24 May
2009
24 May
'09
6:26 p.m.
On May 24, 2009, at 12:53 PM, William Donzelli wrote:
You mentioned GR-874s...I've never put one on a network analyzer,
but I use them all the time in DC metrology applications. They're
wonderful in that world.
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire
Port Charlotte, FL
They go by
the same designation over here. They're one of the worst
connector designs I've ever seen. Not even suitable for VHF use,
why on
earth someone named them "UHF" is quite beyond me. Have you ever
put one on
a network analyzer? Bumps and reflections all over the place.
The official designation is PL-259 and SO-239 - and these designations
refer only to the straight plug and standard chassis mount versions.
These are old US Army Signal Corps designations, and date to roughly
1941. Yes, they are not very good (electrically) radio connectors, but
they were developed during a time when coax was very much in its
infancy, and UHF meant something different than it does today. I can
think of very few coax connectors that came before ("WE" connectors,
GenRad 874), and they were generally not very good either. For an
early try, they are not bad at all, and in many cases work fine. They
are easy to use, can deal with a good deal of power, and are very
rugged.