[Amps] Can some explain this curious eBay auction

[David Kirkby]

On 22 August 2012 05:18, Richard Solomon <dickw1ksz at gmail.com> wrote:
> Welcome to the world of "Audiophoolery", where the perception of fact is above
> fact itself. The world of $500 AC Line Cords, Xfmrs wound with Silver Wire and
> other such things

Talking of expensive cables, his a quick question / game.

How much would you expect to pay for a couple of RF cables to fit to a
vector network analyzer? Read the specs I've copied below, then go to
the Agilent web site, and see if you are suprised at the price. Note
for me at least, the price is given in pounds, so you would need to
multiply by about 1.58 to get to USD.

"85131F Flexible Cable Set, 3.5 mm (Test Port) to 3.5 mm"

* One cable is female to female and 622 mm (24.5") long.
* The other cable is male to female, and the same length.
* Both cables have precision 3.5 mm connectors. These are like SMA,
and normally will mate witih SMAs, but they are of a higher precision
than SMAs, so it is not advisable. (For those that don't know what an
SMA connector is, it's similar to the antenna connectors on the back
of most WiFi units. In fact, WiFi units have "reverse SMA", so they
wont actually mount to SMA, but are the same size)
* Cables are rated to 26.5 GHz.
* The female ends, which are deisgned to fit onto the nework analyzer,
have larger nuts than usual, to make a more solid connection to the
network analyzer.

So how much can two cables, 24.5" long cost?

Now look at the price.

http://www.home.agilent.com/agilent/product.jspx?nid=-536902710.536879565.00&lc=eng&cc=US

Dave, G8WRB.