I’ve observed a few satellite operators that have mounted a pushbutton on their Arrow antenna to simplify the QSO process. For the past few years I’ve been using a foot switch. But it can get down in the dirt and away from my foot, etc. So I’m giving a push button a try.
Pushbutton
I found what I feel is a suitable push button on eBay. It’s called variously dirt bike kill switch or horn button. There are quite a few posted. Here’s one you can find today.
I mounted it directly on the Arrow’s boom after cutting off about an inch of the foam grip. It just wouldn’t attach over the foam. I also needed to replace the screw that came with the switch with a slightly longer screw that I picked up at Lowe’s. [Now that I’ve worked with the installation a bit, I’ve realized that if the button is mounted at 45 degrees to the square boom the fit is better and the original screw is a good fit.]
Cable
I used a cable that I found at a local electronics supply store. It was long enough, about 20 feet, with phono plugs mounted on both ends. I just cut one phono plug off and soldered the wires to the switch.
Control Box
Quite some time ago I build a small control box that routes headset and PTT to the rig. For the PTT I used a phono jack initially for the foot switch and now for the boom button. I also built-in a PTT pushbutton on the box to make sure I had some sort of back up. I use this same set up for my VHF contest rover station.
That’s my little project for this week. Photos in the gallery below. Click on the image for a larger version.
Thanks for the great idea, Jim! I’m replicating this as soon as the switch arrives. 73 DE WA5RR