Freesat aerial

It gets problematic though doesn't it, for example, is a USB plug... err connector male or female? Or a typical co-axial power connector? I would argue it is both.

And having a bloody great flagpole to start with can't hurt.

In message , Graham. writes

If present-day planning laws and restrictions had been in place when our now-listed buildings were first built, it's likely that many features would have been deemed unsightly, and would not have been permitted - including flagpoles.

It's the mating parts that carry the signal that are important. So a USB type thing is hermaphrodite.

While the USB signals are carried on 4(?) sort-of stripline conductors which get squeezed together face-to-face (so there's no obvious gender), the outer shell is definitely sexed. You can't connect two guzzintas or two guzzoutas.

I've missed what is meant by a 'coaxial power connector'. However, two truly sexless precision coaxial RF connectors are the Dezifix (once beloved of Rohde & Schwarz) and the GR (General Radio).

other;)..

plug...

IMHO shells, casings and other stuff is not relevant to sexing a connector. It is only the mating parts that matter. USB is hermaphrodite in that respect.

Having said that I would generally call a cable mounted connector a "plug" and a chassis mounted connector a "socket", neither of those terms carry any sex. You can have cable mounted XLR plugs in male or female or chassis mounted XLR sockets in male or female. B-)

The low voltage DC power connector found on may things. For the cable mounted connector the central contact is female surrounded by a male sleeve.

In article , RobertL scribeth thus

That isn't that well written in some parts.

It wasn't done by anyone who knew that much if anything about aerials;!...

Simples!.. It's gay;!...

I think there is a strong sexual connotation of plug and socket vis male and female respectably. Perhaps I am thinking about this too hard.

Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here

But for a *true* hermaphroditic connector...

This thread is in danger of becoming unrespectable for sure. B-)

When I was a kid there you sometimes saw 5 Amp mains connectors used for low voltage or audio applications assembled so there was one prong and one socket so they were polarised and universal.

Certainly gets more difficult to be sure when you look further:

It's not really confusing. It's obvious that the 'shell' of male goes inside the slightly flared shell of the female (which would be the socket on a piece of equipment). However, the General Radio RF connector is genuinely gender-less. The Dezifix a close second. Both connectors are usually the same, with only the locking ring determining which goes into the other. The faces of the actual RF inner and outer conductors are gender-less, and simply butt together.

Noooooooooo. The horror, the horror!

Anderson PowerPole connectors are hermaphroditic and polarised. They are very clever.

Never seen those GR connectors before. are they roughly the same size as a Belling Lee? Will a BL mate with one?

In message , Graham. writes

The GRs are big - about 3/4" od. It's not inconceivable that you could do a cludge mating with a BL, in an emergency, but I certainly haven't tried. It certainly wouldn't be a straight push-it-in job. GRs are essentially obsolete precision connectors once used on extremely expensive (and also probably obsolete) RF test equipment, so I doubt if I'll ever need to.

Some slight differences in those examples so you could possibly assign a suitable designation. To really confuse things an anderson connector is truly genderless, although not much use for RF.

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