Suggestion for GRE - BNC connectors

[unitcharlie]

Try this out... it is a BNC Male to Female adapter... I tired of changing my BNCs atop the scanners so I took someone's advise from rr.com (I wish I could remember who so I can thank them!). I have one on each of my BNC scanners except the PRO 97--I use a BNC elbow on that because of the way it mounts in the car....

 

[bee]

I reccomended the "showmecables" web site, back in "april 08"! I also use this method of saving wear on bnc connectors. Radio shack has the one with the "right angle".

 

[K2QI]

I bought a pack of 10 BNC male - BNC female adaptors from eBay last night for 9 dollars.

Still though, my lugs have already started to wear out on a brand new scanner. Such a shame that a great scanner would be plagued by a 10 cent connector.

 

[freqhunter]

I never turn my antennas all the way down on the BNC lug. As soon as I feel pressure I stop.

I was told by a Larsen employee many years ago that a BNC connector has a life expectancy of 500 cycles. Antenna on and off 500 times! I have mine on and off several times a day. If this is true it is no wonder my 500 is showing wear. Funny though my Standard C228, 528, 628 radios purchased new in 1994 show no wear and have been used much more.

I would love to see an SMA on the 500/106.

 

[K2QI]

I never turn my antennas all the way down on the BNC lug. As soon as I feel pressure I stop.

I was told by a Larsen employee many years ago that a BNC connector has a life expectancy of 500 cycles. Antenna on and off 500 times! I have mine on and off several times a day. If this is true it is no wonder my 500 is showing wear. Funny though my Standard C228, 528, 628 radios purchased new in 1994 show no wear and have been used much more.

I would love to see an SMA on the 500/106.

How much wear have you noticed? Mine's developed flat spots at the bottom of the lug already. I also don't apply to much pressure when attaching the antenna.

 

[freqhunter]

The coating on the body is coming off. The lugs have no wear as I dont turn the antenna all the way around.

 

[K2QI]

The coating on the body is coming off. The lugs have no wear as I dont turn the antenna all the way around.

Not sure I follow? What do you mean you don't turn the antenna all the way around? You are geting the lugs to lock into the antenna's circular cut-outs on the sleeve right?

 

[freqhunter]

I slide the antenna down on the BNC, turn it just a bit. The lugs never get all the way around to the detents in the antenna.

 

[K2QI]

I slide the antenna down on the BNC, turn it just a bit. The lugs never get all the way around to the detents in the antenna.

Ahh.. I see.

Ok, well that probably wouldn't work for me unless I was sitting at home. Scanner gets used too much as a portable that the antenna would probably get lost. Hate to a lose a duckie somewhere on the street...

 

[unitcharlie]

All of my portable antennas have a short length of Dummy Cord on them that is connected to the scanner so I won't lose mine--a lesson learned a long time ago.... cable tie on the antenna end, bowline that fits around something on the scanner on the other end.

 

[bjwyatt1999]

Regarding the BNC Male-Female adapters, isn't there like a 3dB loss for every connection? If so, aren't you reducing the advantage to swapping antenna's when portable?

 

[K2QI]

Regarding the BNC Male-Female adapters, isn't there like a 3dB loss for every connection? If so, aren't you reducing the advantage to swapping antenna's when portable?

If there's a 3dB loss, then I personally would probably never notice it living in a high RF environment like NYC. Where did you see those specs? I would imagine the insertion loss to amount to no more than 1dB max.

 

[bjwyatt1999]

If there's a 3dB loss, then I personally would probably never notice it living in a high RF environment like NYC. Where did you see those specs? I would imagine the insertion loss to amount to no more than 1dB max.

I don't have a credible source, it was just something passed from father to son and it's sort of a general rule of thumb for any signal connector.

I was asking merely to ensure I wouldn't be solving one problem (potentially broken antenna connector) by creating another (excess signal degradation).

 

[Mike_G_D]

connector loss

A straight through connector shouldn't exhibit a loss as much as 3dB (within its specified frequency range) unless damaged or very poorly designed. It WILL exhibit loss, however, but, typically in the less than 2dB range. They also can get dirty with wear and this will increase the loss. I have seen such losses on connectors that get heavy use in the lab using sensitive test equipment; it is a problem for testing as just wiggling the connector or re-screwing the outer ring on can change the results by as much as 2dB or more, not to mention the impedance bump. But for scanner listening, you probably won't notice until the connector wears or gets dirty enough to notice a scratchiness in the audio when the connector and/or antenna is disturbed mechanically.

Amstel78 - I posted a reply to you in the Antenna forum concerning your issues using your notch filter, BTW. Since I didn't see a response I thought maybe you haven't seen it. It's fairly significant so let me know your thoughts concerning it when possible.

-Mike

 

[geoff5093]

I prefer BNC to SMA simply because it's easier to quickly switch out antenna's.

As for the BNC connector wearing out, if you mainly use external antenna's you can pickup a right angle adapter and leave it on, that way you are wearing out the connector on the adapter, rather then the radio itself.

 

[K2QI]

Amstel78 - I posted a reply to you in the Antenna forum concerning your issues using your notch filter, BTW. Since I didn't see a response I thought maybe you haven't seen it. It's fairly significant so let me know your thoughts concerning it when possible.

-Mike

OT - Mike, I replied to your post in the antenna forum. Sorry, must have overlooked it.

 

[socalmike]

showmecables

If those BNCs were ordered from showmecables.com be ready for a disappoinment as far as quality goes. They will be the same or lesser quality that is on the radio. To top it off when I bought BNC ends from them and although the website said "same day shipping" the order was held for a few days with no explanation but my credit card was promptly charged. If the connectors are not AMP or BENDIX they are junk IMO .