Richard:

I would be amazed if a single 50 ohm barrel would "stop" a digital video signal. A high bit rate digital waveform, such as digital video, is subject to destructive interference due to reflected signals--if the bit rate is sufficiently high and the rise/fall time sufficiently short, and if the noise margin of the signal is sufficiently low for reflected signals to cause bit errors. I really doubt that a single 50 ohm connector, however, would cause a major problem. There's a much larger problem with high frequency attenuation in sending data over coaxial cable, which is normally fixed via equalizers and regenerators in the telecom world. That's one reason fiber has proven to be desirable even for relatively low bit rates.

There's a lot of "ifs" in that statement, but still if I were building a video plant with 75 ohm coaxial cable and 75 ohm equipment, I would certainly use 75 ohm BNC connectors to reduce reflections and because they fit 75 ohm cable mechanically.

When distributing a 10 MHz reference sine wave over 50 feet, however, the impedance bumps from mixing 50 and 75 ohm impedances do not prove to be a significant issue. In fact, I could probably use 50 feet of zip cord connected via alligator clips to distribute timing signals if I had to. (My measurements on zip cord show it to have an impedance around 100-125 ohms but to be on the lossy side.)

Jack K8ZOA


_______________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Post to: [email protected]
You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com

Reply via email to