I can’t believe this is my first post of 2025! January was crazy busy.
I recently change dout my shack radio, from an AnyTone D578 to a Yaesu FTM-500D. It was used, from Martin Lynch, and the price was right to grab it.
I decided that the main body could go where the D578 had been, which was underneath a shelf in the shack. I wanted to make everything else a litlle more permanent-feeling, because the hotspots were just placed on a piece of board at the back of the shelf.
I had a piece of MDF laying around so I thought I’d make a prototype unit (this gives me the option of saying it was only temporary should it fall apart or collapse…).
I made it so that the top could house my desk phone and lamp, and mounted the FTM-500D head unit and both hotspots on the sloped front. it is a slight angle, just to point the screen in my general eye direction without having to angle the head bracket and have a boring vertical panel on the front.
So far it works well and looks ok. I can shoe-horn a second unit in if I need, like an AnyTone D778UV for example, should I ever want to. I have one sitting around, but only have one antenna right now so no point in doing anything yet.