Gadgeteer2000
Member
Hello all, I have a bunch of SW wire antennas with a 3.5mm jack on the end. How do I use / can I use these antennas if my receiver has an SMA antenna connector? Thank you for guiding me!
A very stupid question
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If the antenna is a simple wire, you can out on whatever connector makes you (and the radio) happy. At least, with receivers it might not be as critical as with transmitters. I'm curious what kind of receiver it is: this is the first time that I've heard of one with an SMA connector.
Gadgeteer2000
Member
Thank you. It is an ICOM R6 wideband receiver
Icom definitely makes great equipment--over the years I've had (and still have) a few of their portables & mobiles. Depending om what you decide to do with antennas, you could probably find a converter plug that'll go from SMA to whatever you want (that way you don't have to worry about changing anything in the radio). There used to be such a dealer who showed up regularly at hamfest in the area here (northern 'burbs of Chicago) but unfortunately I don't remember his name...
wtp
Member
in short,
there are no rules for reception only.
long wire to paperclip, whatever works.
there are no rules for reception only.
long wire to paperclip, whatever works.
There are adapters available, Amazon has many options. (A double-ended adapter might be required, unless you want to build your own.)
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I assume he is going from a 3.5mm (normally audio but also used on some wire antennas) to SMA. I could only find one on Amazon that claims to do that but it really looked like the SMA had no threads. Making his own is a good idea but personally I have had more problems wired to an audio cable than even a PL-259 due to the smallness of the audio cable connector. So here is what I would do.
First get one of these
SMA Male to Type F TV Cable Female Coax Connector Adapter - by W5SWL | eBay
and then one of these
Kentek F-Type Coax Coaxial Male to RCA Female M/F Adapter Connector Plug Jack | eBay
F-type male connector to RCA female connector adapter. Straight through connection, nickel-plated Brass body, 75 ohm. Each order for 1 pc only. Picture for demonstration purposes shows product's front and back end.
www.ebay.com
3.5mm Mono Female Jack to RCA Male Plug Adapter 4 Pack | eBay
Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 3.5mm Mono Female Jack to RCA Male Plug Adapter 4 Pack at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.com
I could not find a way to do it with less than 3 such parts (I think I pasted the right links) . You may be able to find cheaper ones of each (and not end up with left overs of the last link). The problem in doing this with fewer adapters is that the 3.4 mm is not considered a serious RF connector.
Gadgeteer2000
Member
Thank you all. Yes, I am going from 3.5mm to SMA. And I need a 3.5mm jack (female) on one end and SMA male on the other end. I may just get a patch cable with SMA male installed on one end and an audio cable with 3.5mm female (that I have anyway) and cut and solder them together. That should work, no? Do I have to worry about doing the wire connection in a special way to minimize losses?
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As ling as you are just doing HF or the am broadcast band, that will work just as well. If you are doing VHF or UHF, the 3.5 mm is part starter from get go.
I recently bought a male SMA to 3.5mm male, which is what I had in mind when I mentioned the double female. (I did not see any cables like the one I have, but with a female 3.5mm.)
None of the listed adapters will work. SMA is not the same as RCA or F. Get a short SMA jumper, cut one end off the coax, then solder a 3.5mm mono plug (you can buy those on their own with no cable) to the coax. If you buy a jumper with the correct SMA gender on both ends and cut the coax in the middle, you can make two adapters.
Jonas74
Newbie
Yet another option. I just bought my first receiver and the seller said that the included rubber duck antenna wouldn't do much when trying to listen to SW (confirmed by Alinco in their marketing material/manual). So he threw in an adapter by which I can connect any wire/cable with naked ends.
I have no idea what it's called (but would love to know!) and now it goes from wire to something (BNC?) to SMA. Preferably one would like to go straight from wire to SMA.
Anyway, the point he made is I now can buy any cheap wire and experiment with different lengths. Hope someone here knows what these are called and where one can buy one. You would of course bypass the entire 3,5 mm thing this way and not use those wires (or cut of the plug and use the cable).
I have no idea what it's called (but would love to know!) and now it goes from wire to something (BNC?) to SMA. Preferably one would like to go straight from wire to SMA.
Anyway, the point he made is I now can buy any cheap wire and experiment with different lengths. Hope someone here knows what these are called and where one can buy one. You would of course bypass the entire 3,5 mm thing this way and not use those wires (or cut of the plug and use the cable).
Gadgeteer2000
Member
Thank you all. I have just ordered an SMA male patch cable on Amazon. I have female 3.5mm jacks so this should be an easy solder job to make two adapter cables. One more question: does the polarity matter? So which wire of the 3.5mm mono plug is the outer ring on the SMA and which one is the pin? Or it does not matter? Thank you for your insights on this.
I would go sleeve to ground to keep the outside conductor connected to the outside conductor on the adapter. It may not affect reception, but discharging static sparks to the chassis of the radio instead of the andenna input conductor seems like a really good idea.
Typically, you want the shield of the cable (which is the body of the SMA) to the ring connection of the 3.5mm.
Hmm...perhaps purchase a 9:1 unun for $12 (link below), or make one to tame that random wire. The linked one below could use a M/M SMA adapter, or whatever adapter/pigtail needed for the receiver. For a 3.5mm male plug at the end of a wire, one could simply wire up a female 3.5mm plug to the unun with two wires.
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