Talk:N connector

Usage

Someone marked 'citation needed' after "connecting these two types of cable together can cause damage" - you really need a citation to see how connecting a 50 ohm cable to a 75 ohm cable could damage something?? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.82.193.162 (talk) 01:30, 17 December 2007 (UTC)

Yes it does need citing (and has been cited). It is perfectly feasible for a connector series to have a 50 ohm and a 75 ohm variant that are dimensionally compatible. 80.0.68.41 (talk) 18:35, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

Urban Legend

'Some Urban Legend information relating to the "N" connector:

Firstly,to quote the Amphenol web site:

"TYPE N CONNECTOR SERIES... Named after Paul Neill of Bell Labs after being developed in the 1940's, the Type N offered the first true microwave performance. The Type N connector was developed to satisfy the need for a durable, weatherproof, medium-size RF connector with consistent performance through 11 GHz."

http://www.amphenolrf.com/products/typen.asp

The rumor over how it was named...

Legend has it that British commandos in WWII parachuted into scandinavia to gain intelligence on Axis radar technologies. Once overtaking a remote German radar site, their technicians dissected the site and found (among other things) a unique RF connector. This connector was self-cleaning, weather tight, and perfect for the then ultra high and microwave frequencies.

The team brought some examples back to England, where they were reverse engineered and put to use for the war effort. Engineers quickly referred to the connector as the "Nazi" connector. The engineering staff could not bring themselves to utter the word "Nazi", so this type of connector was referred to as the "Type N connector." After more reverse engineering, the allies came up with a more compact version called the BNC connector - originally called the "Bayonet "N" connector" or the more palitable "British Naval Connector"

The truth of the matter is that the N connector was invented By Paul Neill of Bell Labs and most likely pilfered by the Nazis prior to WWII. Another connector (the C connector) is attributed to a fellow Bell Lab engineer named Concelman. A hybrid of the two designs was designated the BNC (Bayonet Neill Concelman) connector.

The bit about commando parachuting into Scandanavia is presumably a garbled version of the Bruneval (i.e. France) raid by members of the 1st Parachute Brigade. Perhaps gives an indication of the accuracy of the rest of the story. --jmb 08:36, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

---

Hand Tightened

• What is the exact meaning of 'hand tightened'? Tightening like bolt and nut? --- Hyungjin Ahn ahj6@hotmail.com 2007-01-14 13:02:59

It means "tightened by hand." If you look at the connector, it has a knurled outer surface, suitable for gripping by the fingers, and interior threads. The alternative might be "wrench-tightened." ---- David Duncan Scott

Probably hand-tightened as opposed to a connector like a C or BNC which being bayonet connectors are either connected or not connected, also SMA which are tightened with a torque wrench and some larger connectors which are held together with nuts and bolts. --jmb 08:36, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

It also means not tightened with a torque wrench. Note that many RF connectors have torque specified for mating. Note that the torque limits are usually specified by the manufacturer, and can vary greatly.http://www.rfcafe.com/references/electrical/connector-torque.htm DJH16W (talk) 19:58, 30 May 2018 (UTC)

References

50 ohm / 75 ohm

"rv - no personal experience, but 75 ohm means thicker central pin, damaging the 50 ohm female.."

75 ohm is red

• Actually the 75 ohm N connector has a smaller pin than the 50 ohm N connector. If you look at the pictures that I posted previously, 75 ohm is the one with the red insulator. C Connector is the opposite way around I think but would need to check. --jmb 20:12, 1 August 2007 (UTC)

Hmm, OK. Although if one IP editor adds a whole paragraph about possible damage and then another one reverses it, and neither gives a ref, who should we believe? Han-Kwang 20:40, 1 August 2007 (UTC)

I've seen a datasheet that said something along the lines of "50 ohm and 75 ohm connectors are NOT intermatable on pain of interface destruction". From looking myself it appears mating a 50 ohm male with a 75 ohm female would indeed damage the center contact. Not sure about the other way round (I think it just wouldn't make good contact but i'm not sure. Plugwash (talk) 08:07, 16 February 2011 (UTC)

Dimensions?

I am looking for a source for mechanical dimensions/drawings for this and other RF connectors. Anyone have a good source? (as I type this I'm thinking "gee, if there were one, it would probably already be linked!") Failing a general source, can anyone tell me the outer diameter of an N-type connector? I need to be able to fit my cable through a 3/4" conduit and need to decide whether getting an antenna with a female N-type connector will mean the corresponding male connector is too big for the conduit. Much thanks. 129.97.90.182 (talk) 20:25, 5 May 2008 (UTC) Rob Gorbet

Answer MIL-STD-348 RADIO FREQUENCY CONNECTOR INTERFACES FOR MIL-DTL-3643, MIL-DTL-3650, MIL-DTL-3655, MIL-DTL-25516, MIL-PRF-31031, MIL-PRF-39012, MIL-PRF-49142, MIL-PRF-55339, MIL-DTL-83517.crcwiki (talk) 02:22, 17 November 2018 (UTC)

The one I have here is 20mm at the widest point measured with crap callipers and 0.786 inch measured with an old micrometer, so either way its not going to fit. But wouldn't you terminate the connection after pulling the cable through the conduit? 92.232.144.63 (talk) —Preceding undated comment was added at 15:36, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

according to http://www.amphenolrf.com/products/typen.asp?N=0&sid=4D5B13801F97617F& the mating thread is 5/8-24 . The nut on the male is obviously going to be larger. Exactly how much larger will probablly depend on the specific make/model of connector but i'd expect it's highly unlikely to go through your conduit.

One option I would consider in a situation like this (where you are either using pre-crimped cables due to lack of tooling/experiance or where you need to be able to withdraw the cable) would be to buy your cables with SMA connectors and then use adaptors to connect them. A good quality N to SMA adaptor should have negligible loss. Plugwash (talk) 08:16, 16 February 2011 (UTC)

References

Possible HTML coding error or CSS issue

174.17.69.132 (talk) 06:51, 5 December 2009 (UTC) Running Firefox 3 on Kiwi version of Ubuntu (Linux) and for whatever reason the section edit links are all positioned two and three in a row, depending on the zoom setting, and being displayed on top of article text.

I have used Firefox for ages and had not seen this on Wikipedia before.174.17.69.132 (talk) 06:48, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

Section heading

Usage is incorrect usage---that is, it refers to conventions for the use of words. So the heading should really be Use. I've left it as it is for now though, in case there are any links to the section which would need updating. Musiconeologist (talk) 16:30, 16 August 2010 (UTC)

Is this the same as TNC?

I have a TNC connector on my wifi router, and a Type N connector on the long-range antenna. They look the same to me! And it seems they were both invented by the same guy at the same time for the same reason. So are these just alternate names? Maury Markowitz (talk) 17:44, 4 November 2011 (UTC)

An N connector is larger than a TNC and not inter-mateable. Perhaps one of these was mis-identified. Unluckily we don't have dimension drawings in these artices - check out TNC connector. Adapters are available, though perhaps costly - check with your friendly local ham radio groups for sources. --Wtshymanski (talk) 18:14, 4 November 2011 (UTC)

The Linksys WRT54G and many similar devices commonly use TNC or SMA connectors for external antennas and outdoor WiFi antennas commonly use N connectors (although sometimes you see TNC). N connectors are generally preferred for outdoor applications because they are easier to make weather tight. I prefer a product called Stuf dielectric grease [1] for this purpose, which is Teflon based. Silicon based greases and sealants which used to work fine for early lower-frequency CATV applications are a serious no-no for WiFi frequencies (and modern CATV installations). [2] [3]

As far as adapters go, I'm not so sure about costly, but some of the less popular combinations might be more difficult to find. A Pomona Electronics 73046 N-jack to TNC-plug [4] for example, (which are commonly used for WiFi) are readily available and can be had for about US $10.00 or so. A more complex (and more lossy) adapter made from parts of a coaxial adapter kit would probably be much more expensive though. Another option might be a pigtail or another cable with the correct connectors fitted. The photos on this page should also help show the differences in sizes. --Tothwolf (talk) 09:33, 5 November 2011 (UTC)

Confusing picture of female N

The picture of the male N plug on a cable looks fine. But the female N connector in another diagram is not a good example. There appears to be some sort of shroud around the outside. Perhaps the picture was taken on an antenna which has a should to keep out water after the connection is made. But this is not part of the N connector as such. Hence I suggest the female N picture is removed. Drkirkby (talk) 09:53, 12 January 2014 (UTC)

Could I ask why the cross section picture shows a metal short between center and GND on the left? It might have been a useful reference in my presentation but for this confusing part. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:8800:1701:afd0:e80a:5c0d:e57a:482b (talk) 20:30, 15 September 2021 (UTC)

Slots on female N contact.

The shape of the male pin on an N connector is not well defined, as one can see if on looks at the MIL standard. There quite loose tollerences on the diameter of the thin part of the pin, and where it tapers is not well defined, and the radius of curvature is not well defined. It should be apparent that he female contact has to be table to accomodate a wide range of different male conacts.

I'm aware of three types of female contact.

• Female N conects with 4 slots. These seem to be the most common. As the male pin enters the female, the female will expand in diamater by an amount which is ill defined. So since the impedance is set by the ratio of two diameters, the impedance is not well defined.

These are the cheapest and most commonly found type.

• Female N conects wtih 6 slots. These are more expensive, and are generally found on good quality test equipment.

• Female N conects with no slots at all. Instead these have 6 fingers on the internal part of the pin. This means the female pin is a constant outside diameter, maintaining a constant impedance. These types of female centre pin at very expesive, and only find use in metrology applications, such as high quality VNA calibration kit. The Agilent 85054B, which I happen to have, sells at other $18000 and includes precision slotles connectors.

I could add this, but it would take me some time to cite references.

Dave — Preceding unsigned comment added by Drkirkby (talk • contribs) 10:09, 12 January 2014 (UTC)