Saturday, Oct. 24, 2020
I found out first-hand why so many classic radio owners switched their microphone chassis jacks from the old Amphenol 2-pin connector — as used on Hallicrafters, Collins and other vintage gear — to more modern 4-pin or even a 1/4-inch TRS jack.
I ordered a pack of 2-pin mic plugs, but almost immediately realized that the plugs were female, NOT male like I needed. I couldn’t cancel the purchase, so I found male 2-pin plugs and ordered those.
Both sets of mic plugs arrived today; the female ones looked great, just the wrong “sex”. The others were male, but they were not designed to mate with a chassis connector; they had no screw-on “ring.” Actually, the female plugs would mate with the male ones — but neither is compatible with the chassis mic jack on my Heathkit SB-102. Go figure.
So what to do? How about finding an actual Amphenol mic plug designed for the chassis jack? And yes, they’re available on eBay for $26 each. Again, I could have swapped the chassis jack out for a TRS jack and eliminated future mic jack issues, but for now, I bit the bullet and purchased the correct Amphenol connector — but just one, hi hi!
DAIWA ADDENDUM. I continue to be impressed with my Daiwa AF-306 active audio filter. Doing a little research, I found that Diawa –a Japanese brand — was imported by MCM Communications, a company located (in 1982) in Centerville, Ohio.
Daiwa is well-known for wattmeters, and several are for sale on eBay. According to a full-page Daiwa ad in the January 1982 issue of 73 Magazine, Daiwa also offered an automatic antenna tuner, manual antenna tuner, a speech processor, as well as the AF-306 audio filter.
A Google search also turned up two other audio filter units, both more complex than the AF-306 — the AF-404 and the AF-606. If they’re of similar quality to the unit I have, they’re probably well worth buying — if you see one.
I solved the RF issue with the power supply for the AF-306 … I found an unused Radio Shack 12vdc wall wart, cut the connector off and installed powerpole connectors so it would connect with the existing powerpole connectors on the unit. It eliminated the RF problem, which was the whole goal.
POWERPOLE REDUX. I had just about given up on using PowerPole connectors, I have had a terrible time getting good crimps with the crimpers I have purchased.
I obtained a new set of crimpers offered by West Mountain Radio, and tried those, and boy howdy, did they do a superb job of crimping the connectors. I quickly and easily crimped the contacts and assembled the connectors without a hitch — for the first time. It pays to have the proper tools.
I see where they offer a variety of jaws for the crimping tool, including for coax connectors and other connectors. May need to check those out.
FUTURE PLANS. I’m still cleaning out the main shack in preparation for my new Yaesu rig, and I have crap I need to move out of the shack, and probably more to sell on eBay.
I’m getting tired of NOT having my new rig set up, but I have decided to wait until I clean up the shack; its pretty much a disaster right now, though its certainly looking better — at least you can see much more of the floor than you once did.
I’ve been listening to 75 meters late nights via web-based SDRs, and I’ve questioned how much I really need to have a rig set up here in the library. I don’t usually make contacts here in the library now that I have Studio C upstairs, and now that I can get into the main shack without climbing over various and sundry equipment. So for now, I’m thinking of delaying the installation of a rig here in the library. I was planning to move the IC-756PROII I bought recently down here, or the Yaesu FTDX-3000. Once I have the new rig set up, I’ll need to do something with the FT-2000. I’m seriously thinking of just boxing it up for now; I’m assuming that I’ll love the FTDX-101MP, but we’ll see.
73 es CUL …. de KY4Z …. SK …. SK …. (dit dit) ….