MCX (micro coaxial connector) are
coaxial
In geometry, coaxial means that several three-dimensional linear or planar forms share a common axis. The two-dimensional analog is ''concentric''.
Common examples:
A coaxial cable is a three-dimensional linear structure. It has a wire conduc ...
RF connector
A coaxial RF connector (radio frequency connector) is an electrical connector designed to work at radio frequencies in the multi-megahertz range.
RF connectors are typically used with coaxial cables and are designed to maintain the shielding ...
s developed in the 1980s. They have the same inner contact and
insulator dimensions as the
SMB connector but are 30% smaller. MCX is standardized in European CECC 22220.
Connector design
MCX connectors use a snap-on interface and usually have a 50 Ω
impedance (some are 75 Ω) . They offer broadband capability from
DC to 6
GHz.
The contact surfaces are gold-plated.
The outer diameter of the plug is approx 3.6 mm or 0.140 inch.
Use
MCX and the smaller
MMCX connector are frequently used to connect external antennas
to
GPS receivers. They are also common on USB
DVB-T
DVB-T, short for Digital Video Broadcasting – Terrestrial, is the DVB European-based consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television that was first published in 1997 and first broadcast in Singapore in Feb ...
tuners for computers and laptops, to connect an external antenna to the tuner.
The MCX connector is also being used on at least some of the new generation of mostly inexpensive software-defined
oscilloscopes
An oscilloscope (informally a scope) is a type of electronic test instrument that graphically displays varying electrical voltages as a two-dimensional plot of one or more signals as a function of time. The main purposes are to display repetiti ...
and/or
signal generators such as the DS212. This is a low frequency application, at most a few MHz bandwidth, so the electrical performance characteristics are relatively unimportant, however the small size would appear to be an important feature.
See also
*
MMCX connector (micro-miniature coaxial connector)
*
TNC connector
*
SMA connector
*
F connector
The F connector (also F-type connector) is a coaxial RF connector commonly used for "over the air" terrestrial television, cable television and universally for satellite television and cable modems, usually with RG-6/U cable or with RG-59/U ...
References
RF connectors
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