开云体育

ctrl + shift + ? for shortcuts
© 2025 开云体育

Connector savers


 

The SMA connectors on the TinySA? were never meant for hundreds of connect/disconnects and will wear out eventually especially if the center pin is allowed to rotate and "drill out" the SMA jack. A good way to protect your device is to use "connector savers". Once they wear out you simply replace them with new ones. There are several places you can buy them online. I purchased mine on eBay from a Chinese seller for about 8 USD (including shipping).

I bought mine here ...
;var=464095337588&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

If you want better quality (Amphenol) and 2 day delivery order from Digi-Key ....


Roger


 

I bought mine from W5SWL. USA seller, fast shipping, decent products. He sells direct or eBay.



73

-Jim
NU0C

On Fri, 15 Jan 2021 15:09:56 -0800
"Roger Need via groups.io" <sailtamarack@...> wrote:

The SMA connectors on the TinySA? were never meant for hundreds of connect/disconnects and will wear out eventually especially if the center pin is allowed to rotate and "drill out" the SMA jack. A good way to protect your device is to use "connector savers". Once they wear out you simply replace them with new ones. There are several places you can buy them online. I purchased mine on eBay from a Chinese seller for about 8 USD (including shipping).

I bought mine here ...
;var=464095337588&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

If you want better quality (Amphenol) and 2 day delivery order from Digi-Key ....


Roger


 

Instead of these savers, why not use little SMA pigtails (6" or so)?


 

Two reasons I can think of:

The pintails will wear out or break long before the savers.

Most people will find themselves changing the pigtails often for one reason or another.

73

-Jim
NU0C

On Fri, 15 Jan 2021 17:02:06 -0800
"S Johnson" <cascadianroot@...> wrote:

Instead of these savers, why not use little SMA pigtails (6" or so)?





 

And when you need a SMA bullet, I recommend this style with a knurled center section: ebay # 202670005403


 

I would use a male-female adaptor. Actually, I would probably use a male SMA to a female SMB adaptor. I have a lot of cables with SMB male plugs on them. The SMB's often seem to be overlooked, maybe because most are rated to 4 GHz. But that surpasses the range of the Tinysa anyway. But the ease of just snapping them on and off is useful.

Also, I'm leery about buying connectors from Asia. A ham on a microwave group analyzed some of them and found they weren't so good.

Zack W9SZ


On Sun, Jan 17, 2021 at 12:07 AM Solder Soldier via <RON626=[email protected]> wrote:
And when you need a SMA bullet, I recommend this style with a knurled center section: ebay # 202670005403


Virus-free.


 

Any of the Asian connector will work up to 350Mhz without problems and whatever small impedance bumps or loss they have from 400Mhz to 1ghz is less than the problems in resolution that the analyzer has at the high input.

Most cheap connectors bought in the US are also made in China, so be careful. I have gotten junk from W5WSL some of his SMA-F adapters are so far mechanical out of spec they are hardly usable...but hey they were cheap.? If you really want good connectors you have to buy where the industry buys and that is not from a ham source. You have to shell out? the price of the Tiny SA for one adapter. Look at Pasternack, Grainger, or Newark for quality. Example a good SMA-F/ to SMA-M adaptor from Pasternack is $53 a piece and there is a reason for that.? https://www.pasternack.com/sma-male-sma-female-straight-adapter-pe9694-p.aspx
Having tested many different adapters Hams sell on the internet or flea markets and many of those sold on e-bay I found it a better deal to look at swap meets for commercial assemblies that have a bunch of SMA cables and bulkhead adapters that the telecom industry uses. Most of those assemblies go between $10 and $50 and many have a large amount of connectors inside. Many a times the sellers are happy to get rid of them because a) the average ham doesn't build anymore and b) they have no idea what to do with that stuff. Take it apart. If you get an assembly for $10 bucks and get even 2 adapters? or 2 bulkheads out of them you have your money back 10 fold.With all the 3.1Ghz equipment that will be hitting the flea markets and e-bay in the US there will be ample of quality parts available in the near future.

That said, I agree with Zack, the SMB connector is widely overlooked . It is perfectly good for non critical low power use and for test equipment up to 3Ghz and I have seen hams use them at 5.8ghz. I have ample of cables, adapters and attenuators for SMB and SMC that I use for various projects.

John


 

Back in another life I picked up some used SMA adapters from one of the regular hamfest vendors that seemed to be in good shape for just a few dollars. I looked up one of the Amphenol parts later and they were around $80 new. I would be hard pressed to pay that much for hobby use but was happy to get a decent used one at a bargain price.

73

-Jim
NU0C

On Sun, 17 Jan 2021 07:08:09 -0800
"John Cunliffe W7ZQ" <n2nep@...> wrote:

If you really want good connectors you have to buy where the industry buys and that is not from a ham source. You have to shell out? the price of the Tiny SA for one adapter.