[Elecraft] Serious foot switches

[Jim Wiley]

How about a home-brew foot switch.  Costs less, lasts forever, easy to 
repair


I built mine from 2 plunger type micro-switches (contacts in parallel), 
a couple triangular shaped 1" pine-wood blocks about 10" long and 3" at 
the wide end, 2 each 10" X 18" pieces of 1/4" plywood or Masonite, a 
couple of hinges, and some screws.   The plunger springs are nearly 
strong enough to hold up the foot-treadle, and the 18" length means it 
is a large target - I don't have to search for the darn thing with my 
foot!  I did have to add a couple of small "helper" springs to keep the 
treadle "up" - it would try to close the switches of it's own weight. 


When searching for switches, you may be able to find some that are 
"stiffer", thus removing the need for the helper springs.  So far, it 
has lasted more than  30 years,  no failures.  Since the switches were 
the only things I actually had to buy, the whole thing came to about 
$10.00,but even if you have to buy everything brand new, I can't imagine 
it costing more than $30.00. The switch connects to my station controls 
via a length of lamp cord and a 1/4" phone plug.     


The only problem turned out to be that it was too quiet!  I ended up 
using a relay (activated by the foot-switch) that cave a little "clunk" 
when the switch closed, which reminds me that the station has switched 
to transmit mode.  (I used to wonder why the receiver would go 
occasionally quiet until I figured out what was happening. HI!)          


- Jim, KL7CC