|
The number of cables you need to keep things connected in your home can
be overwhelming. It's not just a matter of plugging things in and turning
them on anymore. These days you'll find yourself looking for an RCA
jack, or a 1/8" jack, or a USB cable, or even a newfangled thing called
a Firewire. Keeping all these wires and cables straight can boggle
the mind and leave you feeling frustrated. Here's a primer to the different
types of jacks and cables you might need, and some ideas on how to
arrange them for the best connection.
RCA Jack
Let's start with the RCA jack, one of the most common types of
jacks you may find. You will encounter RCA plugs with a
center contact pin and RCA jacks with an outer contact.
Both are often referred to as male and female.
You can pretty much figure out which is which by looking
at them, and after you stop blushing you can use the appropriate
end for the type of connection you need. You might have
used RCA jacks for years to connect turntables to stereo
systems. Today, RCA jacks are used in audio and video connections.
Even though you may find many RCA types and styles, remember
that gold-plated connectors are always better because they
don't corrode.
Balun Connector
A Balun is a type of transformer. It is used for matching
one type of coaxial or twin lead type cable to a device
such as a stereo receiver or television. For example, twin
lead (300 ohm) ribbon cable has different properties than
coaxial (75 ohm) TV cable; therefore, a matching device is
needed. This is where a balun fits in. It balances the
impedance of
one type of cable to the other.
1/8" and 1/4" Connectors
If you have headphones, you most likely have a 1/8" male plug at the
end of them. The headphones are operated by inserting the 1/8" male end
into the 1/8" female jack of a radio, MP3 player, portable radio or
- well, lots of things. The larger, 1/4" stereo plug is the type of connector
you find on larger, more high-fidelity headphones or professional microphones.
 Both
types of jacks come in either a mono or stereo style, and it is fairly
easy to tell the difference between the two. The male jack will either
have one or two rings around the tip of the jack. If there are two lines,
the jack is stereo, and if there is only one line, then the jack is mono.
Motorola and BNC Connectors
There are two types of connectors commonly found on scanners.
They are Motorola and BNC (BNC stands for Bayonet
Nut Connector). A Motorola jack can be connected by just pushing
the male plug into the female jack. This type of connection
is also used to connect an automobile antenna to a car
stereo. The design of the BNC connector requires that you
push down while turning to make the connection This type
is often referred to as the "Twist Lock" style.
Coax Cable and F Connectors
Coax cable is the cable that connects a TV to a
cable television service. The coax cable is connected using F connectors. Most television
sets have a threaded F  connection
in the back for connecting a cable television service or antenna. Coax
cable is also the type of cable you'll need if you're using a cable modem.
With Radios, a coax cable can come in very handy when connecting an external
antenna to your radio, or even when positioning an internal antenna like
the FM Reflect somewhere
else in a room.
Connecting several electronic devices
might call for a combination of just a few or several types
of these connectors. For example, let's say you want to
take advantage of all the connectors on a CCRadioPlus or
CCRadio-2. If you'd like to plug a CD player into
the radio, you would need a cord with a 1/8" plug on both
ends. You plug one end into the headphone
jack or line out of the CD player, and the other end into
the Auxiliary line in (Aux. in) in the back of the radio.
If, however, you want to plug the CCRadioPlus or CCRadio-2 into
a stereo system, you may have to go for a connector that
has a 1/8" plug at one end and an RCA plug at the other.
If your stereo has two RCA jacks, you may have to
use an RCA y-patch cable. You plug the RCA jack into the
single end of the y plug, and it splits into 2 RCA plugs.
Common Computer Cables
Though they're used primarily with computers, some types of cables also
connect to scanners, transceivers, radios, and electronic devices like
MP3 players.  The
main types of cables you're likely to encounter are USB cables and serial
cables. You may even run into something called a Firewire (see below). If you have
a newer printer and computer, you may be using a USB cable to make the
connection between the two. The big plus is that the USB cable has something
called a plug-and-play feature, which basically means that when you plug
into your computer's USB port(s), the computer automatically notices
that there's a new device attached and loads the drivers you'll need,
or, if you've already installed the drivers it lets you use the device
right away.
FireWire
http://www.vxm.com/21R.35.html (also
called IEEE 1394) is a lot like USB, except that it's a lot more powerful
and much faster. It's ideal for digital video and photography, as
well as other high-volume feeds.
The Simple FM Transmitter Solution
Remarkably enough, you can actually bypass many of these connections
by just using C. Crane's FM
Transmitter 2. Recently, while trying to play a DVD off a laptop
computer on a TV, I couldn't find the right combination of cords.
It was extremely frustrating. After about forty minutes of playing around
with the laptop computer, I was finally able to get the video to look
just right on the TV screen - aspect ratio and everything. But I couldn't
get any audio. Finally it occurred to me that I could just plug
the FM Transmitter 2 into the headphone jack of the laptop and send the
signal to the receiver that was wired into the TV. In just a matter of
minutes, and with just one simple wire, I was able to play a DVD from
a laptop computer on the TV, AND through the stereo's speakers instead
of just the laptop's speakers. The FM Transmitter 2 only sends the audio
signal, but for the video signal, I still had to connect the computer
to the TV with a standard cable.
As always, please contact us with any comments or
article suggestions you might have.
|