Printing the switch plates

Yesterday I was productive. At least in shack bits. Work? Not so much. Last day, didn't want to touch much (beyond replacing a voltage regulator in a disk shelf). 

Firstly, following on from the last post. I turned on tuning on PTT to see how that'd go with SSTV. I also found an option that appears to allow a brief delay at the start of the TX for this. 

Watching via an SDR in VK5, it seemed to work just fine. Good. Now I can drive the whole thing over my VPN remotely. Cool.

I'm working towards the new antenna/radio switching setup and was tossing up between mounting on timber vs plastic. The timber option would be neater but the thickness is problematic for me. It's a lot harder to get the cable through. 

So... I came up with my own design for a plate to mount on with big enough holes to get the PL259s through. There's not enough space to pass RG213U, so the cabling on the inside will have to be RG58U. Not the end of the world... I'm hoping the last of the bits I need to pass the antennas through the window arrives today. 

That leads me to the side quest of replacing the cable run from the dipole and getting in through the window rather than RG58U running up through the ceiling and around.  I do like the "installed" method better, but it's a lot more cable in a wall with a lot of other cable with a lot of electronic gear near it. It also means I can finally connect up the MiniWhip, which at this stage will go on the SDR. At some point it may get used for the QRM eliminator.. or I may use an internal antenna for that. Just depends what works better.

I need to drop down to Bunnings later, so I'll grab some timber for the window frame then. I do have some weather shield material I think that should allow me to seal it up, and I have a strip of aluminium sheet that I'll use to bond the sockets together. 

Back to the switch plates. I'm currently up to printing number 3. I have this atrocious reel of cheap PETG I'm trying to get rid of, so I've been using that. I'm not sure if I'll get the 4th one out of it. 

Under the radio shelf has become a haven for junk to collect up. It does however work well for things like the digimode cables to be tucked into. 4 panels should effectively cover the front of the whole thing. 

Yes - I also need to clean my desk. The mess is the stuff I've just pulled out fro under there. It's a work in progress. And I'm prone to doing electronics jobs at the same desk I've been working at for the best part of 2 years :)