[aprssig] FTM-350 cables

[Heikki Hannikainen]

On Wed, 9 Mar 2011, Stephen H. Smith wrote:

> How about a 6-pin mini-DIN to three or four 3.5mm stereo miniplugs?

How about a complete, isolated, compact sound card interface packaged as a 
USB-to-mini-DIN cable without a separate box (components inside a 
connector or a thicker plastic part in the middle of the cable)?

Single USB plug in the other end, a two-port USB hub chip, an USB audio 
chip and a USB serial chip, opto isolator for PTT and transformers for the 
audio, and the 6-pin mini-DIN in the other end.

The components should be quite well available, and the boxed alternatives 
(microham and some others) to this seem a bit overpriced at the moment. 
And the box seems unnecessary. I don't know if SMD line transformers are 
available, though.

I might be happy with a kit form, too, with the required components and a 
small board to solder them on. Could package it in the middle of a cable 
with heat-shrinking tube. USB A and mini-DIN pigtail cables included, and 
attached to the board with cable ties.

> (I've been assembling this by splicing min-DIN patch cables to 3.5mm plugs 
> myself for numerous sound card assemblies.)

Sounds like a good idea. Just a couple nights ago I soldered a 
mini-din-to-D9 cable for my OT2, and it was a nightmare. The mini-din's 
pin spacing is small, and it's easy to melt the connector a bit so that 
the pins start moving. And then the connector's plastic case seems too 
thick to fit through the hole in the Yaesu rig's case (FT-7800, FT-857). 
Low quality connector, perhaps, but my component shop only carries one 
model. :(

   - Hessu