I love payday

I love getting paid.. like most people.

I've ordered some new bits this past few days:

-  Behringer Xenyx 302USB Mixer and some cables

- Some 13 core wire

- 13 pin DIN male + female plugs

- More ferrites

- New switch mode power supply - a reasonably well rated QJE 30A that is considered to be pretty quiet on HF, and has a knob for adjusting what noise it may produce should a birdie land where it's not wanted.

 

The mixer is purely to bring the audio sources from the radios together and output to a single monitor. The G90 is a pain in the rear for volume - much like my other "cheap" digital-ish radio, the volume is either nothing or degrees of too loud. This will give me some control and a single headphone connection. I'm not looking forward to see how much noise it adds to the shack. I used to have an old version of this mixer before USB came into it. Unfortunately I'd long since sold it. It will have other uses as well, so it's a dual purpose investment.

 

The 13 core wire and the DIN connectors are intended for me to make a splitter for the ACC port on the IC706. The digimode gear uses the ACC port, and I need to tap the same port for the PTT line for the QRM Eliminator. 

I could find one single source of a pre-made splitter - it was over AUD$50, and the seller despite being the entry appearing on eBay Australia won't ship here. A reship service will cost about the same.  The $50 itself isn't so bad, but the shipping is killer. For about $50, I've managed to order to the male, two females, some cable (sourced from Hills Irrigation of all places) and a terminal block + enclosure. The terminal block probably seems like a cop out to the soldering gurus. I've been crap for 3 decades of using a soldering iron, and I doubt it's going to improve. Soldering the pins will be bad enough. I've ordered a heap of 1.5 & 2.5mm heat shrink. I'm hoping I can use that to try to stop anything from shorting out. I could have course, just put an RCA on as the secondary line and split an extension cable, but they're also as rare as hens teeth with shipping being just as prohibitive. At least if I do it properly, I can use everything the way it was intended. Besides, I could probably do with the soldering practice.

The power supply is something of a necessary evil - it could wait, but it's becoming a pain having to monitor the battery all the time. It's also annoying as I'd like to leave the G90 running overnight to see what SSTV traffic is about. If I turn on the charger, it'll wipe anything out. If I turn on the current switch mode, it's only marginally better. 

I would have loved to have had $50 left over for a trip to the butchers for a slab of meat to throw on the smoker, but alas, this weekend I'm working, and I'm now broke. Not sure what it is about my hobbies and my empty wallet. Maybe I should just sit on my rear end? It'd be cheaper right?