What is Single Side Band?

[CrazyShellsSlam]

Hello. Sorry if this kind of information is all over the place but I was just wondering what exactly is SSB? i know its a different band than AM, but what r the differences? I was asking for recommendations on CBs and Rider On The Strom recommended a Galaxy 959, while it is at a good price on Ebay(the one he pointed me to) I want something a little more compact, and 1 band only because simply....I dont know what SSB is so therefor idk if I would really use it. If someone could shed some light it would be greatly appreciated, and help me decided what I want my next CB to be...

[roadrunner69]

Hi Crazy, Roadrunner here. SSB is a different band and is sometimes hard to tune in the other person you are talking to. If you dont have a good clarifier, then its almost impossible. They really sound like a duck. If you don't need sideband, and like Galaxy radios, I would go with a DX 919 or DX 929. They are a little smaller,have mosfet finals for good sound, and they have the big meter. You can also look into Cobra 29, they are about the same size as the Galaxy, but they dont have mosfet finals. Also with the mosfet finals a good tune will give you alittle more watts with good modulation.

[CrazyShellsSlam]

Mosfet Finals?

[roadrunner69]

Mosfet finals are what power the radio. They give more power with a cleaner sound. Basically the samething that powers amps for car stereros.

['Doc]

Sorry, SSB is not a different band of frequencies. It is a different mode, or way of imposing intelligence on a signal.
One way of understanding it is that an AM signal is composed of three 'parts', a carrier, and two side bands containing intelligence (modulation). SSB (Single Side Band) is when one side band and the carrier is 'stripped' off of an AM signal and you are left with only one side band. Instead of a transmitter furnishing the carrier (dead key), it's furnished by the receiver.
So why do it that way? Because since the transmitter can only put out so much power, in AM mode it has to split that power between three things, the carrier and two side bands. In the SSB mode, all of the power that used to be sent to the carrier and the other sideband is sent to the sideband being sent. That means it's a stronger signal, usually get's 'further', sort of.
The draw back to SSB is that it requires finer tuning than AM does. An AM signal is something like 6 Khz wide. If you get 'close' to the center of that signal you will hear things just fine. A SSB signal is only half that wide, something like 3 Khz. That means you have to tune the receiver much closer to the right spot to be able to get any intelligence out of it. If you're off much, it sounds like 'Donald Duck', like somebody's breathing helium, you know? That's why there's usually a 'Clarifier' knob, lets you sort of skootch the receiver's frequency this/that way to tune things in better.
It just takes getting used to how things are done, which just takes practice.
Another side affect is that hearing two SSB signals at the same time is just like listening to two people talking at the same time. Two AM signals at the same time means you are going to get a squeal noise.
I think there are more benefits to SSB than AM. That's from a lot of use of SSB, and is just an opinion. Take it for what it's worth.
- 'Doc

[wifi]

Sorry, SSB is not a different band of frequencies. It is a different mode, or way of imposing intelligence on a signal.
One way of understanding it is that an AM signal is composed of three 'parts', a carrier, and two side bands containing intelligence (modulation). SSB (Single Side Band) is when one side band and the carrier is 'stripped' off of an AM signal and you are left with only one side band. Instead of a transmitter furnishing the carrier (dead key), it's furnished by the receiver.
So why do it that way? Because since the transmitter can only put out so much power, in AM mode it has to split that power between three things, the carrier and two side bands. In the SSB mode, all of the power that used to be sent to the carrier and the other sideband is sent to the sideband being sent. That means it's a stronger signal, usually get's 'further', sort of.
The draw back to SSB is that it requires finer tuning than AM does. An AM signal is something like 6 Khz wide. If you get 'close' to the center of that signal you will hear things just fine. A SSB signal is only half that wide, something like 3 Khz. That means you have to tune the receiver much closer to the right spot to be able to get any intelligence out of it. If you're off much, it sounds like 'Donald Duck', like somebody's breathing helium, you know? That's why there's usually a 'Clarifier' knob, lets you sort of skootch the receiver's frequency this/that way to tune things in better.
It just takes getting used to how things are done, which just takes practice.
Another side affect is that hearing two SSB signals at the same time is just like listening to two people talking at the same time. Two AM signals at the same time means you are going to get a squeal noise.
I think there are more benefits to SSB than AM. That's from a lot of use of SSB, and is just an opinion. Take it for what it's worth.
- 'Doc

Well put Doc.

And....hands down SSB is just a sic mode. Though I realize how limited my CB is with the ability to only tune up and down 1kc without mods. I need a ICOM!

[CrazyShellsSlam]

Well In think in my case, I am going to start out with a Cobra 29, and then maybe go for the SSB/AM Combo. Thanks for the info Doc.

[Circuit Breaker]

It's interesting how some people think that SSB and FM are different bands when they are not. However, it's easy to see why - manufacturers will advertise an SSB CB radio has having 40 AM channels and 80 SSB channels for a total of 120 channels. But that isn't really true - you only have 40 channels. That's it. Regardless of the mode used, you're still on the same frequency.

[CrazyShellsSlam]

It has me curious now though. I want to try it out haha. If its true that I will have the ability to speak to more people then Im all good for it, because honestly since the beginning of the week during my commute to and from school I dont really get much except for all the skip, and I cant even speak to them >.<. So maybe SSB is the way to go? However how do u tune up and down through the channels?

Also Circuit Breaker If thats so then whats the worth of having the ability to in between channels and what not? If you know what I mean.

[Circuit Breaker]

It has me curious now though. I want to try it out haha. If its true that I will have the ability to speak to more people then Im all good for it, because honestly since the beginning of the week during my commute to and from school I dont really get much except for all the skip, and I cant even speak to them >.<. So maybe SSB is the way to go? However how do u tune up and down through the channels?

If you had a CB capable of SSB, all you would have to do is find someone else using sideband. I'd say almost all SSB activity on the legal 40 channels takes place between channels 36 and 40. Here in the U.S., the dominant mode is LSB. So, all you would need to do is check those channels in the LSB mode. If skip is rolling, you'll hear someone. They might sound either low or high pitched so all you need to do is tune them in. Depending on who made the radio, that would be accomplished by turning the VoiceLock (Cobra and Uniden) or Clarifier (Galaxy and Ranger) up or down until the person sounded "normal." There's really nothing more to it really. You might find some activity on USB, but almost all of it is Spanish.

Also Circuit Breaker If thats so then whats the worth of having the ability to in between channels and what not? If you know what I mean.

That would require unlocking your VoiceLock or Clarifier...which are both the same thing. When you get the radio new out of the box, this control ONLY affects the receive frequency. However, there are modifications that can be done to allow this control to change the receive and transmit frequency together. Back in the day, when the bands were crowded, some people liked to "slide" between channels to get away from all the noise...although, in reality they weren't really getting away from it because they were now between two channels and were hearing noise from both channels...just not as strong. If you were to look at a frequency chart for the 40 CB channels, you would notice that each one is 10 KHz higher than the previous one (i.e. channel 1 - 26.965, channel 2 - 26.975 and so on up to channel 40 - 27.405). You would also notice that there are some gaps between 3 and 4, 7 and 8, 11 and 12, 15 and 16 and finally 19 and 20 where the frequency jumps 20 KHz. These gaps were allocated for other uses...mostly remote control toys. These were referred to as the Alpha channels and aren't used very much anymore. To get to these "channels" requires your radio to have a clarifier that could slide down 10 KHz or have a 10 KHz rise/drop switch (the preferred method).

I don't know how much activity takes place in between channels or on the Alphas these days. Most activity probably takes place below channel 1 and above channel 40. To get those frequencies requires your radio to be modified. Basically, this involves rewiring switches so that voltage is either applied or removed from certain pins on the PLL chip which then gives you a whole new set of frequencies depending on which PLL is used in the radio.

[alhefner]

The "legal" CB radios sold in the US have a single channel selector knob to use. If the radio also has SSB capability, it will have a three position toggle switch. One position will be for USB (upper sideband), one for AM (regular CB transmissions), and one for LSB (lower sideband). Choose your channel, choose the mode you want to use, start contacting. It's actually fairly simple. As Doc said, there will be a knob to help tune in other people and make the signal easier to understand as well. On the Cobra 148GTL that is called "Voicelock" but has other names on other radios.

Sooooo....a CB radio with SSB just gives you more options using the CB frequencies. If you stick just with AM, your radio is legally limited to 4 watts of output power. If you get one capable of SSB, you can put out 12watts on either USB or LSB legally (SSB radios all do at least that much) and that usually translates directly into being able to reach a bit farther.

Skip is a whole different ball game!