This weekend's main task was to connect and install the pilot and passenger headset jacks in the brackets I'd previously made. Each occupant has separate jacks for headphone audio and microphone, plus a separate Bose jack that combines phone and mic audio plus power for my nice ANR headsets. Add in the wiring for the push to talk button, and you end up with a lot of wires that all have to be carefully soldered to the jacks. Of course all the wiring is shielded too, and you have to join multiple shields together in a couple spots. The wires that come attached to the Bose jacks are 26 gauge, which is just incredibly small and difficult to work with. I think I'm still slightly cross-eyed from sorting out all those tiny wires.
Here's the same thing tied into a nice bundle and installed in the bracket. Note that I used heavy heatshrink to support the connections.
I left generous service loops for future maintenance:
The audio connector on the GMA 347 is by far the busiest connector in the whole panel. The bundle of shielded wires going to this connector keeps getting bigger and bigger. Luckily there's just a handful of connections yet to be made on this particular connector. Man, I really overused the word "connector" in this paragraph.
I made Mary come downstairs and help me test my handiwork by talking back and forth using a pair of headsets. It all worked! Not quite Alexander Graham Bell, but satisfying anyway.
I thought I would knock out the headset jacks in an hour or two and then move on to other things… instead it took me two afternoons to finish it all. Just a lot of fiddly little things to get hooked up and working right.