What buch of bunk! What we need is to get the Chinese factories to start
production. Their copies of well known watches that sell for a few dollars
are a testament to their cpabilites to maintain and keep close tolerance
while being competitive.
73
hank wd5jfr

"John Walton" wrote in message
...
with what would appear to be a plethora of devices using SMA connectors,
why
are they still so expensive?

On 09 Nov 2003 18:12:36 GMT, (Avery Fineman)
wrote:

The old "UHF" connectors (SO-, PL- numbers) common on amateur
HF and low-VHF equipment were obsolete for new designs a half
century ago. Those are cheap because there isn't much QC on
them and the tolerances are sloppy in comparison.

It is good for many purposes, even up to 432MHz - in spite of what
somebody says. In the local radio club the problem is that they don't
like to solder and even SO239/PL259 means a great problem. Not to
mention a club which went into a very large scale of antenna
installations for CQ-WW contest last year and discovered that some of
the antennas which were put up few days before didn't work any more

SMAs used with semi-rigid coax are quite easy to make once you
get the hang of it and are incredibly durable physically and in all
kinds of environments. The solid center conductor of the semi-rigid
becomes the "pin" just as in the TV set F connector used with
RG-59 75 Ohm semi-flexible. F connectors are good to 1 GHz
(with some higher VSWR than others) so don't anyone knock the
method. SMAs are dandy to use with stripline in aluminum hog-
out enclosures.

With all the available semi-rigid cables with connectors available as
surplus it has never been neccessary to mount such connectors, got a
few hundred cable connector 10 years ago, but really not needed them,
and I do have 10GHz SSB transverter with SMA connectors


73
Jan-Martin, LA8AK
http://home.online.no/~la8ak/d.htm
--
remove ,xnd to reply (Spam precaution!)

On 09 Nov 2003 18:12:36 GMT, (Avery Fineman)
wrote:

The old "UHF" connectors (SO-, PL- numbers) common on amateur
HF and low-VHF equipment were obsolete for new designs a half
century ago. Those are cheap because there isn't much QC on
them and the tolerances are sloppy in comparison.

It is good for many purposes, even up to 432MHz - in spite of what
somebody says. In the local radio club the problem is that they don't
like to solder and even SO239/PL259 means a great problem. Not to
mention a club which went into a very large scale of antenna
installations for CQ-WW contest last year and discovered that some of
the antennas which were put up few days before didn't work any more

SMAs used with semi-rigid coax are quite easy to make once you
get the hang of it and are incredibly durable physically and in all
kinds of environments. The solid center conductor of the semi-rigid
becomes the "pin" just as in the TV set F connector used with
RG-59 75 Ohm semi-flexible. F connectors are good to 1 GHz
(with some higher VSWR than others) so don't anyone knock the
method. SMAs are dandy to use with stripline in aluminum hog-
out enclosures.

With all the available semi-rigid cables with connectors available as
surplus it has never been neccessary to mount such connectors, got a
few hundred cable connector 10 years ago, but really not needed them,
and I do have 10GHz SSB transverter with SMA connectors


73
Jan-Martin, LA8AK
http://home.online.no/~la8ak/d.htm
--
remove ,xnd to reply (Spam precaution!)

Henry Kolesnik wrote:

What buch of bunk! What we need is to get the Chinese factories to start
production. Their copies of well known watches that sell for a few dollars
are a testament to their cpabilites to maintain and keep close tolerance
while being competitive.
73
hank wd5jfr

Cheap garbage is out there, but after you've seen it, you will never
use it again. I have seen imported "N" "ell" adapters with over 20 dB of
attenuation. I have seen crappy SMA connectors that pop apart before you
can even tighten them to the chassis connector.

I will not buy or use garbage. I have some Omni-Spectra, and a pile
of surplus SMA connectors left, plus a pile of modules from commercial
Sat receivers, and telemetry equipment that should last me a couple
years.
--


Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

Henry Kolesnik wrote:

What buch of bunk! What we need is to get the Chinese factories to start
production. Their copies of well known watches that sell for a few dollars
are a testament to their cpabilites to maintain and keep close tolerance
while being competitive.
73
hank wd5jfr

Cheap garbage is out there, but after you've seen it, you will never
use it again. I have seen imported "N" "ell" adapters with over 20 dB of
attenuation. I have seen crappy SMA connectors that pop apart before you
can even tighten them to the chassis connector.

I will not buy or use garbage. I have some Omni-Spectra, and a pile
of surplus SMA connectors left, plus a pile of modules from commercial
Sat receivers, and telemetry equipment that should last me a couple
years.
--


Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

The old "UHF" connectors (SO-, PL- numbers) common on amateur
HF and low-VHF equipment were obsolete for new designs a half
century ago. Those are cheap because there isn't much QC on
them and the tolerances are sloppy in comparison.

It is good for many purposes, even up to 432MHz - in spite of what
somebody says. In the local radio club the problem is that they don't
like to solder and even SO239/PL259 means a great problem. Not to
mention a club which went into a very large scale of antenna
installations for CQ-WW contest last year and discovered that some of
the antennas which were put up few days before didn't work any more
===============
There are High quality PL259 connectors with teflon insulation where only
the (gold plated) centre pin has to be soldered .
The braid connection is like an N-connector with a 'flanged braid insert'
..
They are relatively expensive (GBP 3.00 = US$ 4.50) ,yet I have adopted them
as standard for all the necessary 'UHF' connections in the shack.
In the UK these connectors are available from Westlake.

Frank GM0CSZ / KN6WH

The old "UHF" connectors (SO-, PL- numbers) common on amateur
HF and low-VHF equipment were obsolete for new designs a half
century ago. Those are cheap because there isn't much QC on
them and the tolerances are sloppy in comparison.

It is good for many purposes, even up to 432MHz - in spite of what
somebody says. In the local radio club the problem is that they don't
like to solder and even SO239/PL259 means a great problem. Not to
mention a club which went into a very large scale of antenna
installations for CQ-WW contest last year and discovered that some of
the antennas which were put up few days before didn't work any more
===============
There are High quality PL259 connectors with teflon insulation where only
the (gold plated) centre pin has to be soldered .
The braid connection is like an N-connector with a 'flanged braid insert'
..
They are relatively expensive (GBP 3.00 = US$ 4.50) ,yet I have adopted them
as standard for all the necessary 'UHF' connections in the shack.
In the UK these connectors are available from Westlake.

Frank GM0CSZ / KN6WH

This is somewhat OT, but I am regularly amazed at the Chinese ability to
turn out high quality parts dirt cheap. Computer components are a good
example.

Psst... Don't tell them. :-)
============================

Tell them what? 8-)


Jack

This is somewhat OT, but I am regularly amazed at the Chinese ability to
turn out high quality parts dirt cheap. Computer components are a good
example.

Psst... Don't tell them. :-)
============================

Tell them what? 8-)


Jack

In article ,
W7TI wrote:

On Sun, 9 Nov 2003 19:17:28 -0600, "Henry Kolesnik"
wrote:

What we need is to get the Chinese factories to start
production. Their copies of well known watches that sell for a few dollars
are a testament to their cpabilites to maintain and keep close tolerance
while being competitive.

__________________________________________________ _______

This is somewhat OT, but I am regularly amazed at the Chinese ability to
turn out high quality parts dirt cheap. Computer components are a good
example.

Psst... Don't tell them. :-)

You could too if you paid your workforce a buck day.

Al

--
There's never enough time to do it right the first time.......