From ???@0x00000835 Thu May 28 15:15:27 1998 Message-ID: <356D98FD.6E20BF38@virtual-cafe.com> Date: Thu, 28 May 1998 10:03:57 -0700 From: David Sherman Organization: David Sherman Engineering Co. X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.04 [en] (Win95; I) MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: sci.electronics.design Subject: Re: What does the abbreviation SMA stand for ? References: <356D2020.6F12075B@intec.rug.ac.be> <6kjvaa$7r7$1@news1.iamerica.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cache-Post-Path: news.virtual-cafe.net!unknown@java.virtual-cafe.com NNTP-Posting-Host: 207.149.50.5 Lines: 21 Path: newsfeed.pitt.edu!pitt.edu!portc02.blue.aol.com!bignews.mediaways.net!fu-berlin.de!news-peer.gip.net!news.gsl.net!gip.net!logbridge.uoregon.edu!su-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!atl-news-feed1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!news.planetc.com!satellite.premier1.net!207.149.50.5 Status: N Presumably he means the tiny expensive, gold microwave connectors. I don't know either. Actually, names for coax connectors are buried in post-WWII obscurity. Maybe some old-time tube-head can fill us in. I know there are SMB and SMC connectors as well, which are much like SMA, so that implies that the "A" part at least is maybe not an abbreviation. I used to think BNC came from "Berkely Nucleonics Co." who used them as early as anybody, but I've been told it's just some random code letters. Other common coax connectors are type "N" (very expensive), and UHF (presumably "ultra-high-frequency) connectors (PL-259). Less common series are TNC, MHV, SHV, C, HN, SC, and F. There is also a "mini-UHF" and a SSMA (which implies that the "S" means "Small" since SSMA looks like SMA but is smaller. There seems to be no logic to the naming except that SMX are all tiny microwave connectors and TNC is maybe a "Threaded" version of the "Bayonet" BNC. If you really want to know what they stand for, you might try calling Pasternack Enterprises in Irvine CA (714)261-7451. They sell every RF connector known to man. ---David Sherman