SSB Transmitter alignment

Possibly the simplest sideband transmitter as described by Drew Diamond, VK3XU in his first book. I had quite a bit of trouble pulling the oscillator frequency high enough but in the end got there with the help of SmartFriends™.

[@vk3ye]

We should arrange a sked - I'd like to hear it on air.
I'd try putting some white noise into the mic (eg from an FM receiver or just blowing across the mic) and seeing what the crystal filter's bandpass is like. It doesn't have to be flat like a commercial unit but should at least emphasise the 1.5-2 kHz region more than lower audio frequencies for best intelligibility and punch. Maybe try getting the carrier osc frequency higher.
You can get slightly lower capacitance from a polyvaricon by making sure both trimmers on the back are unmeshed and connecting both halves in series (ie don't use centre pin). If that fails use a gimmick capacitor with twisted wire or maybe a fixed capacitor in the 2.2 to 10pF range. Maybe also try reducing other capacitors in the carrier oscillator circuit.

[@peterbmarks]

Thanks Peter, a contact would be great. At the moment, when I connect it to my outdoor antenna it takes off magnificently. I'll get it boxed up and that should fix it.