[aprssig] Alinco DR-135T - EJ41U internal modem

[Scott Miller]

> Did you ever get enough interest in your modem replacement idea for the
> Alinco to move forward with it? If you do produce one I would be inclined 
> to
> buy one of the radios just for this purpose.

Yes, and I have some proof-of-concept hardware on my bench now, waiting for 
some more parts (due in this week).  #1 problem right now as far as the 
hardware goes is connecting to the DR-135's main board.  The connector is a 
1.5mm pitch, 11-conductor shrouded header.  The Molex Pico-SPOX 87439-1100 
is a match, and I have samples, BUT... I need to find someone who can 
produce 1" jumpers with these connectors on each end.

So far all of the Molex VARs I've checked with don't  have the tooling for 
this particular part.  This is NOT something I want to have to put together 
by hand.  If anyone has any ideas on where to get these made, please let me 
know.  I found a place that'll do similar connectors from JST, but the ones 
I tried don't fit properly.

Aside from that issue, it's certainly workable.  The only other problem I've 
run into is that the TNC port won't source enough current to run a GPS 
receiver.  I'd like to be able to do that so you could plug a GPS straight 
into the radio without any extraneous power cords or anything.  Might be 
possible, but it'd require running some extra wires inside the radio.  I 
suppose it'd be easier to supply a splitter to go on the radio's power cord.

Scott, N1VG
http://n1vg.net/opentracker