KW Viceroy Mark III SSB Transmitter

This transmitter is in excellent nick. It used to belong to ZS6ABN, but I bought it from a ham in Somerset West (and I can't remember who it was...)

Guide to identifying the different versions

There are four versions of the Viceroy transmitter.

Mark I: The crystal oscillator has four crystals, which gives five bands (80m doesn't need a crystal). The VFO covers a full MHz, and the crystal frequencies cause the bands to be in different places on the dial -- 15, 20 and 80m are on the left half of the dial and 40m is on the right hand side. There is no function switch (Tune/CW/Vox/Mox). The external PSU is roughly the same size as the Viceroy itself.

Look for the pillar case, the three knobs in a row on the lower left-hand side (carrier balance, audio gain, net & carrier insertion) and 28.0 to 29.0 MHz markings on the frequency dial.

Mark II: Still four crystals, but the 40m crystal is now 4.965 MHz which causes 7.0 MHz to coincide with 14.2 and 3.8 MHz on the dial. The function switch is located on the external PSU, which is about half the size of the Viceroy itself.

Look for the three knobs in a row on the lower left-hand side, and 28.0 to 28.7 MHz range on the dial.

I think that on late-model Mark IIs the anti-trip control was moved to the rear panel and the net control was combined with the carrier insertion control.

Mark III: The PSU is now internal, the function switch is on the front panel, and quite a few of the Mark II controls have been dropped or moved to the rear panel.

Look for the microphone jack on the lower left-hand side between the audio gain and net and carrier insertion controls).

Mark IV: Very similar to the Mark III, but with an antenna change-over relay.

Like a puppy, you need to turn this one over and look at the back end for the antenna change-over relay.

Later Viceroys were blue, but I don't know if this coincided with the change from Mark III to Mark IV.

Frequencies

Block diagram for Viceroy The Viceroy uses two mixers. The carrier oscillator at 435 kHz is modulated and filtered using a crystal filter. There are three crystals in the Mark I filter and five in the Mark III, 432.6 and 434.15 in series with the signal and 435 as a shunt. This selects the lower sideband.

This signal is mixed with the VFO signal, filtered again, second mixed with a carrier from the crystal oscillator (except for 80m, where the crystal oscillator is inactive), and then ampified by the driver and the final amplifier. For 20, 15 and 10m the crystal oscillator frequencies are chosen so that the signal is subtracted, effectively inverting the sideband to USB (except for the Mark I, where 40m is USB too -- confirmed by this thread on Yahoo groups).

The Mark I VFO covers a full Megahertz (3765 - 2765 kHz left-to-right), to cover as much of the 10m band as possible. As a result the other bands are scrunched together on the dial. Of course frequencies outside the band is possible, the frequencies below are the ones marked on the dial.

Mark I dial

80m  :              [3565-3065] + 435 =  4000 - 3500  (LSB) (dial is marked back-to-front)
40m  : (5250 * 2) - [3065-2765] - 435 =  7000 - 7300  (USB)
20m  : (6000 * 3) - [3565-3165] - 435 = 14000 - 14400 (USB)
15m  : (6250 * 4) - [3565-3165] - 435 = 21000 - 21400 (USB)
10m  : (8050 * 4) - [3765-2765] - 435 = 28000 - 29000 (USB)

Mark III dial

Mark II: VFO 3765-3065

In the absence of other information, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the Mark II 40m coverage is 7.0-7.3 MHz. Yes, this spec sheet says 7.0-7.4 MHz, but the images of dials I have go to 7.3 and the maths matches this too.

80m  :              [3565-3065] + 435 =  4185 - 3495  (LSB)
40m  : (4965 * 2) - [3365-3065] + 435 =  7000 - 7300  (LSB)
20m  : (6000 * 3) - [3565-3165] - 435 = 14000 - 14500 (USB)
15m  : (6250 * 4) - [3565-3165] - 435 = 21000 - 21500 (USB)
10m  : (8050 * 4) - [3765-3065] - 435 = 28000 - 28700 (USB)

Mark III dial

Mark III, IV: VFO 3665-3065

80m  :              [3565-3065] + 435 = 4000  - 3500  (LSB)
40m  : (4965 * 2) - [3365-3065] + 435 = 7000  - 7300  (LSB)
20m  : (6000 * 3) - [3565-3065] - 435 = 14000 - 14500 (USB)
15m  : (6250 * 4) - [3565-3065] - 435 = 21000 - 21500 (USB)
10m A: (8025 * 4) - [3665-3065] - 435 = 28000 - 28600 (USB)
10m B: (8175 * 4) - [3665-3065] - 435 = 28600 - 29200 (USB)

Valve lineup

  Mark I Mark IIMark III & IV 
Audio (mic) amp & cathode follower12AX7V512AX712AX7V1
435 kcs. amp EF89V4EF89EF89V2
1st Mixer 12AU7V212AU712AT7V3
2nd Mixer 6CL6V66CL6EF80V4
Driver 6CL6V106CL66CL6V5
Final (x2) 6146V12, V13   61466146V6,V7
Carrier Oscillator 12AU7V112AU712AU7V8
VFO 12AT7V1412AT712AT7V9
VFO Amp EF80V15EF80 (6BX6)EF80V10
VFO regulator 0A2 0A20A2V11
Crystal Oscillator 6870V116870EF80V12
A.L.C. 6AL5V166AL56AL5V13
VOX Amp 12AT7V712AU712AU7V14
VOX Anti-trip 6AL5V96AL56AL5V16
Relay and Anti-trip Amp 12AU7V812AU712AU7V17

Downloads

Some history

Harold ZS1CZ with a KW Viceroy Mark III

This picture of OM Harold Tronson ZS1CZ appeared in the September 1970 Radio ZS with the note that OM Harold went SK on the 19th of August. Note the Mark III next to the Collins 75A-4.

Here are some pictures of a Viceroy prototype sent to me by Roger Basford G3VKM.

K.W. Viceroy prototype front panel K.W. Viceroy prototype bottom view K.W. Viceroy prototype rear view K.W. Viceroy prototype top view

This is a K.W. Viceroy exciter (I'd call it a Mark II 1/2 -- looks like it only has five bands, and the dial calibration looks like Mark II, but it does have the microphone jack on the front panel).

K.W. Viceroy exciter front panel

K.W. Viceroy exciter back

K.W. Viceroy exciter inside



[Image] Hit Count hits since 2014-10-30.

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