Single Sideband + Carrier — The Collins KWS-1


Back on 2 February I was on 160 AM with the DX-100, talking to WA4PGI. At the end of our QSO we got a call from a station. I was at first confused — was this station calling on SSB? Or was he calling on AM? Turns out that he was — in a way — on BOTH. K4DBK was — I think — running an old Collins KWS-1, the transmit side of the famous Gold Dust Twins. Aptly named: It was built in 1955. 1000 watts output. $2095.00 in 1955. Gold dust indeed.


The really interesting thing about this rig was that it put out CW, SSB and SSB plus the carrier. I think that was what we were hearing from K4DBK. FB.

Does anyone have an e-mail address for K4DBK? I’d like to drop him a line.

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