this post was submitted on 22 Mar 2026
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For the purpose of transmitting or receiving?
Oh, only reception. Should definitely have mentioned that... Title updated.
EDIT: Wow, you're Onno VK6FLAB! Love your podcast! 😀
Indeed I am, and thank you for your kind words!
As for coax, RG316 seems to be popular, but I have only ever used pre-made patch leads. I use SMA throughout my shack and essentially adapt all other connectors to SMA.
You haven’t ever made your own cable?
I have, just not SMA, crimped or otherwise.
if you have settled on that as a standard connector, you can make a good buy out of 50m of LMR240UF, a crimping tool frame, die set matching the cable/connector, and 10 packs of Amphenol SMA connectors.
You might get both male and female SMA since female will match a lot of handheld radios, and you can make “extension cords” with one end male and the other female, and you can mount the female ones through a hole in an enclosure or feedthrough plate.
It’s also nice to have a few UHF/PL259 and N connectors - invariably you will have some equipment with them.
Then you would be equipped to make exactly the right length cables with exactly the right connectors and known high-quality materials.
Over the years I've made a great many coax leads, the bulk of which were Quad Shield RG6 terminated with F-tyoe compression fittings.
Even with such high volume of manufacturing, 75Ω satellite connections, the variation was so high that it was hit and miss to have a good day or not when you terminated these whilst standing on a roof next to a satellite dish.
In that time, I learnt that it's cheaper and safer to pay for factory terminated coax.
Ditto with UTP and RJ45.
I still have all the tools, but will really only use them for emergencies.
I respect that others want to terminate their own leads, but it's rare that I have such an urge. There's still plenty of coax and UTP lying in my garage, but I'm pretty sure that it will outlive me.
Completely different attachment method designed for consumer applications - meanwhile aerospace uses crimp connectors precisely for their repeatability.
If you get a nanovna you have all the tools you need to prove your cable assemblies are to spec. (And, at the same time, there is no real guarantee preassembled cables are done properly - I’ve seen utter rubbish SMAs with wrong dimensions or stamped pins, cables with steel or aluminum conductors instead of copper or with almost no shield, and substandard assembly techniques used.)
Known-good preassembled cables can’t be obtained from Aliexpress or Amazon, and the cost of quality vendors makes improving my own craft worth it!