Guest , Feb 21, They are smaller than the BNC They are more secure, the BNC can pull off in not locked BNC's need a lot of torque, could be a fastening problem One possible problem is that the center conductor looks awfully small, wonder how much power it will take for non-HT use? K8ERV , Feb 21, I have powered 40 watts at 2. So power up your HT, the only limitation will be your battery.
We play with 40 Ghz stuff quite often, and these will go higher than that! Here is an interesting web page to show you more about the higher stuff. AG3Y , Feb 21, It all sounds like a hokey spy movie, or a bowl of cheap vegetable soup. I'd love to see statistics of how many cellsite components get switched out because less than ZIF was used to connect cables between module stages at the time of manufacture. N8CPA , Feb 21, Show Ignored Content. Share This Page. Connectors are crucial components in the RF chain and are instrumental in achieving proper performance in the system.
As these components incorporate mechanical action, as well as carrying RF, care needs to be taken in use. A damaged connector, if mated, may propagate damage to the mated connector.
As connectors can be costly, taking precautions and using care is well-advised. Ensure connectors to be mated are physically compatible and are of the same impedance rating. Be sure to inspect connectors before mating, which may require the aid of a microscope or magnifying glass for sufficient detail. Look for metal particles, fibers, dust, and other contaminants. Check for centered, straight, and undamaged center pin on male connectors, and verify that female jacks are centered, open, and undistorted.
Look for body distortion or dents. Depending on jack construction, verify any contacts or spring fingers are in place and undamaged. Prior to mating, clean both connectors. This is especially important on precision connectors used at higher frequencies, where measurements can be easily affected by contaminants. Clean, dry air, such as canned air, can be used to blow out connectors.
Blow across the face of the connector to pull debris out, as blowing directly into the connector may lodge debris more firmly. A small amount of isopropyl alcohol on a lint-free swab can also be used to clean connectors, however, avoid excessive solvent to minimize wicking of solvent into the connector.
Air-dielectric connectors are fragile, and if mechanical cleaning of the internal contacts is needed, it must be done with great care. Clean internal and external threads, and check for any burrs or roughness that would interfere with smooth thread engagement. When mating connectors, carefully align the center axis of both connectors and push straight together as far as possible. While keeping the connector bodies stationary, turn the connector nut by hand to thread onto the mated connector.
The nut should thread freely and fully engage the mating threads by hand. If encountering excessive resistance, remove the connectors to investigate the problem. After hand tightening the nut, tighten the connector to the specified torque using a torque wrench, while using a wrench to prevent the mating connector from rotating if necessary. Ensure the proper torque spec is used, as excessive torque can deform the connector, while insufficient torque can result in incomplete mating and poor performance.
This step is especially important with higher frequency connectors, as slight mechanical changes will have more of an effect with the shorter wavelengths of higher frequencies. In situations when mating compatible connector types, such as a 3. Connectors are an integral part of a system, and degradation or damage of a connector will affect the overall system performance. Proper connector care is crucial to ensure proper system operation.
In addition, implementing use of a connector saver can also be a good practice. In usages where cables and connections are frequently changed, commonly in a production or manufacturing environment, a connector saver will take the wear of normal use. The connector saver acts as a sacrificial wear item, thereby protecting the connector on the test equipment.
It is important to note that the addition of a connector saver, while mechanically beneficial, is an additional pair of connections in the RF path and may have an adverse effect on the system performance, and could increase measurement uncertainty. Measurements should be taken to characterize the effect of the addition of a connector saver. Ultimately, due to the mechanical processes involved in connector use, with mating and de-mating cycles, connectors will wear, and performance will degrade.
Following proper care, maintenance, storage, and mating technique will maximize the usage cycles. Using an adapter to convert between connector types needs to be done with care, and with the understanding of the limitations involved. Simply the fact that an adapter is available does not imply that it is appropriate for use in your application.
Each connector type has maximum frequency and power limits, and the application needs to operate within both of these limits, for both of the connector types. Maintaining the same connector type in the RF chain as is used on the amplifier output is a good approach.
Using an adapter to convert to a different connector type needs to be done with care, considering the maximum possible frequency and power both of the connector types could be subjected to.
For a given connector type, not all connectors are made to the same standards of precision. Some connector types, primarily the higher-frequency types, are available in various quality grades. There are three common categories of connector quality that are used in the industry, with variations in design and terminology between manufacturers. Metrology grade is the highest precision and quality grade connector, and most expensive.
These would commonly be reserved for high accuracy applications such as for calibration purposes and use on calibration standards. These are most commonly used in production and manufacturing.
Note that the maximum frequency rating of a connector type may vary depending on the grade of the connector, thus use care when operating at the higher end of the connector frequency rating to ensure the connectors being used are of a grade to support the frequency in use.
For details of the design and performance differences between grades, reference the manufactures product information. Although not intuitive, some connector series families are compatible with other connector series, and can be physically connected.
However, each series carries its own power and frequency limits. However, the looser SMA tolerances can lead to damage to the high-precision 3. This primarily applies when using a male SMA connector, where variations in the male center pin diameter or height could damage the female jack of the mating connector.
In addition, when connecting an SMA to a 3. Regardless, the mating process needs to be performed carefully. Connector gender is often assumed to be determined by the gender of the connector center contact, however this is not the case. Although these do agree in many cases, better practice is to understand the different connector configurations possible, and how connector gender is determined.
The connector gender designation is not defined by the center pin, but rather follows the connector body configuration.
The connector with a body that has external threads is designated as a female connector or jack. Once the connector gender is identified, look to the center conductor configuration to determine if the connector is SP or RP. A male connector with a male center pin, or a female connector with a female center socket, is an SP connectors, since the body and center conductor genders match.
SP connectors are the common conventional configuration encountered. A male connector with a female center socket, or a female connector with a male center pin, is an RP connector, as the body and center conductor genders are different. RP connectors are less commonly encountered and were originally developed for use in specialty applications to discourage alteration of the equipment. Thanks for the info, that was basically what I was looking for.
N4DES Czar. The SMA is better at resisting water intrusion than the BNC and is the most popular style connection on most 2-way radios. The SMA connector seems much more fragile. And with an SMA male to BNC female adaptor screwed into the handheld's SMA jack, it seems even more fragile as the adaptor is a lever arm that increases the stress on the connector on the scanner. SMA has better performance, but without sophisticated test instruments looking at 1GHz range and above, you won't see the difference in practice.
Joined Feb 6, Messages 6, Some additional info They're not intended for applications where they are frequently removed. A good quality BNC connector properly installed can be usable up to around 10 GHz, but in the real world, they're good up to a couple of GHz. Obviously designed for frequent removal, and they're a lot more rugged than SMA's. SMA's on scanners and radios are there generally because of small size requirements, and not their RF performance. I got an antenna as a gift and its has a bnc connector.
On my scanner xt , I am using the sma-bnc plug with the antenna. W2NJS Member. Dump the BNC adapter and use an antenna that matches the radio's native connector.
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