Great use for an old extension cord.

[KD0JZI]

Have to give credit to my dad for this idea, and he aint even a Ham.

I was trying to figure out a quick way to make my mobile easier to tranfer from being my base radio to being my car one when needed.

Ok I could buy another cord from the store for $50. Kinda expensive if you ask me for a few feet of wire.

How about homebrew, after all I'm a new ham and want to expierence as much of this great hobby as possible. 
Drat, Radio Shack doesn't have the connecter I need. 

Now what to do?

So my old man goes, well don't you have some old extension cords the pets destroyed?  I do.

So I made a connector out of them.



Here's the design...........

I just took a couple frayed 3 prong cords. This way you can only plug it in one way, to prevent a short circut. I also made sure they were the same gauge as the radio power cord or a stronger one.  I cut a couple inches of the good stuff off, exposed the inner wires, and checked the polarity of them, once, twice, three times for safety. Hooked em up and away I went.

Not to mention I also have feet and feet of extra wire for whatever else I can dream up.

Now it only takes a few seconds of disconecting the antenna, and unplugging the radio, and hooking it up in the car.





This goes into the power supply. And I have another hooked to the can battery with a fuse at the battery end, incase of a short.  The good thing about this picture, is the wires are thick enough to just slide in the back of the supply snugly, and with a small tug can be pulled out in an emergency.


This end goes to the radio. Is soldered and taped.   Just don't plug into a wall outlet.


All hooked up and ready to go.

This was my first homebrew and as easy as pie to do.

[K9KEN]

I have done basically the same thing in the past but I used connectors I picked up from radio shack. last thing I wanted was some one to accidently plug it into the wall...  So I used a much different connector. I had them in the car, on my cycle, on my work bench and in the shack. Great idea,

[KD0JZI]

Good point.  Think I may reverse the system, put the female on the radio, and the male on the rest.

This way someone can't plug the radio into the wall.

[WB4IUY]

Or.... you can plug the rig into the wall and get 10 times the power output on 120v vs. 12v!  :-) Just kidding, couldn't help myself. I do remember a person doing this with a mobile CB radio many years ago when I worked at a 2-way shop. The guy brought it in for repairs, and it actually did very little damage to it (considering). Blew a couple of devices, bulbs, and some traces right off the pc board!

Dave WB4IUY
www.WB4IUY.net

[kc5jji]

     Hey what a great idea!  I think that I might try that.  Great job.  KC5JJI, Dwight

[K4KLB]

Or you could use the old extension cord to restrain the XYL long enough to order a new rig over the phone. 

[KD0JZI]

Or you could use the old extension cord to restrain the XYL long enough to order a new rig over the phone. 

Spits coffee all over his shack from laughing so hard.

[KI4OYV]

Great idea and job! I think I'll sway my connectors for this type. Easier to plug and unplug. I have 3 rigs (HAM, MARINE & CB) to do this on. Their cheap enough to by at Home Depot or Lowes. Thanks for the info.

73
KI4OYV
Art
Hermitage, TN

[KD0JZI]

I actually have upgraded and improved the design of this just recently and submited it to the ARRL for publishing and got approved (just waiting in line for publishing since other articles are ahead of mine)

Basicly I made redesigned it on the radio end, so that my radio in the car can be unplugged and disbaled when a non ham drives my car and I'm not with.  Basicly it removes a 1ft section of the power cord and is kept with me whenever I loan my car to non ham family members.

[NG9R]

Depending on what radio you are using, that connector may not handle the current. That plug is only rated for 15 amps. They do make plugs that are very close to the same style that are rated at 20 amps, but they probably are not in anyone's junk box! If you ever feel the plug getting at all warm, you may want to check the tension of the female connector contacts , cheaper ones lose their tension over time and heat cycling (seen way too may cheap suppressor outlet strips with fried contacts and melted insulation).

[ZL1DAS]

I personally would throw a cord getting warm at the connectors end out into the rubbish!