Common Wireless Antenna Connectors

Common Wireless Antenna Connectors

Most common types of wireless connectors


Male N-Connector	Female N-Connector
N Connectors are usually found on external antenna and antenna cabling. It's usually cheaper to make your own cabling from RG-213 or LMR-400 cable and a couple of N-Connectors, than to buy fixed length cables from your Access Point manufacturer.


Male RP-TNC	Female RP-TNC
TNC connectors are usually found on access points such as the linksys WAP11.


Male RP-SMA	Female RP-SMA
SMA connectors are usually found on PCI wireless cards, such as the Belkin F5D6001 or the Netgear MA311. SMA Cables are 50 Ohm RF cables, usually used in antenna or wireless applications. SMA connectors are round, threaded style barrel connectors. On normal SMA cables, the male SMA connectors have a pin surrounded by a twistable screw nut with threads on the inside, and female SMA connectors have a female hole (called a basket) in a threaded shaft with threads on the outside. However, there are RP SMA connectors that are opposite. The "RP" stands for reverse polarized, and RP SMA male connectors have a female basket surrounded by a screw nut with threads on the inside, and RP SMA female connectors have a male pin surrounded by a shaft with threads on the outside. The two types of SMA RF cables are easily confused so double-check before you buy.


Male MC (Lucent) Connector	Female MC (Lucent) Connector
These connectors are usually found on PC cards like the Buffalo WLI-PCM-L11G.

The 'RP' in RP-TNC and RP-SMA stands for Reverse Polarity.

Most commercial converter cables and pigtails, convert the antenna connector to an N-Type connector,

as almost all external antenna (yagi, omni or patch) come with N connectors.

If you need to make an extension cable between the antenna and the pigtail/converter cable,

we recommend using either LMR-400 or RG-213 cable as these are durable low loss cables suitable for 2.4 Ghz.