Experience with surface-mount SMA jacks?

Dead link (just brings me to their catalog listing). Was that like a one of these..?

Feels right to me, just from a hand-wave about how I'd feel putting a wrench to an SMT (I mean, *really*?!).

Has to be vertical, not edge-launch?

You can *mayyyybe* get lucky with finding a kind that's got real ground pins, and has an SMT center contact (without being an edge-launch as such), but... seems real unlikely?

Ah.. the same style as above, but with long pins, does exist...

There's a style of connector where the tubular body extends back onto the board, then opens up to reveal the center pin (which can be accessed with an iron from the top side), and the ground pins sit around the opening. It would be neat if they made that kind with a gull wing center pin, so you can solder it SMT, and still hand solder it.

Otherwise, there are tons of pure-SMT connectors, with press-lock styles -- Ultramini (and U.FL, and etc.) is like a very, very small SMB. I wouldn't trust 'em for more than about.... one insertion?

Oh hey...

Tim

Got a more specific link?

We use these edge-launch SMAs:

and they work great. We did a bunch of em simulation with ATLC to get the layer stackup right for the best launch match.

It TDRs very nicely.

That connector is from Shining Star, costs $1.78.

Sorry, yes, the one Tim cited is what I meant. There are several manufacturers with similar parts.

I like the edge-launch parts as well, but they're a bit pricier (or a LOT pricier) and take up more room than the SMT jobs.

I wish I could use Chinese vendors, but somebody always wants to see a RoHS material declaration, and nothing makes the Chinese clam up like asking for a material declaration.

-- john, KE5FX

Edge launch is my second choice, nothing wrong with it but it'll take up more space.

Just gotta use a bigger iron. :-P That one is interesting, but it's safe to say the assembly house has never seen anything like it. Hmm.

I've been using a lot of JSC jacks on test boards, but I need double shielding and good phase stability for this particular task, so no press- fit stuff.

SMPs are nice, sort of a big brother to MCX. They've been around a while. I don't think many people besides the military and other high-end customers ever used them, though, so they're overpriced.

-- john

We use lots of the 5-pin right-angle thru-hole parts too, SMA and SMB. They are not a good a wideband impedance match as the edge-launch ones.

Like this:

They work fine, no mechanical problems.

FWIW I've used these SM SMA's in a design and had no problems when torquing to 8 lbft. These connections were internal to the unit, and only needed to be made at the factory. If you're considering them for a user accessible connector then it would be prudent to conduct some tests.

I use a fair number of SMT MMCX edge-launch connectors, which meet that description. They solder all along the length of the connector, so they're pretty durable.

Otherwise, it's through-hole all the way for me, and all bulkhead-mount, through-hole, die-cast metal BNCs for anything involving students. ;)

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

A surfmount right-angle SMA would need some serious number of vias to keep the pads from being ripped off the board. And it's still scary.

Yup. I like the MMCX ones because the cables are super skinny, so that in a fight between cable and PCB pads, the cable will very likely lose. ;)

Cheers

Phil Hobbs