[TowerTalk] PL259 Insertion Loss?

[Ian White GM3SEK]

K8RI wrote:
>>> This cannot happen with the UHF family of connectors.
>> That large, fixed center pin is about the only thing they did get right
>> :-)
>Remember that the UHF connector design is probably one of the very 
>first coax cable connectors designed.

Somebody had to be first, and Mr E Clark Quackenbush [1] did a fine 
job... for its time, which was in the 1930s. But it's important to 
remember how long ago that was.

>Did we even know about impedance bumps and insertion loss back then?

That problem became apparent very quickly, which was why Neill and 
Concelman needed to design a new range of constant impedance connectors: 
N, C, BNC etc [2].

But once again it's important to remember how long ago what was, and how 
the pressures of wartime forced some dubious design decisions that are 
still with us today.

Any good designer can name things that he'd have done differently in the 
light of experience, so I'm sure that Messrs "Q", "N" and "C" would be 
the first to encourage us to use the more modern and *better* versions 
of their connectors that are now available.



[1] http://www.amphenolrf.com/products/uhf.asp

[2] See other links on that same page.

-- 

73 from Ian GM3SEK
http://www.ifwtech.co.uk/g3sek