Top gun modulator? Wtf?

Basically, the Top Gun Modulator turns your carrier back up when you talk, so you can claim a 50:1 "swing" and people can still understand you.

Other than that, it's the standard splatter kit that makes a wattmeter read higher, but does nothing more than increase the noise on the other channels.

 

The useless gadgets on the market ....

 

If I remember right, it's a speech compressor....and is good on single side band.

 

That's the Top Gun Compressor... a different product.

 

Oh ok. All i remember is my Magnum has it.

 

I would term it the feedback clipper. SMT 914 and resistor in potting. Disable the limiter, replace the 4558 feedback resistor with a diode and new value resistance for feedback control below the conduction threshold of the diode and you have it. Simple DVM would give the resistor value, never had one to play with or I'd quote it here. If you study the Galaxy install you will see removing R172 stops the signal to TR32, and R165 is the feedback for the mike side of the 4558.

As to the modulator my best guess is think of half a compandor circuit using a Controlled gain delta G cell. Assuming there is a surface mount version. At least if it is a delta G it would cleaner than the straight OpAmp way to go. In the 80's I made a lot of them (among other things) to sell to distributors like Fatman. Until the VSB-1 came out at too low a distributor price to be worth me making them anymore. Happens when someone with the money can copy and get them manufactured in bulk for super low prices. I used a dip NE571 and had one cell wired to compress and other to expand. The compandor only works like it should when both ends are running them. One station compressing and the other expanding. It was an amazing product when the 148 GTL was about all we had. SSB skip-shooting was never the same. Today you see them in little metal boxes, a popular add on when the AR3300 was new on the market.

Topgun still sells one but I do not know if they are using the full circuit with both delta G cells or not it's been years since I played with the devices and I am too lazy to reverse one. Plus I do not like playing with DCM to depot things anymore I get way too much monoxide from my cigars as it is. Lou F likely still sells his clipping limiter, although he was not clipping in the feedback loop of the 324 he used. Like any similar circuit you cannot diode clip OP Amp feedback without harmonic distortion. The Delta G cell is a vastly superior way to go from the standpoint of linearity. I think true DSP is a better way to go but that's just me.

 

what i read in the manual was it allows you to drop to a 2 watt dead key,from whatever you have it set on.on my s-6 the pwr dial will adjust dead key from 2-15 watts.so,if i want to talk louder ,i flip the switch and it bottoms me out,still the same swing to 50watts.

 

That is exactly what I was gonna say! Seriously though, when ever I drive a truck with a Magnum I turn the "Top Gun Modulator" OFF!...(usually they are already are turned off.)