"That's my story and I'm sticking with it".. HAHA Jim!! OK, fabulous analysis. I know you probably FEEL you have done connectors on multiple videos, but it's worthwhile doing something like this every 3 months.. I love it. Perfect!

My Father now (SK) was a radar engineer for Lockheed from the 50's through the 70's used to bring home Mil-Spec "N" connectors and He used them religiously on all his ham gear, Allen Bradley,Pomona and Amphenol were used by Lockheed, all had Gold plated center pins and the main body are Silver plated and all were protected with neoprene gaskets, some of the connectors he had were anodized blue or red but were designed for Heliax cable. What I found interesting was the fact that being these parts were Mil-Spec, they had expiration dates and were scrapped by the package date code listed, atleast Lockheed thought they were scrapped, all that stuff came home in Dads classic Black thermos brand lunch box, along with Titanium scrap from the SR-71 project.🤣👍🎙⚡️ I love your video's, especially your "Comparison/ Test videos Jim, I hope your doing well 🙏 and Ill see you on the one!!!😏👍🎙⚡️

You are a goldmine of radio information Sir! I hope you're doing better and will be with us for a long long time.

Hi Jim, thank you for the considerable effort you put into the videos. A gripe I have with PL259s is that if the securing collar is not tight you can readily get an intermittent shield connection, this does not happen with the N-type. A weakness of the N-type though is that on frequently connected and disconnected applications (like on test equipment) the tiny fingers in the sockets can break. A bit of trivia about the Teflon in the N-connectors, the original design specified the mass of the insulator not the dimension. The designer knew that the K-factor of different batches of Teflon varied but was related to the density.. A hazard with buying random BNC, TNC and N-type connectors are that a lot of 75 ohm ones are around. A 50ohm plug will physically damage a 75 ohm socket. There are some appalling quality connectors around these days, poor threads, poor plating and poor insulating materials. The losses you measured were horrific, at high power something is going to burn! 73

Hi Jim thanks for all your work and investigation of various connectors. Having spent 40+ years at a testing laboratory the first rule is to eliminate the variables. The Chinese, silver, nickel, name brand, crimping, soldering method each need to be evaluated on their own to obtain accurate findings. Your results go a long way to narrow down the pros and cons of each of the types without the extensive individual tests. Thanks Jim always glad to see your videos without the Bias so often associated with testing.

Silver Teflon PL-259 / Name brand properly assembled N (The easier to put together ones) & BNC for low power, yep! That's been my experience as well. The 1dB per connector is an old "rule of thumb" from long gone days of yore, before we could afford test equipment to accurately measure with. Thanks Jim! 73

The Mic is Fixed! You sound better than ever!

This was just what I needed. Thanks for the effort and time. Quality is key in this hobby.

It's a very true story. Spending a few bucks more on the branded connectors may save you hours of investigating what's wrong. Or it may save your weekend doing SOTA/POTA from struggling with your portable setup. Regarding the BNC - it's common that china stuff do not work at all: pin is not centrally located, the dimensions do not match at all or touching the cable causes intermittent disconnections, because the metal parts are loose. Don't let the low quality stuff flood us. Jim, all the best for you, stay strong like S9+60!

You are correct, Jim. There is a reason Ham equipment manufacturers have always stuck to PL-259 connectors. Chassis-mount N and UHF are about the same cost and effort to install, but it's the cabling and headaches afterward that their customers go through that steers them away.

Jim, you are correct about name brand N-Connectors. DO NOT use anything no-name for 432MHz or above.

Perfectly said and tested. I still prefer qro connections so uhf it is.

Jim, thanks 😊 for the history and other characteristics of these connectors. I usually use UHF when I assemble them. Never did N connectors, and very few BNC ones. 74 de Ray W2CH. 😊

You sir, have way more patience than i do. The thought of checking all the pl259 and so239 connectors i have is cringe worthy. I do wish the connectors were better insulated for weather though. Great video, Jim. Luke Kj7wvz

There is one thing to consider. In my experience connector loss from adapter to adapter may be negligible. However, connectors on a coax cable are a different story. Several years ago I did a similar test with N connectors. I compared (like you) 10 adapters, F-F and M-M stacked together. All brand new Amphenol adapters. The loss wasn't worth writing home about. Then I compared 10 coax jumper cables, think they were around 6.8 to 6.9 inch's long for duplexer cavity jumpers. They were custom Pasternack simi-rigid cables with N connectors. I can't remember exactly what the loss was nut it was in excess of 1dB. 1dB at 100 Watts is 20 Watts. Point being, even with uber premium coax cables with specifications much higher than almost any HAM is ever going to use on a antenna system the loss at each connector is much more than you will have in a adapter. It's the interface from the coax cable to the connector is where it gets you. Mike KC3OSD

The amount of power any connector can handle decreases as frequency increases. Environmental conditions also play a key role. As temperature increases power handling capability decreases. Most premium N connectors are rated for 3 to as high as 5 KW at HF frequencies and 500 to 800 Watts at 2 GHz. By the time you get to the N connectors maximum operating frequency of 11 GHz the maximum power rating is down to about 250 Watts. For a connector to operate at high power the manufacturer may require connector heat sinks be installed.

Interesting find. Got to admit that there are very few who would go as far to blame what appears to be a well installed connector. Thanks for the knowledge at your frustrating expense. If you’re going to spend thousands on your gear and scrimp cents on your connectors….not worth the loss or the aggravation. Bob Runge W1LSZ

We might as well face it. I have only been a ham for a few years and I use all of these plus some weird military connectors that I use for my patch panel! I can't measure any difference between any of them, but I am a 2 meter on down guy. 73, KF0BBU

The problem with PL259's is this, you need a micro torch to pre heat them and then cool them quick after the solder coagulates with a damp towel to stop the heat from melting the dialectic insulator. I used to do a lot of patch cables at repeater locations up on norad Cheyenne Mountain. The quality matters, like solid silver coax and a delicate proper jacket cut where you don't waste a connector. I'll do a RG400 jumper one connector and be under 1/2 an inch to band cut resonance. The main issue is silver is the best but it tarnishes over time. I only use the silver plated Amphenol with tan bakelite insulator, Teflon UHF connectors are crap and they melt with a poisonous gas when they break down from RF meltdown in the shack. Good RG213 should be good for 2KW PEP @ 30Mhz no problem with good soldered on UHF con's.

WONDERFUL work! Thank you!

I'm a lover of the N-Type, mainly due to it having rubber seals that help with moisture ingress, protecting the coax.

We saw the same problems with our club repeater using Chinese N connectors with Chinese hard-line. A little De-ox on an electronic swab exposed the black oxidation not visible on inspection.

Thank you Jimmy, about what I thought

I mostly use BNC as a temporary go between and SMA and S0-239, because these are what my radios, cables, and antennas mostly use. Cheers.

Thanks for the 20m SSB contact yesterday morning. You have good ears Jim. 73 de Ady G6AD

I'm wary of anything Chinese. I wanted a light fitting a while back and put it back on the shelf when I read Made In China. Since making my QRP h/b tcvr over 30 years ago I use BNC connectors on everything, RG58 coax and only short lengths so no great loss. I've not had problems with BNC connectors. G4GHB.

Thank you for this helpful and informative video. It gives me some key factors to consider. Thanks again! ~ 73

AFAIK the U in the UHF PL-259 originally meant "universal". The RF mating part of the N Type is identical to the BNC, you can happily put a N type plug into a BNC socket, there is no mechanical retention or support of course; but not surprising as the N Type and BNC have the same inventor.

Interesting in depth & unbiased review of connectors. Many thanks Jim. Ray de G0VLF

The BNC and the N connector are basically the same... the BNC is bayonet while a N is screw holding it together. Both can handle the same power... both look nearly identical to RF. You need a very high frequency TDR (time domain reflectometer) to truly know what is going on with a connector. FYI SO239 and PL230 was the Amphenol part number.

Thanks Jim

I believe that the N and C connectors are moisture proof, whereas the UHF connectors are not. UHF was designed by E. Clark Quackenbush. Thanks for demonstrating.

much good information

Thanks mate

Till recent times up to 420 its been a matter of cost. You could get UHF connectors for a buck or two but, N, BNC and SMA often ten dollars or more and only worked with High Quality Coax, also expensive. On the low bands, nuts and bolts worked just as well as long as you kept the leads short. On VHF, the RCA Phono plug worked quite well with RG-58-9 and open wire was still the best for serious work anyway. Also, most of the differences were hard to see on an analog VSWR meter, if you had one. It took a slotted line and lab gear to get better than even a Bird 43.

Myself I use at my base station, N for outside cant beat the seal on them.

Yes, the BNC, N, and UHF connectors are all fine if they are of decent quality. Also, the cheap and lowly RCA connectors should not be overlooked. As long as they mate snugly and contain decent insulation, they work just fine for general usage. They are great for portable stations due to their small size and weight. Their characteristic impedance is not 50 ohms (more like 30 ohms), but their length is so short as to be of no practical consequence for HF and VHF applications. I wouldn't trust one for the output of a high-power amplifier, but I use two routinely at the 100-watt level on six meters. Heathkit used RCA connectors on various HF and VHF products through at least the 100-watt level.

I use N connectors for most of my gear. I even replaced the connector on the back of my ftdx10 with an n connector. My reasons have absolutely nothing to do with losses. The big problem with pl259s is that if the barrel becomes slightly loose, then the shield continuity is intermittent. The n connector has internal "fingers" which maintain continuity even if the barrel is not tightened. The n connector is FAR superior compared to the pl259. 73

Thanks Jim for all your hard work! As always, I learned a lot from this video. You give real world test data, not rumors you heard somewhere. I'm glad to learn how well the UFH connectors work at HF and how they are more forgiving to install than the N connectors. Good info to know!! Also, I don't like the little guy from Florida. I unsubscribed to his channel when he made the very unprofessional comments about you a while back. He is an idiot and shoots from the hip. Robert K5TPC

N CONNECTORS RULE HANDS DOWN EVEN AT HF ! Remember and N connector and a BNC connector have a dedicated shield / ground connection. 73KV4WM, A US NAVY NUCLEAR SUBMARINE VETERAN.

I use cheapo PL-259 for up to 6m, but find that the two 'teeth' that stop it rotating in the SO-239 sockets are practically non existent. Sometimes the screw on collar can fail, due to poor quality. The compression type PL-259 and N male connectors are far better quality. 👍

I suspect there are a lot of 75 Ohm BNCs out there on the market which don't mate correctly with 50 Ohm BNCs because of the different sized centre pin and receptacle. At least with UHFs you don't have to worry about "which one is 50 Ohms?" because none of them are!

How are you doing, Jim! :-) I'm using a cheap 75 Ohm TV cables and connectors. I'm an SWL and it works out great.

Interesting. I expected a lot more of the N :(

Jim, that "mHz" should be MHz, right? So the 10000mHz should be 1000MHz?

Is it worth (predominantly United States operators) stopping calling them the old name "UHF connectors", and start calling them by their formal names of SO-239 / PL-259? As you confirmed, generally, they arent suitable for the UHF as it is now known. In the UK when I was a kid the 90s, using them on 27 MHz CB, I've only ever known them as PL259s...

My dislike of PL259s goes back to the days when one had to solder the shield directly onto the connector barrel, which required so much heat that the coax was melting and definitely nowhere near 50R any more. I also don't much like the inconclusive ground due to the way the barrel screws onto the SO239 and the fact that the PL259 isn't waterproof. So 30++ years ago I standardised on BNC for low power stuff (

Amphenol