Back on TEA, I am now building an HP 8640 clone generator because I can't find anything on the market I need. Grr. https://www.cwtd.org/AnalyzeThis/8640jr.pdf is the reference document.
Also does anyone know where I can get decent quality SMA board edge connectors and patches cheap. Also BNC/SMA adapters? I need lots. I'm prototyping a whole multi-band transceiver. RS is coming in at over 400 quid for it all which is ridiculous.
AliEx has a good selection of SMA:
These are the ones I use to fix broken 5.8GHz video transmitters:
And SMA to BNC:
Of course, the QC of any of this stuff is not the highest or most reliable; but if you're not expecting too many connect/disconnect cycles once assembled, they usually serve pretty well. In my hobby, they get broken pretty frequent due to crashing; it is a popular mod to replace with pigtailed SMA bulkhead connectors. Problem then is figuring out the correct resonant length; the folks who design these things often design with poor impedance matching to begin with, and with little regard for the resonance of the traces in the VTX. You can calculate the right length and still be out to lunch due to poor circuit design.
Thanks for pointers. This is all prototype/disposable boards so I'm expecting 20-40 connect cycles out of those. Also sub 500MHz.
I was going to just use BNCs as I bought a massive bag of Amphenol parts for £30 off ebay but this is starting to turn into an unmanageable tentacle monster now.
If power levels are small enough, you might consider uFL/IPEX. AliEx has a g
ood selection of PCB-mount IPEX connectors and ready-made interconnects; the smaller cables might be more manageable. And of course, they'll have pigtails with uFL on one end and SMA or BNC on the other for stuff that needs to exit the box.
They also have
MMCX in similar configurations which can handle higher power at lower loss, but those are not as cheap & easy to implement as IPEX. It appears MMCX is enjoying a bit of a resurgence in popularity as a connector for audiophule earbuds and headphones.
![](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/?action=dlattach;attach=396563;image)
Moving onto test gear and related items, this PCB holder is quite good, it holds the PCB reasonably tightly and if allows it to flipped over to enable parts to be fitted and then flipped again to aid soldering. No doubt there are bigger and better ones on the market if you do a lot PCB assembly and repairs it would worth getting one. However for the average hobbyist this good enough and for the price represents good value.
Hmmm... going price appears to be ~ US$22-25 to the US. I've found a vendor selling for US$16, but ehhhh. I mean, if you don't have one at all I guess it's better than that; but it still seems awfully expensive for a bit of injection molded plastic and what equates to a stamped metal ruler. I was surprised to see how much they're selling for on AliEx. You got one for what, $US12?
mnem
There is a dot right over there.
The stock photo doesn't do it justice, the "ruler" is in fact 30mm by 15mm box section, I'll pop a proper photo up later, one thing I have noticed is that the thumb screws that hold the two sliding sections, actually don't work too well as they are just small and close to the feet to get any grip on them, when tightening and the spring in the clamp slowly pushes them apart and could allow the PCB to slip out if not re-tightened.
Aliex is not always the cheapest place to shop, I got mine from Amazon on prime with next day free delivery for less than £10, Aliex cheapest I could see was almost £14 and then almost 4 weeks to wait it to arrive. For me to shop with Aliex, there must be a significant amount of savings to justify the extended delivery period.
Yeah, I've found AliEx can be higher too; sometimes get the same stuff for much less from US vendors on fleaBay. It's all about what the market will bear, I guess. I looked at the thing from several different vendors and lots of photos to be sure it was the same; aside from some bits being black instead of blue, this appears to be sold by oodles of vendors on fleaBay, AliEx and Amazon.
![](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71owyDC5lGL._SL1500_.jpg)
And I just did a different search using a different text string, and
found it for US$12.56 with free Prime shipping. That's cheap enough that I'd probably buy one myself if I didn't already have Panavise. Actually, I think I'll add it to my "retail therapy" list just on GP.
![Wink ;)](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/wink.gif)
mnem
*ploop*