A New Widget/Gizmo

I picked this up during Hamcation last year. I thought was interesting. It allows me to quickly hook up a set of power wires to Anderson Power Poles. I recently found it useful when my FTX1 arrived and I wanted to hook it up to my power supply. Ten seconds later and I was good to go. I found over the past couple of months I used these quite a few times.

My quandary was I bought it from a booth at the hamfest from a vendor whose name I couldn’t remember, how much it cost, and even what it was called. So I thought I would try to recreate it. An Amazon seach found these.

Wire Connectors Putting it together I used 1″ 12 ga. solid copper wire and standard Anderson Power Poles. These connectors will handle wire from 24 to 12 ga. Putting everything together they look like this.

From here I dabbled some Clear Gorilla Glue to hold everything together and I used some clear heat shrink from a prior project. The fnished product looks like this.

I made enough to put with my various radios. I started using Anderson Power Poles about 20 years ago when they first showed up in the EmComm community. I know folks have a love-hate relationship with them. I love them because they can prevent cross wiring an expensive radio to a power supply. Today’s pricing they are about $1.25 a set, cheap insurance.

Now if I have a friend that does not use Anderson Power Poles, I can hook him up (literally). I think I spent about 30 minutes making these. A little something to make life easier when everything around you may falling apart. 73 de Scott

Paddle Widget

I have a set of Begali Adventure Paddles. They are wonderful paddles. I have the mount for my IC-705, KX2, and desktop. Each mount works well. However, there are times when I do not have a stable platform for my radios or the paddles. At these times I usually hold the paddles in my hands. My go to handheld paddles are my N0SA SOTA paddles. I got mine from his last run. They are an excellent paddle.

I tried holding the Adventure paddles in my hand but I would cause errant dits and dahs. I first thought I would 3D print a box for the paddles–to much thought. I then thought about getting some square aluminum tubing. Too expensive. I scrouged around in my shop and found some 1″ angle aluminum. Perfect. Before I go on let me explain, that this was done with hand tools. A hacksaw, files, hand drill and drill bits. I also used a Dremel tool a little. This project is far from perfect. I never let perfection be the enemy of good enough.

Here is the piece roughed out.

The slot is where the finger guard mounts to the bottom of the paddler using a 4-40 screw. Mounted it looks something like this.

The guard extends past the end of the paddles to help protect the cable where it enters the paddle.

In use the paddle/guard combo looks like this.The guard keeps my index finger from touching the paddle lever and allows me to put my thumb below the paddle lever on the other side. It is very comfortable to use even with my large mitts.

A coat of primer, followed by paint and a clear coat and viola!, it is finished.

I will let it cure overnight and it will be ready for the next adventure. 73-de Scott