It can be tough switching between your 6-over-6 Yagi, your 4 element Quad, your 600' terminated Rhombic, and your full-size 160 meter vertical. I know I just hate it; spelunking under the desk, wrangling stiff pigtails of RG-8 up to the rig. Even if you use a coax switch, most of them have the connectors splayed out at all angles, leaving the coax running all over the place, taking up half the desk. And then, you have to be able to reach the switch knob, so all that RG-8 is right there in your face.

So you get all that sorted out, you're at your local ham club meeting one evening when a killer lighting storms sweeps through, and you find yourself wondering if you remembered to set the switch to ground your antennas. If not, you may be treated to a smoking heap of rubble where your favorite rig used to be when you get home.

Well, help is at hand. The LDG DTS-4 Desktop Coaxial Switch is made for hams, by hams, to solve these very problems. With the DTS-4 you can instantly switch your rig between 4 antennas with the press of a button. All five coax sockets (4 inputs and one output to your rig) are lined up across the back of the switch, so all the coax can run straight back. This means the DTS-4 will fit in just about anywhere on your operating desk. A bright red LED indicates the antenna in use. At a touch of the control buttons, all inputs are grounded, helping to protect your radio from Mother Nature.

Remember that lightning storm? The DTS-4 can sense when your rig is turned off, and automatically ground all antenna inputs! You simply run a line from a DC-out port on your rig (most modern rigs have at least one) to the DTS-4 and set it to Radio Sense mode with a simple button-press. From then on you're protected; when you turn your rig off everything is automatically grounded. When you power back up, the DTS-4 automatically resets to the antenna you were last using. Use your radio’s auto power off feature and it will even protect you if you forget!

But that's just the beginning! How about remote-mounting the DTS-4, say on the floor under the desk, or even in the basement to keep all that pesky coax at bay, and using a compact remote control box on your operating desk?

The DTS-4R remote control fills the bill, with a full set of control buttons and indicator lights, but only a single, slim control cable running to the remote DTS-4 switch.

The DTS-4 handles up to 1500 watts of RF power on HF (1000W on 6M), and can be used with any coax-fed antenna. The Radio Sense feature needs at least 2 volts from your rig, at 1 mA current. The DTS-4 features Teflon SO-239 connectors, and requires an external 12 vdc power supply at 250 ma. If the external power supply fails, all inputs are grounded, so it's fail-safe. Switching is done by rugged, sealed industrial relays.

Add the DTS-4 and DTS-4R to your shack soon; it's the modern coax switch you've been waiting for.

SPECIFICATIONS:

• Four position coaxial antenna switch.
• Safety features prevent “hot switching”.
• Radio sense allows auto-off control to ground all positions.
• RF power: 1500 watts HF, 1000 watts 6 meters.
• Frequency range: 1.8 – 54 MHz
• Isolation: >50 db
• Loss: <1 db measured on 14 MHz.
• Serial Interface: TTL 2400 baud 8-N-1.
• Power requirements: 11 – 15 volts DC at 100 mA maximum
• Switch Size: 7.5” W x 4.5” D x 2.5” H
• Remote Size: 4.5” W x 3” D x 2.25” H
• Weight: 1 lb.