Batboard

I'm looking for a RF (antenna or coax if you perfer) switch for receive up to 3 GHz. These are the ones I have found in order of cost;

1. Jetstream CO-201N $28, speced to 2 GHz (unknown quality)
2. Daiwa CS-201GII $42, speced between 1 GHz and 2 GHz (??), (appears similar to Jetstream)
3. Diamond CX210N $66, speced to 3 GHZ (clearly has the best specs)
4. Alpha Delta 2B/N $68, speced to 1.3 GHz, includes lightning protection

I have a older Daiwa/MFJ SO-239 2 position switch and it does have a center off position. I was told the Jetstream doesn't. Unknown about the current Daiwa.
I like the built in lightning protection with the Alpha Delta, but the bandwidth is only speced to 1.3 GHZ.
The Diamond clearly has the best specs, but no lightning protection.
Unknown how similar the Jetstream and the Daiwa switches are. Frequency specs for the Daiwa are inconsistant. Some only go up to 1 GHZ, others go to 2 GHz.

Has anyone scoped any of these switches regarding losses at higher frequencies??

I'd suggest talking to some of the VHF contesting guys... they routinely play upwards of 10GHz and can likely tell you what works and what doesn't. Personally, up that high, I'd want either something of commercial quality with proper spec sheets (and thus big $$$) or something that has been swept and is known to work by an RF guru.

Does it need to be a manually operated switch or can you use a relay? It would be much easier to find a relay for this frequency range.

Also, are you picky about the connectors?

Yes manual and with N connectors.
No need for relays etc.

Here are screen shots of the Diawa/MFJ 2 position switch (w/ SO-239's) , the Diamond version and both together. Notice the different setup between the two. The Diamond has one copper strip, the Diamond has two.




Major disadvantages of the Diamond are:
the unused port is NOT grounded,
there is no center 'off' (grounded) position,
more expensive than the Diawa.

BUT, specs tell a different story. The Diamond is speced up to 3 GHz which brings the question; why is this design better than the older Diawa?

The other question for both, if you look close at the point of actual contact, the surface area is pratically nill. One would think that that wouldn't be able much more than a few watts and the transfer of signal (either way) would be questionable.

Any RF engineers out there have any comments?

Here's Suplus Sales for N Type Connector T / R Relays. They're not inexpensive but Y-O-U provided the specifications for the Frequency.

http://www.surplussales.com/Relays/rfco ... oax_n.html

Here's Max-Gain Systems website:

http://www.mgs4u.com/RF-Microwave/RFrelays_N.htm

Here's RF Parts website:

http://www.rfparts.com/coaxial.html

Dan