Table of Contents
Connectors
RF
SMA
Normal: Male has central pin, and nut with inside thread. Female has hole and outside thread.
RP-SMA: The pin swaps sides. Gender terminology unclear, should check drawings. Used for WiFi. Apparently invented to stop consumers connecting higher gain antennas, as FCC requires a non-standard connector.
All the LoRa dev boards I have (Heltec, LILYGO, Waveshare) use normal SMA, male aerial, female board side.
LiteVNA and probably all other small VNAs have normal SMA.
The common Baofeng radios use SMA male on radio, female on aerial. Not RP-SMA. Icom seems to use SMA female on radio. Other hamateur radio manufacturers use male. Does not seem to be a standard.
U.FL / IPEX / IPX
Small surface mount connectors used for LoRa and WiFi on dev boards and laptops.
These names are different brands of the basically the same thing. All compatible. U.FL is Hirose, IPEX is a copy. I-PEX is a company that also makes other connectors.
Male board connector. 2mm O.D. outer contact ring. Female usually on pigtails - typically only rated for 30 connections.
LoRa dev boards and WiFi dev boards I have commonly have this connector and supply a U.FL to SMA pigtail.
Links
Battery
Heltec boards use SH1.25-2.