Multi-pin Circular Connectors
First used in the 1970s by Japanese radio manufacturers, for microphone connectors on Citizens Band and amateur radio equipment, these screw-on circular connectors were available with 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8 pins. They often were used for other purposes as well, such as Eastern Asian built soldering stations in 1990s.
These screw-locked connectors can be hard to find as they come under many generic names: "CB connector", "Mobile connector", "Microphone connector", "Power connector"—even sometimes misidentified as XLR connectors.
Even though this circular connector was largely standardized, there was no industry standard for pin assignments. Pin assignments to specific funcitons varied from manufacturer to manufacturer. For example, in amateur radio, Icom, Kenwood, and Yaesu radios have all used the 8-pin screw-on connector, yet microphones from one brand are incompatible with the other two brands, at least without the use of an adapter cable in between the microphone and the radio.
Read more about this topic: Microphone Connector
Famous quotes containing the word circular:
“If one doubts whether Grecian valor and patriotism are not a fiction of the poets, he may go to Athens and see still upon the walls of the temple of Minerva the circular marks made by the shields taken from the enemy in the Persian war, which were suspended there. We have not far to seek for living and unquestionable evidence. The very dust takes shape and confirms some story which we had read.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)