cheap slide switch in a standard box.
the switch
fig 1 shows a proven inexpensive home-made antenna selection switch. if you question the use of a cheap slide switch and so239 coax sockets, read on. measurements in a physics lab showed there to be practically no reflection on hf and even on 70 cm the swr was below 1.3 : 1! that is explained as follows:
l the contacts in the slide switch have larger contact surfaces than many a bought coaxial switch.
l the wiring and switch contacts, between the top and bottom of the metal case, act as the centre conductor of a coax of near 50 ?.
it is a standard box measuring 54 × 50 × 26 mm (l × w × h) and the wiring between the switch and the coax sockets is done in 2 mm silver plated wire.
power handling capability
if the switching is done with power off, the switch can stand 800 w. i have used this switch for more than 15 years and even with 1500 w there have been no problems.
while building this switch, you might as well add a test point, e.g. to connect a ‘scope’ or frequency counter. the capacitors of 10 and 220 pf make a capacitive voltage divider and the extra loading, 9.6 pf, does not affect performance on hf. in fact, on 10 m it improves the swr as the extra capacity, in combination with the wiring it makes a filter which favours that frequency.