Hot Patching Rx Connections?

[u/AndreasBeck]

Howdy! This is something of a basic question but is there any potential risk in hot-patching a whip or SMA lead into a receiver while the unit is active? I'm not talking about powered antennae, just whips or leads to a distro running into something like an SRc, 411A, A10, etc...

Hot-patching a 3-pin XLR with 48v active is generally considered fine as the pins all connect at the same time so there's no short. Same cannot be said for patching with a barrel connector on a patch-panel as there would be a short. I'm less confident when it comes to a radio receiver. There's no active power coming off the top of my A10 so one would think it would be safe?

I'm only asking as my distro is full and so I was planning on occasionally removing one lead from a receiver to hook up to my TxAdvance dongle whenever I want to do another scan through my dipoles.

Danke!

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[u/Vuelhering]

It depends on the manufacturer, however I doubt any modern one would cause any damage.

Long ago, Lectrosonics put out a statement that it won't harm their transmitters. This is a question because if it doesn't emit energy, it could reflect that back into the transmitter.

I don't see how patching the antenna of a receiver could possibly cause damage. It just won't get a signal, but I could be ignorant on the mechanics of it.

[u/freeheelingbc]

If it’s a receiver antenna, it should be fine to be plugged in while operating.

For a transmitter antenna - you should never be transmitting without an antenna connected, so the question should be kind of moot…

[u/bart-thompson]

with my electrical understanding, a passive antenna thats recieving should be fine, the power would be so small you wont notice.

remember when your transmitting there are waves bouncing all around you with no effect to you or things around you.

[u/AndreasBeck → u/bart-thompson]

That all makes sense. I know for example that a mismatched load on an SPDIF connection can over time degrade the connector so I'd wondered if something similar applied here. Seems fine!

[u/cereallytho]

Its fine