Clegg Venus Transceiver
 

As a big 6 meter guy (and boat anchor aficionado), I've been using a Gonset G50 Communicator on AM but wanted a tube rig for sideband. I turned up a Clegg Venus at the Dalton, GA hamfest last winter and recently got it back on the air.

The Venus is primarily a SSB transceiver, but it will do AM in a pinch. Of course, the receive side is sideband only so you have to tune one or the other sideband when listening to an AM signal. Thankfully, it has a short bandspread (50.1 to 50.4 MC) so tuning is easier than it should be. The Venus was one of the first real "transceivers" to gain traction for 6 meter operators. Like most Clegg equipment, they were obviously built with quality and longevity in mind. In 1964, they sold for $605 ($495 for the transceiver and $110 for the separate power supply/speaker chassis).

Mine had four weak tubes, several resistors that had drifted high, and a coupling capacitor that had opened up. The only real problem was finding an intermittent bad connection that was causing it not to transmit after getting hot. Since I took the picture, I picked up a parts unit that had two good looking meters to replace the fogged up ones in mine.

The performance is kind of surprising considering the age of the Venus and the technology of the early 1960's. This month, I've took advantage of the summer "E-Skip" on 6 meters and used the Venus to work guys in New England, Texas, Kansas, and Louisiana. Not bad for a 53 year old radio that puts out about 40 watts.

Funny you should mention that, I've been looking into getting a couple Gonset Communicators. Seen them at the Rochester Hamfest, but I didn't know if there was much action on 2m AM. I just put up a new J-pole for my Clegg FM-28 (the only 2m rig I have) so it might be a good time to play around :)

There are pockets of 6 meter AM activity scattered throughout the country, but I don't know about 2 meter AM. I would venture to guess it's quite a bit more sporadic and scattered than 6. I know there is virtually no 2 meter AM activity in my area.

Gonset Communicators are still around, but the 6 meter versions are not getting any cheaper. The Communicator 1, 2, and 3 (known as Gooney Boxes) are usually cheapest, then the Communicator 4 (a later, step-up model in a small case) and the G50 Communicators on top of the list (higher output power and a built-in VFO). The cream of the crop would be a Clegg Thor or a Clegg Zeus/Interceptor package, but they're extremely hard to find now-a-days.....and if you can find one, the price is out of this world.

If you really want to get on the air with a decent amount of power on 6 meter AM, try and find a G50 Gonset, or a Clegg 66'er. I've seen some pretty good deals on 66er's on Ebay earlier in the year. Clegg also made an equivalent for 2 meters (called a 22'er) that are usually pretty cheap these days.

How do you like your Clegg FM rig? I've become a fan of Clegg gear after learning more about their build quality, and have seen some of the FM28 rigs on ebay. You're the first person I've talked to with a Clegg FM.

I've had the rig for oh, probably 15 years. Never let me down. Since the kids are teenagers and I have the time I find myself with the desire to get back on the bands. Picked up a J-pole at a hamfest recently and mounted it on a pole on the side of the house (properly spaced off the pole of course). For some reason, I can't hit ANY repeaters around here, so I don't know if it's the radio or the antenna yet. The Clegg has been shelved for at least 5 or 6 years.

First radio I ever had was called an Amcomm S 225. Weirdest radio, to get on a repeater you had to dial in the INPUT frequency of the repeater.

Around here, most repeaters are now tone controlled so without the correct sub audible tone programmed in, you can't bring them up. Does the Clegg have tone capability? If so, I'm going to start looking on eBay again and see if I can pick one up sometime.

You know, I had wondered about that......that was my exact thought. No, the Clegg is an old gal and doesn't have SAT capability.