BNC looms large and RULES!
this post was submitted on 11 Apr 2025
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SMA is too fragile and PL-259 is a pain to weatherproof. I prefer BNC for portable use and N connectors for just about everything else.
That’s interesting as PL-259 is the standard for marine use. I wish we had something better
Where is BNC, and why is uFL here?
Ufl sucks. No mechanical lock.
SMA or bust. The other three connector types introduce a lot of noise compared to SMA in my experience. BNC is my goto if I want a noise profile similar to SMA but the device I'm working with isn't vibration damped.
What's the role of vibration damping? SMA comes on most HTs.
Oh dang, I totally missed the name of this community when I commented. My knowledge of and opinions on rf connectors come from working on large aircraft mounted systems, where turbulence can cause a nightmare of threaded connector sleeves vibrating loose and bent pins. In this situation you either need vibration damping or a more mechanically robust connector like BNC
Makes sense, thanks
PL259 has non-constant impedance, which is the main reason I don't like it.
N type is a near perfect connector except huge size, which has constant impedance, supports frequency up to 11GHz, is waterproof and can be used with high power.
SMA is similar to N type but has smaller size and lower power.
U.FL will be the only choice if you only have very tiny space. (The situation never happened in ham radio)