RF Connectors Assortment

Nice one! During my early days I always struggled with choosing the right connector.

Each one comes with a maximum frequency limit. BNCs are good till a few hundreds of MHz. Above that only the SMA/SMB type or N type are useful. Among SMA and N type also there is a frequency limit. Most low cost SMAs are only good till 6GHz, good quality SMAs from TE, Molex, etc can go only till 18 GHz above which one has to go for the 2.92mm connectors very popular in mm-wave systems. They can go upto 40GHz.

And the cable in the above picture is RG316- is good only till 6GHz. Would love to see another blog on types of RF cables :)

I am familiar with all those connectors except the MHF4. Boy that is a tiny connector. My guess it can only handle 10 or 20 insertion/removal cycles.

Yes, these are usually specified as max. 10 connections.

I've probably wrecked the connector on the WLAN card. I'll soon know!

 Nice assortment. I also have some GR connectors like this one 

They are good from DC to 9 GHz find more info here

~~Cris

"BNCs are good till a few hundreds of MHz."

Doesn't that depend a little on what you're trying to do with them? Oscilloscope manufacturers seem to manage ok with them up to a couple of GHz.

BTW BNC comes in both flavors 50 & 75 ohms You have to check the pns

~~Cris

Hi Cris,

That style looks very similar to RF connectors on UK TVs : ) 

Nowadays the coax is better, but I remember as a kid the coax had air spacing (with polythene internal ribs holding the cable in shape), and if there was any damage at the antenna end, then rainwater would run down it, into the TV..

this is the GR784-TNC Coax 50 ohms For sure

For those of us that work in RF, it's critical to have a drawer (or box) full of adapters to connect the unit you're testing to the test equipment you have. Although large, my favorite is type-N as it has a wide frequency range and low loss and is double-shielded.