I ordered a tatoo artists foot switch too.  Mine is octagonal black plastic with a yin-yang symbol on top.  I removed the heavy duty spring to use it as a desktop PTT switch.  I wired it to the remote connector on my Kenwood TS-430S to use with the Audio Technica ATR-30 mic I wired to the radio.  Both work great!

Hi.  What part of the desk does your XYL object to?  The fileing cabinets can be painted or covered with shelf paper.  The door could be replaces with a kitchen countertop.  My shack desk consists of 2 filing cabinets and a 6 foot wood grain kitchen countertop.  I have drilled several  holes  next to the back (not through the raised back part) so I can route wires neatly.  

39 inches deep is a good idea if you are using a desktop computer on the shack desk.  I am using an ancient compaq laptop (P166, 48 meg ram, 6 gig HD) so the depth of the countertop is just about right.

TTYL

Hi.  While my TH-G71a did not have this problem, my girlfriend's did.  It was sloved by reseating the ribbon cable (on the main board) from the volume control.  I found this out by accident as I was replacing the rubber tx button on the radio.  

Be careful if you attempt to reseat this connector as these ribbon cables (and the others in the radio) are fairly delicate, and must be handled with care!