On Wed, 12 Mar 2008 11:55:35 -0700, Jim Lux
wrote:

I've encountered (defective or broken) SMA hardware that has remarkably
high *apparent* loss.

Hi Jim,

Modifiers abound, and such an abundance generally suggest there are
problems of understanding. Roy and I have already written to that
matter.

Returning to poor connectors, the cables that I gathered for jumpers
at the RF bench were selected, naturally. We had plenty to choose
from, but there were always poor performers for any of a number of
reasons we didn't care to investigate, simply because we tossed the
losers. Insertion loss was never a problem as long as it was
constant. The losers did not present a constant insertion loss which
could have been attributal to connector quality (or construction
quality); but some times there seemed to be the suggestion of
triboelectric effect (cable bending not associated with straining the
connector). Anyway, the cables were tossed without too much regard
for why - we had better things to do (the in shelves never seem to
empty).

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC