ATS Mini Controller
UTC
Adapter / connector

Antenna adapters & connectors

How to fit a bigger or different antenna to the ATS Mini without buying the wrong connector — the SMA-male rule, the RP-SMA trap, and which adapter does what.

Alcuni link in questa pagina sono link affiliati AliExpress. Se acquisti tramite questi link potremmo ricevere una piccola commissione, senza alcun costo aggiuntivo per te. Il prezzo che paghi non cambia mai, ed elenchiamo solo attrezzatura che useremmo davvero con un ATS Mini.

For every adapter here, the end that screws into the ATS Mini must be SMA male — the one with the small centre pin (the radio’s jack is SMA female). Watch out for RP-SMA, which looks identical but has the pin and socket reversed and will not mate.

One rule saves most of the money and frustration here. The ATS Mini’s jack is SMA female, so anything you screw onto it has to end in an SMA male: the connector with the small gold pin in the centre and a knurled nut that turns. Forget the threads. The radio’s own jack is the part with the visible outer threads, so look at the centre contact instead. A pin means male, which is what you want.

Watch for RP-SMA. It looks identical to ordinary SMA, but the pin and socket are swapped, so it will not mate, and cheap marketplace listings sometimes ship it when you asked for "SMA." The tell is the centre contact: a standard SMA male has a pin; an RP-SMA male has a hole. Check the photo before you buy.

Which adapter for what

Pick the adapter by what is on the other end, your antenna’s connector. A coaxial-fed outdoor antenna wants an SMA-male-to-coax adapter (check which coax connector your feedline actually uses). An old TV or FM aerial with a Belling-Lee or PAL plug needs the SMA-male-to-TV adapter. A ham or CB antenna almost always ends in a PL-259 plug, so the SMA-male-to-SO-239 adapter is your bridge to a real outdoor HF wire. For BNC gear, such as scanners and test leads, a single SMA-male-to-BNC-female piece is cleaner than guessing a gender from a grab-bag.

SMA-M to coaxial adapter

Connects a coaxial-fed (outdoor or larger) antenna to the radio. Choose the SMA male variant — the end with the centre pin — to fit the jack.

$1.61
Vedi su AliExpress

SMA-M to TV-antenna adapter

Feeds a TV or FM aerial (Belling-Lee/IEC) into the ATS Mini. SMA male, with the centre pin, toward the radio.

$2.26
Vedi su AliExpress

SMA-M to SO-239 (UHF) adapter

SMA male to SO-239 (UHF female) — the bridge to ham and CB antennas, which almost always end in a PL-259 plug. Screws onto the radio and takes a PL-259 feedline; the standard step up to a real outdoor HF wire. The listing sells several combinations, so pick the SMA-male-to-SO-239-female piece.

$2.16
Vedi su AliExpress

SMA-M to BNC-female adapter

SMA male to BNC female — a single, unambiguous piece for BNC-terminated antennas and cables (scanners, test leads). 50-ohm, centre pin toward the radio. Cleaner than guessing a gender from a grab-bag.

$2.58 invece di $2.57
Vedi su AliExpress

Strain relief and a rescue part

A right-angle adapter lets the feedline exit sideways instead of straight up, taking strain off the radio’s jack when it is handheld or sitting in a stand. It adds one more joint, so a sliver of signal, but it protects the connector. And if you have already received an RP-SMA antenna or pigtail — common with parts derived from Wi-Fi gear — and it will not screw on, an RP-SMA-to-SMA adapter rescues it. Check the centre contacts in the listing photo, because RP-SMA gender is back to front.

Right-angle SMA adapter

A right-angle SMA male-to-female adapter. Lets the feedline exit sideways instead of straight up, taking strain off the radio’s jack. It adds one joint, so a little loss, but it protects the connector.

$5.08
Vedi su AliExpress

RP-SMA to SMA adapter

For rescuing a wrong-polarity antenna you already own — RP-SMA is common on Wi-Fi-derived parts and will not mate with the radio. Check the photo’s centre contacts, since RP-SMA gender is reversed. Buying the right antenna is cleaner, but this saves a mismatched one.

$4.63
Vedi su AliExpress

Mixed adapter kits

The grab-bag kits are handy when you are not sure which combination you need, but a kit is also where the gender mistake creeps back in, so find the one piece you actually want, confirm the centre pin, and ignore the rest. One kit is plenty; you do not need three. If you have started making up your own leads, a bag of RG316 pigtails and crimp connectors is the version of that for cable rather than adapters.

Assorted BNC adapters

For BNC-terminated antennas and cables. Pick the piece with an SMA male end (centre pin) toward the radio — the single SMA-male-to-BNC-female piece above is usually the cleaner choice.

$1.42
Vedi su AliExpress

Assorted SMA adapters (set 1)

A mixed SMA adapter kit. Use the piece whose radio end is SMA male (centre pin); one kit is usually enough.

$0.22
Vedi su AliExpress

Assorted SMA adapters (set 2)

Another mixed SMA adapter listing. Same rule: SMA male, with the centre pin, toward the radio.

$1.00 invece di $1.01
Vedi su AliExpress

Assorted SMA adapters (set 3)

A third SMA adapter option. Choose the variant that presents an SMA male end to the radio.

$0.98
Vedi su AliExpress

RG316 pigtail & connector kit

RG316 pigtails and SMA/RP-SMA crimp connectors for making up your own short leads. Worth it once you are building antennas rather than plugging in finished ones — and the RP-SMA warning above applies to every piece in the bag.

$1.61
Vedi su AliExpress

Taming a 50-ohm feed

The radio’s input is high-impedance and coax antennas are 50 ohms, so the two never quite agree, and the mismatch shows up as signals appearing where they should not. A 50-ohm load is the cheapest thing you can throw at that: hang one off a T-piece to present a sane impedance to the feedline, or screw it straight onto the radio to hear what its own noise floor sounds like with no antenna attached. That second trick answers the question people spend weeks on — whether the hash is arriving down the coax or being made inside the radio.

50-ohm terminator (2 pcs)

A pair of SMA male 50-ohm dummy loads. Use one on a T-piece to give a coax feedline something sane to see, or screw it onto the radio to listen to its own noise floor with no antenna — the quickest way to tell whether the hash is coming down the coax or out of the radio.

$1.62
Vedi su AliExpress

Every adapter in the chain costs a little signal and adds a joint that can work loose, so buy an antenna with a native SMA-male plug when you can and reach for adapters only to bridge gear you already own. One more wrinkle: because the radio’s input is high-impedance rather than 50 ohms, feeding it a real 50-ohm coax antenna can add mismatch and interference. A 50-ohm terminator or a small (around 3 dB) attenuator inline often helps more than it costs.

If you have not chosen an antenna yet, start with the antenna guide.