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Adding an SMA port to my speaker mic?

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SCPD

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I'll start out with saying how much I enjoy projects, and how I love thinking of cool ways of creating and recreating projects and ideas.

Now when i purchased my speakermic for my kenwood TK series (two pin) radio, I didnt feel like shelling out and extra 20-30$ for the speakermic with had an SMA port extender. (pretty much connects your radio's antenna port up through your speakermic to your shoulder so that you can relocate your portable's antenna to your shoulder)

I'm curious, and i'm pretty sure that this adaptation wouldn't be too difficult to construct on a speakermic which does not have this extension.

My major question:

What type of coax should i use, and where may I purchase both 1 SMA male and female ends.

Oh, an does the length of coax matter? I.e. Longer amount of coax change your signal strength? I'm on 462.xxx mHz.


Any help is appreciated, and this may turn into another write-up. ;)
 

K4RBT

Member
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May 12, 2011
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You can use RG-174 for the cable, but after having had to repair a lot of speakermikes with the antenna on the mike, you probably will have problems.
First, rf into the mike circuit. You can get a chassis mount SMA connector that the shield is continuous, but the rf next to an unshielded mike housing is going to cause problems. The ones I worked on had an aluminum coating on the plastic with a ground lead to it.
Main problems I found were the failure of the coax caused by flexing, antenna connectors would not stay tight and loose the ground. And, they used Teflon coax. I have a box full of salvaged Teflon cable as the cable assembly was not repairable.
Also, I am not sure if the radio mounted antenna will work on a plastic housing with no ground plane.

Fred Mahone
 

jaspence

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Adding SMA port

There are many plastic FRS radios that do not use a ground plain to work, so that is not an issue except for the lack of efficiency in short antennas. Shielding to avoid the signal getting into the circuit is definitely a concern.
 

W2NJS

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It would probably be easier to just get a Motorola PS speaker/mic and modify it for connection to your radio. These units are all designed for UHF work with straight cables that include the coax.
 

stevelton

Member
Joined
Apr 19, 2005
Messages
359
Of course you could just get a Pryme Mic with antenna port, that way your not buying another brand and trying to make it work with a brand of radio its not meant for.

I use one on my Icom HT, and it works great
 
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