[CQ-Contest] Contest Station Design - cable management

[k8cc]

At 04:09 PM 1/26/01 -0800, Bob Wolbert wrote:
 >I've cut down the number of wires by utilizing the mic cable to carry
 >mic audio/GND (separate so the Kenwood is happy) and PTT (plus ground).
 >This one 3 or 4 conductor cable replaces three on your list, making the
 >switching setup cabling more managable. It functions because on all of my
 >rigs, the mic PTT works fine as a CW PTT. I do use TR-Log's PTT output
 >during CW contests to reduce relay cycling in the rigs.

I have a fetish about reducing the number of cables.  When I built my
latest SO2R box in 1996, I used six conductor cable (3 individually
shielded pairs) to provide MIC/MICgnd, PTT/PTTgnd and
HEADPHONEleft/HEADPHONEright.  This single cable came from the box to the
mic jack on the front of the FT-1000Ds, with the headphone broken out with
heat shrink.  This worked out really well and was very easy to deal
with.  However, I gave the whole setup (box and cables) to W8MJ a year ago
because he was doing more SO2R than me.  Now I wish I had it back.

Some people would rather have separate jacks for each function because then
there is a possibility of using pre-made cables.  Like my friend K9TM says
- there are better things to do than make cables.  This has been the
sticking point for producing a second-generation NA SO2R switching board -
its hard to reach a concensus on the connectors, particularly when PC-board
mounted connectors are desired.  It will be interesting to see what Array
Solutions uses on their SO2R box.

73,


Dave/K8CC


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