[Elecraft] K3 Back Panel Phones Jack... my solution...

[Brett Howard]

I solved this issue by installing a male RCA connector on each of my
speakers.  Then I bought a long RCA to 1/4" in headphone cable that
didn't have a strain relief type thing on it.  The strain relieve that
I'm talking about are the ones that don't allow the cable to split.  I
then ripped the two cables apart so that each channel could go different
directions.  

I then when its time to go pull the cable off at the speakers and then
pull the RCA ends into where the radio is and extract the cable.  Heck
if I really wanted to make travel easy (and I may end up doing this)...
I'll just buy another cable then all I have to do is pull the speakers
off with their little pig tails and they'll plug right into the travel
cable (which can probably be a shorter version of what is in the
shack)...

~Brett (KC7OTG)

On Sun, 2010-01-03 at 16:09 -0600, Tom Hammond wrote: 
> Man... what a BIG discussion... whew!
> 
> Early on with my K3, I found that having two speakers (L & R) plugged into the
> rear panel SPKR jack of the K3 was turning out to be a real P.I.T.A.
> 
> I had two speakers, with somewhat lengthy (though folded up and tied) leads
> which extended left and right across the back of the K3, wound in/out of all
> of the other wires back there as well, and BOTH leads attached to a single
> stereo plug, inserted into the back of the K3.
> 
> When I wanted to move the speakers, or to take them with me for a trip or demo
> I had to first unplug the plug from the back of the K3 and then 'snake' at
> least one of the speakers up/down in/out of all the other accumulated wires
> before I could manage to resurrect both speakers fro in back of the rig.  It
> got to be a really tiring process... really quick!
> 
> I decided to fix that problem.
> 
> I designed a small PC board on which two (2) stereo phone jacks were mounted,
> and then a 7" length of 2-conductor (w/shield) cable from the PC board to a
> single stereo plug which plugged into the back of the K3.  The jacks on the
> PC board were wired such that the RING on each jack was left unconnected and
> so only the TIP and SLEEVE were connected to the cable. This way, I can plug
> EITHER stereo OR mono plugs into the jacks on the PC board and not have to
> worry about shorting anything on the K3 out to ground.  Additionally, and this
> is the best part for me... now, when I need to remove the speakers, all I have
> to do is to unplug each speaker from the PC board and INDIVIDUALLY unwrap any
> wires before pulling it to the front of the desk... no longer do I have to
> man-handle a big honkin' speaker, trying to unwind it from the rats nest of
> wires in back of the rig.  I also have a quick and easy to unplug both speakers
> from the back of the K3 if I need to do that as well.
> 
> If you like my idea, visit my web site at:  http://www.n0ss.net/index_k3.html
> and drop down to the line titled: "External (Dual) Speaker Splitter 
> for the K3".
> 
> If there's enough interest, I might consider making some PC boards for sale,
> otherwise, I'll be happy to make the artwork available for you to make your
> own PC boards IF you're interested in doing so.  If someone else wants to make
> the boards, I'll be happy to give them the artwork, too.
> 
> 73,
> 
> Tom   N0SS
> 
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