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Making an SSB Microphone cable extension

Culebra

Culebra

New member
Does anyone know where to find, or how to make, an extension cable for an SSB mic? I've seen long cable options for ICOM VHF units, but not the M802 SSB. Do you suppose a person could splice a shielded cable into an existing mic cable and get away with it? I'm tempted to try.

Thanks... Paul/Culebra
 
Well, interesting solution. I talked to ICOM tech support. The guy said I wouldn't get good results splicing a length of cable into the existing cable. He also warned that any extension (including a purpose made one) essentially becomes an antenna and causes RF interference. It receives your own transmission (from your backstay antenna) as you speak. Which is why they they keep the mic cable uncomfortably short. And by the way, they also want your mic and control head to be a very long way from your antenna, which is not possible on a boat, of course.

Nevertheless, he said I could still give it a try. It turns out that the mic extension cable (part OPC 1000), which they offer as an option for one of their VHF units, has the identical connectors/conductors as would be needed for the M802 SSB. It's 20' long. I only need about 5'. I might get lucky and have no significant interference using this special made extension, especially if I'm transmitting on Low or Medium power. I could also protect against likely RF interference, he said, if I used the remaining 15' of wire to form a low-tech "air choke," which is basically an inductive coil, made by wrapping that part of the cable in a precise way around a nonconductive cylinder, so it filters out the interference. So I'm going to give it a try. For anyone interested, I'll report on this again.

Paul/Culebra
 
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