Helium Hotspot Cables and Connections

What cable should I use to connect a Helium Hotspot to an Antenna?

What connections do the Helium Miners have?

Connecting a helium hotspot to an antenna sounds an easy task but unless done correctly it may not work very well for your earnings in the long run. Making sure you connect the antennae with the correct connections and cable is very important. Making sure you have a good quality cable and if the connectors are wrong it won’t work at all.

First thing we need to understand are the types of connectors that there can be. The connectors that are used on the Antennas are RP-SMA connectors and SMA. The RP in this case stands for reverse polarity. There is Male version and Female version of both. Four types altogether.

SMA and RP-SMA and N-type Connectors for Helium Miners and Antennas (Rak, Nebra and Bobcat)

How to Identify an SMA Connector

1. Both types (SMA & RP-SMA) Males have JACKETS
2. Females have thread on the outside

3. Then it’s just working out if it’s RP or not!
If the pin (known as Male), matches a Male jacket it’s just a plain old SMA-Male, else its “RP-SMA-Male” (no pin with jacket). Go with it! If a Female (thread on outside) matches a lack of pin in the centre, and it’s a match (Female- Female) it would be a plain old SMA.
If it was RP then it’s the opposite. (Jacket and Pin).
If it’s an opposite (Female – Male) then it’s a RP-SMA (Reverse Polarity) connector!

SMA Connector Type Sizes

Mikrotik Antenna Connections

The Mikrotik Antenna Comes with SMA cable therefore it’s an SMA Connection, of some type.

This has an SMA-Female (Female-Female) Connector.
There is nothing in the Center. Not reversed polarity.
Usually a metal pin would be present if it was Male.

Helium Miner to Antenna Cable Connections

Mikrotik Antenna End of Cable

Male (Has Jacket and Pin) Male and Male, a match, just plain old SMS-Male, not RP.

Hotspot - Nebra / Rak End of Cable

Male (Has Jacket and NO Pin) Male and Female, NOT a match – Reversed, RP-SMA Male.

Quality of Cables

Don’t have a connector at each end, get one cable that fits.
Do it right. You care about the quality!

Choose the most expensive cable you can afford within your budget. Some are very expensive. I chose the LMR-400 range. After this in the list, the size you get of the cable decreases in flexibility. If you need to trace this round corners it will take a lot of work. Its very solid feeling, like an armoured cable even!

An image of the real cable loss of the LMR-400 that I had received from McGillMicrowave.

See more on Cable loss with results for RG-58 and LMR-400

Helium Hotspot - Cable Choice

I obtained a LMR-400 RP-SMA MALE to SMA MALE 3 Meter cable from mcgillmicrowave. I fitted it in the loft, it took 5 minutes to carefully screw in the connectors, taking care not to crossthread them. They are available in lengths of 1-15 meters, but if you contact them you could probably get any size you want! Go directly to the correct helium cable, just pick the length you need in Meters.

The Helium Hotspot Antenna Loft installation

If you already have a very good cable but with the wrong connections use an adapter like below – RP-SMA Male to SMA Female Adapter from Amazon.
Many say the loss is so minimal.

Learn more about SMA Cable connectors

I like many others are all waiting for delivery of our Helium Hotspots. Its been a long time. As a kid you only looked forward to something for about a Month, but THREE months going into four is hell! It feels like forever, checking updates every day, waiting for that delivery email. This is NOT Next Day Delivery!!! Like many other Helium enthusiasts, Helium is more than a Crtypto Currency, it’s a chance to play with a new type of Tech. You get to play with Antennas, thinking strategically, and in a way covertly helping an organisation gain wireless coverage but for more of a connected society. Just hurry up and get delivered.. More updates on the way….
When all eight are delivered.

Helium Hostspots ordered: –

2 x Rak
2 x Nebra’s
4 x Bobcats

If you see any errors on this page, please get in touch, so we can get the correct information published, with your help.