Incompatible and Missing Connectors

When you buy a new, expensive HF transceiver you will invariably find that they include a small plastic bag containing a variety of connectors. This is helpful since the back panels can have a variety of connectors for peripheral equipment and devices. These include antennas, keys, audio, amplifiers, transverters, automatic tuners, etc. 

Some of these connectors are quite common (3.5 mm stereo) while others can be uncommon (various DIN connectors). The ones that aren't included can almost always be found commercially so that you can make interconnect cables for your unique requirements. There is also a thriving business in providing ready-made cables for connecting various combinations of equipment. The latter are quite expensive -- far more than the BoM (bill of materials) -- catering to those who willingly pay for the convenience for a niche product.

What I find more interesting than what's in those connector bags is what isn't included.

Modern rigs, especially the more expensive ones, have lots of features. Lots of features means lots of connectors. Eventually it is likely that most will become incorporated into data lines, wired or wireless. We're not there yet so we continue to deal with a multitude of connectors.

The above diagram is from the FTdx5000 manual. It shows the cables needed to connect the transceiver to Yaesu's VL-1000 amplifier. Notice the annotations: the interconnect cables are included with the amplifier, not the transceiver. While that isn't unreasonable, I am not amused that they don't include the transceiver connectors in those little plastic bags.

There are features exposed via those connectors that are more useful than connecting a proprietary amplifier. Yet all the major manufacturers fail to supply them. They are all standard but inconvenient to purchase in quantities of one. It's as if they believe that customers will pay $8,000 for an amplifier to avoid the inconvenience of purchasing a few $2 connectors.

The worst of these are the DIN connectors. These are not connector types but a standard that encompasses a wide range of connectors. Knowing the number of pins isn't sufficient. 

Connectors with the same number of pins can have a different placement and diameter of pins and the size of the barrel may be different. I made this mistake more than once. Cheap connectors may not fit at all despite the correct labelling. Coax connectors have also been known to disappoint. I toss the rejects into a drawer and forgot about them while I try again.

Yet there are serendipitous discoveries that are delightful. Look at that 5-pin connector. It turns out that the 3, 5 and 7 pin male connectors of this size fit the same and higher pin-count female connectors. The receptacle on the rear of the Icom 7600 has 7 pins. The 5-pin male connector fits perfectly Of course you shouldn't try to fit a 7-pin male connectors into a 5-pin female.

I did this because I had a discarded and otherwise useless 5-pin connector and the signals I wanted -- ground and Icom voltage-level band data -- to interconnect with an amplifier for automatic band switching were found on those pins. It works great. You just never know until you try.

In the second case, I cheated and found a wire size that snugly fits the adjacent DIN receptacle to connect a foot switch. The downside is that there is no key to tell which pin it fits into. I make a sticky note as a reminder or look it up in the manual. At the time I did it there was a contest coming up and there was no time to order the proper connector.

It is also amusing (if you think things like this are funny) that the 8-pin Foster connectors for the microphone is used on both Icom and Yaesu transceiver front panels are not compatible. I wonder if they did it on purpose, out of ignorance or simply couldn't be bothered to align the pin assignments. They could hve done it for the mic connections while using the remaining pins for proprietary features (scanning, etc.) that almost nobody uses. Of course their own branded desk mics -- not the handheld mics included with the rig -- are sold at a steep markup. 

Those mics are of no use to me; I use a headset and foot switch. I make adaptors to convert the 8-pin mic connector to 3.5 mm stereo for an electret mic element. Over the years I've collected a pile of discarded microphones, some of which I assembled for the above photo. They're almost impossible to sell at local flea markets. The only uses I have for them are testing and for non-ham guests. They are easy to understand and use by curious visitors.

I am not amused by the tactics of the equipment manufacturers, whether it is by design or disinterest. This has been going on for so long that I doubt it will ever change. Even when -- and it is very likely to happen, eventually -- most of the connectors are replaced by TCP networking, wired or wireless, the protocols are certain to be proprietary and incompatible. For example, DPD for low distortion SSB on select high-end Icom transceivers uses a proprietary protocol to include the PW2 amplifier in the feedback loop. No other amplifiers are permitted.

This tactic will convince few buyers, yet Icom and the other manufacturers do it anyway. It's all of a type with the non-inclusion of connectors and incompatible connectors. I confidently predict this marketing tactic (hardly a strategy) will continue into the indefinite future.