Palm Mini Paddle retrofit

Equipment
1

I recently applied the GM0EUL mod to my Palm Mini Paddle. This is an excellent upgrade to get this paddle back into regular use, and I can wholeheartedly recommend it for anyone who loves their Palm Mini but has had trouble with the original Molex connector. The 3.5mm connector is much more robust. Peter GM0EUL offered a nice kit of parts and has an informative video on the mod:

Cheers and 73,
Mike K6STR

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Thanks Mike, great video, very informative.

Geoff vk3sq

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To be clear, this is Peter’s (GM0EUL) video, not mine!
73,
Mike

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K7ATN did a write up in the Pacific Northwest newsletter quite a few years ago on how to do this mod. He provided part numbers and pictures as well. I’m not sure if Mouser still lists the part number for the jack or not as it’s been a while since I last checked. Pretty good mod as I recall…

73, Todd KH2TJ

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After three revisions of the Molex in a full size Palm, I gave up. It is now in a no-slide position with cable tied down thru two new holes in the bottom. Perfect… …Elliott, K6EL

IMG_2376

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Todd et al,
Sadly, the parts to sub a 3.5mm jack for the palm are long since discontinued.
Etienne-K7ATN

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The whole point of Mike’s original post was that the parts ARE available from Peter, GM0EUL!

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I had an issue with a home mode Molex based Palm cable on Beinn Dubh this Friday just. I’ve just stripped it and the ground connection was broken. Resoldered and we’re back in business. Must be 10+ years since I made this cable. The trick I found was to use very lightweight cable, this uses the cable from some headphones that belonged to one of my kids till they destroyed them. So it’s very light, thin and flexible.

2 Likes