On 19/08/2017 16:25, Rambo wrote:
Brian Reay wrote:

Well, the B&L connectors are used for TV which covers well into the 100s
of MHz. There is also the F connector, another 'cheap and cheerful'
beast, used beyond 1GHz. I've not done any measurements but it obviously
performs were enough for the task demanded of it.

Both the B&L and F connector suffer (as do all connectors) problems if
not fitted correctly but they are more prone to being 'bodged'. The B&L
is, for example. prone to issues with poor braid bonding while the F
connector, which uses the centre conductor as the pin, tend to be prone
to the 'pin' not aligning etc. I believe the F connector is used in the
US where we would, generally, expect to see a B&L connector. I believe
the B&L is virtually unknown in the US. I was contacted by a US amateur
some time back who had acquired a bit of UK kit (KW?) which had B&L
sockets. He'd not seen them before. I sent him some plugs etc.

Of course, there is nothing 'magic' about 50 ohm coax or the connectors
we 'normally' use on our radios. If we were to stick to using 75 ohm
coax and B&L connectors the world wouldn't end. Likewise, if you mixed
50 ohm and 75 ohm, while you may be able to measure a slight difference,
chances are, in real terms, it wouldn't make much difference to the
overall set up performance- at least unless you were doing something
'exotic'. You'd be more likely to notice the impact of a poorly fitted
'correct' connector in an all 50 ohm system.

I tend to favour N types but I've not change all the connectors on my
radios. The 'first' patch lead as whatever the radio needs on one end
and required N type to connect to rest on the station on the other. The
same for my mobile set ups.

I also have a good collect of, quality, interseries, adaptors etc and a
set of the correct connectors for my Bird power meters and dummy load
etc. Through in a few home brew special adaptor leads for things I don't
have adaptors for and I can interconnect virtually anything.

Oh! has he finished? I dozed off for a moment there.

It's the sledgehammer and nut syndrome, rather like using a VNA to set
up an antenna when the distant station couldn't tell the difference
between the results for that and using a 20p light bulb to do the same
thing.


--
Spike