As I pointed out, normal "N" connectors which I have seen in many years in Radio & TV Broadcast work, have no provision for the use of a torque wrench.
Everybody else I have ever seen use them hand tightens them.
The hex type definitely could be torqued, but I'm afraid that my detector goes off the clock about this.
The main, quite legitimate, reason for torque wrenches with SMAs is to prevent damage to their delicate threads & internals, but "N" connectors are positively "agricultural" in comparison!
As I stated, typical hams do not believe in torque wrenches. Rather they place their faith in their Birds. Your responses are typical of a ham. While you like to use your call sign to communicate,
My responses are typical of someone who has spent most of their working life using the very connectors you are referring to.
The reason I use VK6ZGO as my "nickname" is pure laziness.
I was using it on QRZ.com, who, except in special circumstances, want people to identify in that way.
When I signed up here, it seemed a waste of time to have to remember another alias.
Some forums don't like ham calls, hence on the "UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion" Forum, I am "Oldmadham".
with your last comment about your having a life and earning a living, I suspect you also fall into another common trend I find typical with hams.
My point was that I found it a lot easier using time to learn Technical stuff, which I could do whilst still in the same room as my family, than spend time on Morse practice, which is really best done away from others.
I do not know your background, but I assume you had a formal University education, whereas in my case, I had to learn as I went, as progress through the technical ranks in my long term employer was through competitive examinations, with most of the material requiring much home study.
This necessarily, took precedence over ham radio.
After all, the reward for passing the Morse test was being able to use HF, whereas that of the technical study was a better job!
A while back I mentioned about hams who feel the need to write me outside of public forums for help and their reason for doing so. Another side note about them is they while they value their time, they find everyone else's worthless.
I would not do that sort of thing--questions on a forum are fair enough, but chasing people over & above that is, except in special circumstances, harassment!
Debating torquing connectors and Bird Watt meters with a ham is really a waste of time. A person wrote me once about how there was no need to measure anything beyond 400Hz. I assume they were an electrician (writing skills higher than a child). In their world, this is all they know (using that term loosely) and the concept of working with anything faster was black magic to them. Explaining to someone at that level about human speech, radio and high speed digital designs is pointless. They lack the education.
The flats on the normal everyday "N" connectors like the ones you show, are used to hold the body of the thing, while the clamp thread at the cable end is tightened.
Everyday "N" connectors are much like everyday transistors, op-amps ..... The flat is used to prevent the center from rotating while the hex nut is torqued.
The vast majority of "N" connectors in Commercial use do not have a "hex nut".
Techs & EEs working in those areas have the necessary skills to hold the body & tighten the knurled round threaded coupler.---by hand!
In any case, out in the real world, "clamp" type "N" connectors like you are using are all but obsolete, replaced by crimp connectors which have no flats!
Radio & TV Broadcast work, have no provision for the use of a torque wrench. Everybody else I have ever seen use them hand tightens them.
When your limit yourself to hams and people working with low speed signals I wouldn't expect you to be exposed to it. Much like a preschooler is not exposed to calculus.
Ignoring your sneer, TV & Broadcast work includes frequencies up to UHF for the actual station transmitters, as well as links operating at microwave frequencies.
The OB links I set up at a later employer used a length of Coax with "N" connectors both ends to connect between the RX or Tx & the horn feeding the dish.
I would have thought coax would have been a bit marginal at the two frequencies we used (7 & 13 GHz), but apparently not, although the coax was just over 1m long.
We tightened the "N" connectors by hand!