Related to a previous thread on IF radios.
In my rover setup, I use an FT-817 as an IF rig. I purchased an FT-817
amplifier PTT cable from eBay and it works well. I chopped the RCA connector
off of it and wired it up to a multi-position switch. For 4 of the transverters
I have a W6PQL 4 event sequencer. The main output switches the relay, the next
output turns on the amplifier, and the third enables the transverter. In this
setup there is NO margin between keying the transverter and delivering RF power
to the transverter. While there is a delay between PTT on the accessory plug
and RF coming from the radio it is eaten up by the 3 events of the sequencer.
If I ever decide to use LNAs, I will use the TX inhibit feature of the FT-817
as well. However everyone works great as-is so I have not wired up the inhibit
circuit. I do not use a sequencer for the 222 amp (elecraft) as it does its own
switching. If only using this transverter, the PTT cable would have plugged in
directly to the RCA jack.
My other IF radio is an FT-290R. I only use this with my 10GHz setup and there
is no PTT line required for the Kuhne transverter as the radio puts voltage on
the coax. The downside with that radio is that I have to squeeze the PTT on the
microphone and then send CW using the key.
I don't offer this as an ideal or even recommended solution, just to share what
I do. I tried a footswitch in a much earlier version of my rover and abandoned
this concept quickly as I could not get into the habit of pressing it.
Jarred - KF2MR
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