As a ham back in the ?50s, it never entered anyone's mind that they would ever own more than one radio. I mean, having a DX-20 paired with an AR-2 was just about as much as anyone could imagine. Now, it?s not unusual to have two HF transceivers, or maybe an HF transceiver and a VHF/UHF set. Each one of these might have a separate speaker, or need a keying line. Switching a single speaker or keyer between the two involves so much plugging and unplugging you start to look like Ernestine the telephone switchboard girl.

LDG has the solution. The ALK-2 is a switch box for speakers, keying lines, ALC lines or whatever you need. It has two switched and one common set of jacks in the back: 1/8^th inch stereo and RCA jacks in parallel. On the front, a push-in/push-out selects the port, and an LED lights to indicate the selection. For instance, you can switch one speaker between two radios, or two radios between one speaker.

The ALK-2 runs on 12 volts DC at 100 ma from any suitable source. It makes switching speakers or keys a breeze, letting you use whichever rig you need when you need it. You can even pre-set it, and remote control it by switching the 12 volt dc on and off from a distance.

Two switched sets of parallel-connected 1/8" stereo jacks.

• Two circuits (stereo) switched. Red jacks are right channel, white jacks are left channel.
• Stereo 1/8" plug and RCA plugs of a given port are wired in parallel.
• Maximum current 1A per circuit, 32V.
• Remote operation possible (see Application Hints)
• Requires 12 volts at 100 mA, 2.5 x 5.5 mm jack, center positive
• If RF is transmitted through the ALK-2, keep it below 5 watts, 30 MHz, 3:1 SWR.
• 6.5" wide x 3.5" long x 1.5" high
• Weight 1 pound