New Radio--extension cord?

[alamo5000]

I took my technician's test, passed, and already bought my very first radio.

I have it sitting on my kitchen table right now, set up, plugged in to a power regulator and listening... pretty cool.

My radio is a Kenwood d710a...one thing I noticed though was that the cord on the mic is not really all that long. The plug on the end of it looks like a fat telephone plug.

If it would plug into the head then it would be easier, but it doesn't. It plugs into the box. I knew this before...but an easy fix in my case will be to just have a longer cord.

Has anyone ever made their own? Or is there a manufacturer that makes a reasonable one?

I do not need 6 foot of cord...in reality it would be nice just to have even a foot or two longer.

I can make it work as it is...but another question... will the cord 'crinkles' stretch out over time? Maybe its just because its so new.

Comments???

 

[davidgcet]

it will stretch, or you can extend it if you have crimpers and the connector.

 

[K2AFY]

Www.Universal-radio.com check out your radio they have an extension cable set listed in the sccessories

Al K2AFY

 

[alamo5000]

it will stretch, or you can extend it if you have crimpers and the connector.

I can get crimpers, no problem at all. All I have to do is go to our IT department at work and they have all that.

What materials do I need? Can you tell me the technical terms for the parts?

 

[foxone]

a standard rj45 straight through network cable with a rj45 barrel will do the trick easily.

 

[W2NJS]

All manufacturers of radios with transmit capability make accessory cables to extend the microphone cable. Go online to the manufacturer's site and you'll find these cables. Or you can do the research yourself and then shop around for the cable, thus perhaps saving some money, or you can even make the cable yourself. You might even find the extension cable listed in the operating manual that you should have gotten with the radio.

 

[AK9R]

While it looks like you could extend the mic cable on a newer Kenwood radio by building your own cable using CAT5 computer network cable, the resulting cable may or may not work properly. Some people who have tried this have found that there is hum or noise on their transmitted audio.

CAT5 cables achieve some level of noise resistance by having twisted pairs of wires. But the standard CAT5 pin-out results in the Kenwood mic audio signal being on a different pair from the mic ground. Since the signal and ground are separated from each other in the cable, it's more likely that the mic audio will pick up noise in your home-made extension cable.

There's a small company out there named Green Light Labs which has figured out how to build Kenwood mic extension cables that are properly assembled and shielded to prevent noise pick-up in the cable. They will make the cable any length you want and they are less expensive than buying an extension cable from Kenwood.

Green Light Labs, LLC - Online Store

 

[LtDoc]

I think you see from the posts so far, it's not as big'a deal as it may seem. No manufacturer makes a radio that fits everyone just perfectly, you have to make the thing 'fit' you and your 'style'. Do some shopping around and find the best 'deal' for you.
- 'Doc