[HCARC] "N" Connectors

[Kerry Sandstrom]

Gary,

I'm not sure what the SP stands for.  I was just looking at an unused but 
old one.  There isn't any sign of tarnish on it and it is quite shiny and I 
can see the marks from the tool when it was turned during manufacturing.  I 
don't believe it is silver plated, but I could be wrong.  It could be that 
the SP stands for "Straight Plug" but I don't know.  I just checked 4 more 
Amphenol 83-1SP UHF Plugs and I'm pretty sure they aren't silver plated.  In 
any event, I would only expect the center conductor to be silver plated if 
anything was.   Straight Plug is a common description of coax connectors.

As far as N-connectors go, I have a few Bunker-Ramo (Amphenol), Kings, and 
Automatic.  The Kings in particular is a common name on surplus connectors 
as is Bunker-Ramo.  I'm not sure if Amphenol is/was part of Bunker-Ramo or 
vice versa.

I just saw the e-mail from Harvey.  Yes, Harvey, any cable with a foam PE 
dielectric will have a larger center conductor because of the lower 
dielectric constant of the insulator.  I thought that LMR400 required a 
special N-connector.

I don't have my connector data handy Gary, when I come accross it I'll try 
to see what the connectors are made of.

Kerry