[VHFcontesting] Linemaster Footswitches

[Les Rayburn]

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

Truth be told the conditions were poor to awful, but I was having a good time in last weekend’s ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes. Until disaster struck. In a moment of excitement, trying to work that elusive grid #100 on 2 Meters, I stomped a little too hard on my brand new footswitch which keys the amps and sequences out the pre-amps. Desperately, I called the new DX station in the previously unworked grid...but without success. What could be wrong? 

I stepped again onto the cheap, plastic footswitch that I had paid $20 dollars for only weeks ago. Nothing happened. AHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Quickly, I improvised a hand switch to fill in for the ailing part, but it was too late. The DX station has turned his team, and the chances of my puny signal attracting his attention were nill. During the next break in the action, I opened the switch, and discovered the problem. The even cheaper spring inside the footswitch was not allowing the pedal to function properly. I found a replacement spring in my wife’s parts drawer (Yes, my wife is a carpenter, set builder, designer, jack-of-all-trades and has the workshop that is the envy of every man for six counties!) 

The footswitch worked fine now but I made a mental note to replace them with something sturdy soon. 

Fast forward five days, and I found myself chatting with one of my ham buddies, Marcus Thomas, KF4YHP. When I explained the problem to him, he recommended that I look around for a surplus footswitch from a company called “Linemaster”. He even brought one over to demonstrate. It had to be 20 years old, and looked like it had been stepped on my Godzilla a few times. Cast iron, heavy as a barbell, and virtually indestructible. PERFECT! 

A few search engine keystrokes on E-bay revealed that these babies sell new and surplus at reasonable prices. They even come in dual switch models, with two footswitches mounted side by side. Perfect for me, as I had two of those cheap plastic jobs Velcro’ed to the floor. One to key 2M and the other for 432. I quickly ordered a dual switch model, and a single “clipper” model for the 6M rig. Can’t wait to get them. 

Thought I’d pass this along in case any of you guys are also prone to the “lead phone DX” method. 

The name to buy is “Linemaster”. 

73,

Les Rayburn, N1LF
EM63nf
121 Mayfair Park
Maylene, AL 35114

6M VUCC #1712
Grid Bandit #222