Hints and Kinks: Painting Letters:

This idea comes to us from Dave Price, K4KDP daveprice@nc.rr.com, of Goldsboro, North Carolina.

As I get older, I find it is harder to read some of the smaller print on my radios. The ICOM 706 is a good example. The radio connectors are marked ANT 1, ANT 2, MIC and DC 13.8V, just to name a few. These are marked by either raised letters or letters that are indented into the radio housing. I found that if I paint these letters white, they show up much better on the black metal case. There is a fairly easy way to paint the letters white using cotton swabs with wooded sticks.

http://www.arrl.org/news/files/Price_Paint.pdf Break off the cotton tip on some of the swabs until you have about six of them with sharp points at the break area. Throw away the cotton tip and use only the wooden stick to paint with. Now spray a small puddle of white paint onto a piece of cardboard. The cardboard will absorb some of the moisture. Just as the paint starts to thicken dip the pointed end of the stick into the paint and then gently tap the paint into the indented area of the radio housing. On raised letters I use the blunt end of the stick, repeating the same process. It is best to use very little paint and repeat the process of dipping into the paint and tapping the paint onto the letters many times (see Figure 1).

You will find you have to replace the stick several times and spray a new puddle of paint when the old puddle gets too thick. You will also need to have some small paper towels and rubbing alcohol close by to quickly clean up any mistakes. I strongly recommend you practice this on some junk metal before attempting this on your expensive radios. I have also used this same trick on unpainted numbers for my Chevy truck 4 wheel drive shift mounted on the truck floor and for my watch bezel to make the unpainted numbers easier to read.

Do you have an idea or a simple project that has improved your operating? Maybe you've taken something commonly found around the home and developed a ham radio use for it? Why not share your hints with fellow hams in "Hints and Kinks," a monthly column in QST. If we publish your hint in QST, you will receive $20. Send your hints via e-mail h&k@arrl.org or to ARRL Headquarters, Attn: "Hints and Kinks," 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111. Please include your name, call sign, complete mailing address, daytime telephone number and e-mail address.

Source:

The ARRL Letter

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