The potential of SSB for land mobile radio

Experimental mobile radios using pilot carrier single-sideband modulation have been constructed and subjected to field tests. The pilot carrier is used both for a.g.c, and for demodulation. The tests involved side-by-side comparisons with conventional FM equipment in urban surroundings at both VHF and UHF. SSB was found to be no more sensitive to ignition noise than FM and less affected by fading. It is proposed that SSB is suitable for land mobile radio, and that it is more efficient than FM both in spectrum usage and power.