used my 
> SB-401.
>
> BTW, I bought the SB-401 from a seller on Ebay for $50.00. It had 
> never been finished because the original owner had broken a section of 
> the bandswitch. A very kind soul on this list sent me the necessary bit, 
> and I will have the SB-401 on the air soon.
>
> Thanks for the help.
>
> Ken Gordon W7EKB
>
>
>   

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