BNC

The BNC connector is used for RF signal (typically pro-video) connections, both for analog and Serial Digital Interface video signals, amateur radio antenna connections, aviation electronics (avionics) and on nearly every piece of electronic test equipment manufactured in the last 35 or so years.

This connector is an alternative to the RCA connector when used for composite video on commercial video devices, however many consumer electronics with RCA jacks can be used with BNC-only commercial video equipment via a simple adaptor.

BNC connectors were commonly used on 10base2 thin Ethernet networks, both on cable interconnections and network cards, though these have largely been replaced by newer Ethernet devices whose wiring does not use coaxial cable. Some ARCNET networks use BNC terminated coax.

Jack Connectors 2.5mm, 3.5mm and 6.3mm

Jack connectors come in three sizes (2.5mm, 3.5mm and 6.3mm) and are available in both MONO & STEREO versions

2.5mm & 3.5mm jack connectors

These are both smaller versions of their big 6.3mm brother and are most often used as audio connectors for personal audio equipment.

6.3mm jack connectors

There are two versions of this connector in common use, MONO & STEREO. The stereo plug is used for balanced operation and wired as follows:

• TIP - Signal +
• RING - Signal -
• SLEEVE - Screen

For unbalanced operation the RING & SLEEVE should be joined.

The MONO version can only be wired unbalanced as follows :

• TIP - Signal +
• SLEEVE - Screen

Led (Light Emitting Diode)

A device used in a transmitter to convert information from electric to optical form. It typically has a large spectral width.

LIGHT EMITTING DIODE (LED) A semiconductor diode which emits light when forward biased to an optical signal.

RCA phono connectors

A popular audio connector used on auxiliary inputs & booster in/out connections, also commonly used on mixers, CD & tape players. They are wired using single core screened cable.

Scart

An acronym for Syndicat des Constructeurs d'Appareils Radiorécepteurs et Téléviseurs. SCART is a French developed standard for interfacing between source and destination AV equipment. It was developed to allow a single cable to carry composite, s-video, RGB and stereo audio signals down a single cable.

S-VHS

A video system which differs from standard Composite video in several crucial ways. The bandwidth is considerably wider as luminance* and chrominance are separated in the signal. This format, named also Y/C, is widely used for production in semi-professional as well as in many broadcast studios.

SVHS Pinout
		Pin 1	GND	Ground (Y) Luminance
		Pin 2	GND	Ground (C) Chrominance
		Pin 3	Y	Intensity (Luminance)
		Pin 4	C	Colour (Chrominance)
View from the Solder Side of the male SVHS connector

Toslink

Toslink is a type of digital audio connection developed by Toshiba Corporation. It uses a fiber optic cable to transmit an audio signal in the form of pulses of light. A single Toslink cable can be used to carry a mono, stereo, or even a surround audio signal.

High quality optical interfaces offer several advantages in terms of galvanic isolation and freedom from electro-magnetic interference, but cheap fibre-optic cables suffer from restricted bandwidths and high dispersion which result in severe timing instability and data errors.

USB - Universal Serial Bus 

Universal Serial Bus - USB provides a serial bus standard for connecting devices, usually to a computer, but it also is in use on other devices such as set-top boxes, game consoles and PDAs.

The design of USB aimed to remove the need for adding separate expansion cards into the computer's ISA or PCI bus, and improve plug-and-play capabilities by allowing devices to be hot swapped or added to the system without rebooting the computer. When the new device first plugs in, the host enumerates it and loads the device driver necessary to run it.

XLR connectors

These are the industry standard microphone connectors, robust and relatively simple to install. There are a number of ways in which they can be wired.

(i) BALANCED operation

• Pin 1 connects to screen (Signal earth)
• Pin 2 connects to signal + (Live)
• Pin 3 connects to signal - (Return)

(ii) UNBALANCED operation

• Pins 1 & 3 connect to the screen of the cable
• Pin 2 connects to signal conductor

The PIN numbers are identified on the XLR plug and an easy way to remember how they should be wired is:

• X = Earth (Pin 1)
• L = Live (Pin 2)
• R = Return (Pin 3)

An unbalanced microphone can only be used up to a maximum of 10 meters away from the amplifier. Any more than this and noise problems become apparent. A balanced microphone will allow cable runs of up to 100m without any loss of performance. .For unbalanced operation, a single core screened microphone cable can be used, but for a balanced line a twin core screened cable is required.