[TenTec] Re: Rig standardization

[Ron Notarius]

"Any" phone rig had a two conductor mike conductor?

Ah, no.  Some did.  Some didn't.  Not all rigs were designed for a PTT
switch on the mike -- many of the earlier Hallicrafters are a perfect
example (such as the HT-37 that was set up for VOX or a MOX switch on the
transmitter, not the mike)

Some used a 1/4" phono jack (some mono, some stereo for the PTT).  Some used
a commercial (I believe Motorola) jack similar but a touch smaller (remember
Drake?), so a 1/4" jack wouldn't fit.

I could go on ad infinitum ad nauseum, but you get the idea.

Manufacturers went to 4 pin mike connectors when they started to add powered
mikes that were powered from the radio, not requiring a battery.  Then to 8
pin mikes when additional functions were added to the mike (like up & down
frequency control on the Kenwood rigs)... and so on, and so on, and so on...

Now it sure would have been nice if the major and minor players had agreed
on standards.  They didn't.  There are exceptions (like Alinco 8 pin mikes
wired the same as Kenwood mikes on at least some V/UHF rigs) but they are
few and far between.

Can we establish "standards?"  Sure.  Who sets them?  Who enforces, er,
encourages them?  The ARRL?  Nice idea, but who pays for it?  (And just wait
for the anti-League zealotry to start screaming the ARRL is trying to force
something down everyone's throat...)

Let's at least be thankful that most radios have stuck with UHF connectors
for HF, UHF & N connectors for V/UHF, and BNC connectors for HT's.  (Was
there ever anything sillier looking than an RCA connector on the back of a
Heathkit rig for 100 watts out?  Yes, it worked and worked well, but it just
never looked right!)

73

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Stuart Rohre" <rohre at arlut.utexas.edu>
To: <tentec at contesting.com>
Sent: Thursday, September 09, 2004 7:04 PM
Subject: [TenTec] Re: Rig standardization


> Why did it all get off the track?   Many years ago, any phone rig had a
two
> conductor mike connector that had a screw on shell, and coaxial contact.
In
> those days TR was a switch on the transmitter, and receiver to go from
Talk
> to listen.  There was 1/4 inch phone jack for the key and Headphones had a
> jack too.
>
> On mobile equipment, you had a tip, ring sleeve mike jack, so that you
could
> have push to talk activation of a TR relay.  That became popular with
early
> transceivers as well.
>
> Why did Yaecomwood bring in the multipin connectors that were not common
to
> North America?
> Of course, partly it was driven by use of Touch Tone mikes on FM rigs, but
> then they added them to HF rigs, and standardization went out the window.
> Perhaps there is good reason to keep the PTT keying leads a separate pair
> from audio ground and thus the 4 pin Ten Tec mike plug makes sense.
>
> But, you can also see that rigs used to have standard 1/4 inch phone jacks
> for headphones and now there are many variations, as rigs have gotten
> smaller.   Also, you now see the RJ 45 type mike connectors as well as the
8
> pin round on import rigs. Where will it stop?   Can hams as a group, or as
> clubs and national societies, establish standards committees and get all
> manufacturers to use common connectors for mike, key, phones, external
> speakers, TNC's, Computer control, etc.?
>
> One sad fact is that the computer industry fell down in standards setting
on
> connectors and I/O conventions.   After many years of the serial port and
> standard RS 232 that could be implemented as full handshake or as a simple
> Transmit, receive, and ground, with loop backs on controls, now we see the
> I/O flavor of the year.   We lose the serial, simple interfaces, and the
do
> everything parallel interfaces; and you never know which standard will
catch
> the fancy of computer designers next month.  Is it any wonder some of us
> prefer a radio to be a manually controlled radio only, or have all modes
> built in rather than worrying the configurations of I/O and external
> controllers?
>
> The cost of building radios and buying them would come down, for the
> features contained, if each maker did not have to buy small quantities of
> connectors rather than buying a mass produced standard connector.  About
the
> only standard connector still seen is the UHF antenna connection, and that
> is beginning to vary with BNC and N appearing on some equipment.  Of
course,
> there are good reasons for BNC and N, and maybe those two should win out
for
> all uses.
>
> At one time there was a industry group of amateur radio manufacturers,
> spearheaded by the editors of radio magazines.  After incentive licensing,
> such groups fell by the wayside with the decline of old line manufacturers
> like Hallicrafters, Hammerlund, etc.
>
> I think it is about time to raise a cry to standardize power and input/
> output connections and improve the lot of the poor ham trying to tie
several
> incompatible, (connector wise) rigs to accessories and other station
> equipment.
> 73,
> Stuart
> K5KVH
>
>
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