I had just done some upgrades to the TS-590S and was reading up on ways to make use of the VGS-1 voice guide module.  One of the things mentioned was tying functions to PF keys & potentially re-assigning the mic up down keys to other functions.  That reminded me of a blurb in the TS-590S "In Depth Manual" that discussed using the circuit design from a discontinued microphone model to implement 4 additional PF keys.  This was the circuit:



I already had an 8 pin microphone socket & plug combo I had picked up but not used when thinking about digital for the old Yaesu FT-707 - the same form factor used by the TS-590S.  Dug through the odds & ends box and came up with some momentary SPST push buttons and an old bullet box that had enough clearance to mount them.



A small piece of strip-board, four resistors & a bit of CAT5 finished up the bill of materials list.  I spot checked work along the way to make sure there were no shorts or open joints in the socket & plug conntections & eventually had a product.



Plugged & in and gave it the smoke test.  Works OK, best I can tell.



I left some extra length on the connecting line as I wasn't sure how I wanted to use this.  Fully wiring all connectors on the strip-board gives me some breakout options if I want to add something like an external microphone line PTT socket later on.

PF4 is now assigned the antenna tune button function.

ETA:  not sure if a non-shielded microphone line will cause trouble, but used what I had.  So far, no new behavior detected but I will be on the lookout for RF type issues.


Nick

I am hitting the "Like" button.

well done

Awesome, that looks very useful!

Not totally sure what a PF key is, but it looks excellent!




Probably should have used an orange or camouflaged box, though.

Programmable Function key.    You can typically assign a machine function or macro (depending on the system) to be associated with a key press.  Pretty much any button press or menu item selection can be assigned to a PF key with the TS-590S.  There are two on the front panel, PF A and PF B plus the stock microphone has both UP and  DOWN  buttons which can be reassigned (they are really just pre-assigned PF keys).  The PF 1 -> PF 4  slots in the programming are (I guess) holdovers from that earlier mic design that had 4 buttons across the back.

Nick

The original mic was the MC 47 I believe. I considered doing this with my TS 480 but never got around to it. 73, Rob  p.s. Happy New Year!

Thanks.  I thought it might be something like that, but wasn't sure what PF stood for. Looks like a nice addition to the rig.

Figured I'd tack this on since it is related.   Added a couple of 1/4" jacks on the box, one for a foot switch Mic PTT and the other for an add-on desk mic.   I had a flex goose neck mic holder I picked up at the second hand store I mounted to the desk &  I ordered a Pyle clone of the Shure SM58 off Amazon along with a foot switch, both w/Prime shipping.  The Pyle PDMIC58 is a dynamic mic with the same impedance as the Kenwood hand held that came with the 590.  It was cheap enough to take a chance on & had actually gotten some decent reviews by folks with experience with the real Shure product.  I wired the mic jack to take the hand held's mic out of circuit when the 1/4" mic plug was jacked in.  

Just finished a short net session using it & nobody noted any difference from the stock mic.  That counts as a win as far as I'm concerned.  I was just looking for a hands - free alternative to headset.  TX mon recordings I made sounded pretty much the same for me regardless of which mic was being used.  Total cost for mic, stand, and switch was on the order of $20...






Clip on the goose neck was a bit small, so made a kydex insert to help support the mic.



Switches come with a short pigtail & a 3 wire micro switch inside (common/NO/NC).  Simple but do the job.



Nick