Confused about the different Antenna (RF) connectors?

That is an excellent reference page.  When I got my first HT I could not figure out how to hook it to an external antenna. I had to go from SMA to BNC to PL259.  Finally someone helped me figure it out.

The BNC connectors are so nice to use for making quick connections but they aren't well suited for high power, the UHF connectors (PL-259 and SO-239) are easier to use than type N's. The type N's have far less loss than the UHF PL259 connectors at UHF and beyond. You will often find that on dual band radios there is a female N for connector for 440 MHz and a female UHF SO-239 style connector for 146 MHz.  How silly is it to call PL-259 connectors UHF connectors when we don't want to use them for that. It goes back to early days of radar.  Confusing isn't it? I don't believe that N connectors are sealed well enough for outside use without some protection, same with BNC connectors and UHF connectors. I used to work at remote radio sites and the seals were forever breaking down in the very bad weather conditions encounterd. I use a self vulcanizing tape for that and it's available from plumbing and electrical supply stores. In my case I got some tape from Home Depot. You put a layer of vinyl electrical tape over the connectors and apply it with sticky side out. This is to protect the connector from the self vulcanizing tape which once it pulls in is very hard to remove if you ever wish to reuse the connector. Then cut off about 4 inches of the self vulcanizing tape and apply it, stretching it all the while. You don't need a very thick layer. Do stretch some over the cable itself, beyond the vinyl tape previously applied. If you need more simply cut another piece and stretch and apply. When you feel the connection is well protected go over it again with a layer of vinyl tape to protect it all from UV. It also holds the vulcanizing tape in place while that pulls itself in and fill in any remaining voids. Great stuff. Locally it costs me about $9 for a roll but a roll goes a long way because you use very little per connection.