M0MAT - Good value co-ax plugs on e-Bay

Just a quick mention for Matt, at M0MAT RF Devices.

You can find him here:-

https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/m0mat?_trksid=p2047675.m3561.l2563

Or just look for plugs on eBay and you will find him amongst the suppliers.

Some N-types recently arrived at GM4FVM

I cannot deny that at one time I did not take RF plugs and sockets very seriously. As an old low band HF (or indeed MF) operator it did not make much difference what I used. As I have said before here, my first commercial transmitter had a Belling Lee socket on it for 7W at 144MHz so the lessons available were pretty basic. For years old PL-259s, often second hand, were good enough.

Experience taught me that for VHF and higher I needed N-type plugs and sockets. Eventually I changed over. Not that I love N-types but they are good at higher power and frequencies plus they are more or less watertight. I still recall the PL-259 on the Sirio 70MHz J-pole letting rain water right through and ruining the coax. I had wrapped it beautifully in self amalgamating tape to prevent water getting in from outside, but the water went right through the inside instead.

I soon got fed up paying more for the N-type plugs and sockets than I was paying for the coax. Sure, the branded ones are very easy to fit with great instructions, but they cost an arm and a leg. And those instructions suggested using a micrometer to set the cutting distances. Fair enough, but can I reproduce enough excellence here in the shack to equal the very high tolerances those things are made to?

And then there are the cheaper unbranded ones. Like the PL259 to N-socket ones which have too long shanks and will not screw tightly into many of the sockets I have. Or the N-types and BNCs you buy with wide pins which look suspiciously like 75ohm ones in disguise. If you put a 75ohm plug into a 50ohm socket you can distort the socket and make for an intermittent fault in the future. Put a 50ohm plug into a 75ohn socket and the pin might not even make contact.

So far I have had no problems with the plugs and sockets I have bought from Matt. His e-Bay shop has loads of items on there including some very handy adapters. You know that what you are getting are proper 50ohm ones. It is fairly easy to work out how to fit them (remember the washer at the back of the rubber compression ring). They are good value, especially for bulk purchases and for his bags of 5 plugs of one type. Plus they arrive quickly in a neat little box.

I have no connection with the M0MAT shop, I am just a long term happy customer.

I thought I would pass this information along.

73

Jim

GM4FVM