Here's a product I never thought I would announce. For years my advice to keying a ham linear from a CB or 10-meter radio was to install a relay inside the radio. A patch cord keys the ham linear as soon as you key the mike, and drops back to receive when the mike does. No chatter, no sideband switch.
Smooth.
But some folks just don't fancy opening up the radio to install a relay and socket. They want external gadgets for their noise toy, echo and whatever.
So here is the prototype for a "Hotfoot", a keying circuit in an external box to use with a ham linear and a radio that has no amp-keying feature on the rear panel.
Dirt simple. This end just fits the linear's 'radio' socket.
The other end takes the coax jumper to the radio.
Not much on the inside. The same keying circuit we sell on fleabay to put inside your linear. A short coax and the wire with the RCA plug for the linear's "relay" socket.
Biggest expense building it is the labor. Punching/drilling holes and bolting things down takes longer than stuffing nine parts into a tiny pc board.
No, there's no sideband switch. If you're serious about sideband you'll put the relay inside the radio. Should be okay on AM.
Oh, and if the amplifier says "National" on the front, this won't work with it. That one uses AC to power the relays. Likewise if it says "Heathkit" on the front. SB220/221 or SB200/201 use a high-voltage relay coil. It's not built for that. The only one with the Heathkit brand it's compatible with is the SB1000 model. That one isn't really a Heathkit, it's an Ohio Ameritron AL80A with Heathkit's name on the front. Works with Ameritron, Drake, AEA or any amp with a 12-Volt or 24-Volt DC relay.
No idea of an asking price yet. This is the only one so far. I'll build the next half-dozen and average out the time required. Only then will I have any way to know what each one really costs me to build.
Odds are the selling price will be stupidly extravagant. Got no source of cheap labor who can do that kind of work.
And if the price is so high they don't sell, at least I'll know not to build any more of them.
Film at 11.
73
Smooth.
But some folks just don't fancy opening up the radio to install a relay and socket. They want external gadgets for their noise toy, echo and whatever.
So here is the prototype for a "Hotfoot", a keying circuit in an external box to use with a ham linear and a radio that has no amp-keying feature on the rear panel.
Dirt simple. This end just fits the linear's 'radio' socket.
The other end takes the coax jumper to the radio.
Not much on the inside. The same keying circuit we sell on fleabay to put inside your linear. A short coax and the wire with the RCA plug for the linear's "relay" socket.
Biggest expense building it is the labor. Punching/drilling holes and bolting things down takes longer than stuffing nine parts into a tiny pc board.
No, there's no sideband switch. If you're serious about sideband you'll put the relay inside the radio. Should be okay on AM.
Oh, and if the amplifier says "National" on the front, this won't work with it. That one uses AC to power the relays. Likewise if it says "Heathkit" on the front. SB220/221 or SB200/201 use a high-voltage relay coil. It's not built for that. The only one with the Heathkit brand it's compatible with is the SB1000 model. That one isn't really a Heathkit, it's an Ohio Ameritron AL80A with Heathkit's name on the front. Works with Ameritron, Drake, AEA or any amp with a 12-Volt or 24-Volt DC relay.
No idea of an asking price yet. This is the only one so far. I'll build the next half-dozen and average out the time required. Only then will I have any way to know what each one really costs me to build.
Odds are the selling price will be stupidly extravagant. Got no source of cheap labor who can do that kind of work.
And if the price is so high they don't sell, at least I'll know not to build any more of them.
Film at 11.
73
