RP-SMA vs SMA Which is which? Does it matter?

Some people have VERY strong opinions about antenna polarization. There are pros and cons to both but I know which I prefer. In this video I show several reasons I think RP-SMA is better.

RP-SMA to SMA Adapters:
The TBS Diamond antenna which only comes SMA:

**************************************************

These are some of my favorite components right now:

***** Tiny Whoop *****

***** Brushless Micro Drone *****

***** 5 Inch Racing Drone *****


***** Radio Transmitter *****
Best Beginner Option - FrSky GREAT Radio

***** Goggles *****
Aomway Commander Goggles with DVR, Diversity and Headtracker:

Just want to support the channel at no cost to you? You can (and you can find some deals) with these links:

**************************************************

Enjoy & remember to like and subscribe!

-- Find DroneRacer101 Online! --

-- Credits --
All titles and images created by DroneRacer101

Thank you for supporting DroneRacer101 by using these links. Testing all this hardware is quite expensive.

[DroneOn]

I never really thought about it that much but your explanation makes perfect sense. I happen to have a growing collection of both antenna type.

[DevonsWorkshop]

Nice video. I’m using SMA for a LORA antenna since thats the connector on the LORA PCB. Recently they discontinued the antenna and switched to RP-SMA. Now i know why. This is a 4 year old video but still very relevant. Getting an SMA to RP-SMA adapter now. Learned a lot, thank you.

[turboomni]

Been doing this with my goggles for awhile now. This way you have a sacrificial parts that you can easily replace. Thanks for posting this.

[ericnoack]

Thanks for clearing that up there is a lot of mis information out there about RPSMA now I can buy the connector to convert my wifi camera connection into a female connection and use the long range antennas I purchased which had a male connector . The problem is, as I read another explanation they said it was to stop the connection of illegal long range antennas soooo I was totally confused.

[HuskyDude]

Ordered up a set EV200D which comes with RP-SMA and was a little concerned...not any Thx, Great info Two thumbs up!!!!

[MCsCreations]

Fantastic, Mark! Thanks a lot for this!!! 😀

[QuantumBraced]

Funny story, I accidentally bought SMA pigtail connectors for my Wi-Fi card, and for years wondered why my link rates weren't great even though the router was in the next room. I would get much worse dBm than other devices. Then I finally figured it out when I upgraded to Wi-Fi 6. I had screwed in my antennas' extension cables with RP-SMA male connectors to SMA female connectors from the Wi-Fi card, so neither had a pin, and it was effectively female on female. It hadn't even crossed my mind that this could be possible. I got the right pigtail connectors for the new Wi-Fi card and got massively improved reception. Though even before I could get 200+ mbps down which is kind of incredible considering there was a massive gap in the cable.

[flo-ridafpv]

Good shit man, found ya from the r9m group. subbed like ur style brah

[aa]

I had to learn about these connections when I added an antenna to my cellular hotspot device. I came to the conclusion that RP-SMA style has Gender Confusion Syndrome or GCS. I actually bought RP-SMA cables when I needed just SMA instead. Then I became familiar with the world of SMA adapters. At the end of the cable is another adapter for a TS9 connection which plugs into the device. I’m glad the adapters don’t cause much signal loss. Thanks for the information.

[TheEgg]

I'm here because I'm working on sending WiFi to another house using directional antennas. So the government made rp-sma specifically to prevent people like me from doing this.

Like you said, good luck with that. High gain rp-sma antennas are plentiful now. Even if they weren't, there's always adapters.

[centralpennrealtor]

Great vid, never knew there was a limited number of mating cycles! So the question becomes, is there any way of knowing when a connection is failing besides the obvious poor fpv feed?

[softstart]

Well done antenna guru. Sure enjoyed the simple explanation. Have a great evening.

[Underfluked]

Really insightful, thanks for this one!

[PinchTune]

00:43 "I stole this from Banggood... who probably stole it from somebody else." LOL

[PinchTune]

Very cool. I'm going to put adapters on my SMA antennas to wear those out instead. Same goes for my crossfire antenna. I'll do SMA male to SMA female for the antenna. Oh wait, that won't work. Cause then I'll need a second adapter on the module to put the male pin there. I arrived at this video because of DJI of course... which got me thinking about this last week.

[licensetodrive]

As soon as I got both SMA & RP-SMA antennas I went and bought a bunch of adapters to convert both types, it is annoying but a very easily solvable problem.
What does bug me about SMA connectors is the size of them, but now I have a 3D printer I designed & printed some grips for them with TPU which makes it really easy to attach/detach antennas on my Fat Shark goggles :)

[dronereviewman]

Thanks 4 posting this i need 2 learn a lot more about this stuff!!!

[peterbrown]

These type (sticks) connecters keep coming loose the threads on my router so end up rolling sideways down, i read thread locker is not conductive so thats a no go, is there anything that i cud put on the router nibs that wud glue them on after screwing on and dry solid ish, so they dont come loose, "Without affecting any gains" or signal in general, thx

[SteveSmith-tpmn]

Here's my dilemma: I own a pair of Eachine EV800D box goggles which, unfortunately, has Female SMAs on the goggles and the stock antennae are both Male SMA. To protect the Female SMA connections on the goggles, I can utilize a Male SMA to Female SMA coaxial adapter correct? My issue I had was trying to actually find that specific coaxial adapter. I found almost every other variance but not a Male SMA to Female SMA. Please

[MnPaul]

I started out with rp sma on my quad but ended up with sma when I swapped in an Atlatl. I searched high and low for a 90 mmcx to 90 degree rp sma cable. I finally found one but it was too long. I took one end off and shorten it from 8 inches to 3. The problem that I have now is that I really like the sma antennas that I bought while seaching for a cable(Foxeer Lollipop).

I did suffer signal loss with one of those adapters. I was using it on my quad and it spun loose after hitting a branch. The antenna and the adapter went away about a minute later causing 100% signal loss.