2V2 3W3 5W5 Mixed Contact Combo Cable, 50 / 75 Ohm

Overview

A mixed contact combo cable puts coaxial contacts into a D-Sub shell. The 2V2, 3W3 and 5W5 layouts carry two, three or five coaxial contacts in the standard D-Sub frame, which is why they turn up on test fixtures, broadcast patch panels and aerospace breakouts where the panel cut-out was designed years ago and is not going to change. Ours is two, three or five 50 ohm or 75 ohm miniature coaxial lines in RG-178 or RG-316, under an overall foil plus braid shield, in a PVC jacket, with metal hoods and thumbscrews. Contact count, impedance and length are set by your drawing.

Key Specifications

Connector A	2V2, 3W3 or 5W5 male, mixed contact, metal hood
Connector B	2V2, 3W3, 5W5 or BNC breakout, per inquiry
Coaxial Impedance	50 ohm or 75 ohm, per contact
Signal Conductors	Coaxial, RG-178 or RG-316 typical
Shielding	Overall foil + braid
Jacket	PVC, black, 6 mm to 10 mm OD
Length	0.5 m to 5 m standard; OEM on request
Build	Built and verified to your drawing and contact layout

Shell sizes on this mixed contact combo cable

The naming is cryptic but consistent: the number is the contact count and the letters describe what those contacts are. W means a coaxial (high-frequency) contact in a size 8 cavity, and the digit in front of it tells you how many. So 3W3 is three coax contacts in a shell the size of a DB25, with the remaining cavities unused or populated with signal pins depending on the build. What matters when you order is the shell size, the contact count and the gender, and the table below covers the three layouts we build most.

Layout	Coax contacts	Matches shell size	Where you meet it
2V2	2 coax	DB15-size frame	Compact RF breakouts, two-channel test fixtures
3W3	3 coax	DB25-size frame	RGB video, three-channel RF patching
5W5	5 coax	DB25-size frame	Five-channel RF and multi-way video breakouts
BNC breakout	2, 3 or 5	Flying BNC connectors	Where the far end is individual BNC jacks

50 ohm or 75 ohm: which one is on your panel

This is the question that decides whether the assembly works, and it cannot be answered from the shell. 50 ohm is the RF and data convention – test equipment, radio, most coaxial instrumentation. 75 ohm is the video convention – analog video, broadcast, and anything with a BNC carrying a picture. Mixing them does not stop the signal, it degrades it: every impedance step is a reflection, and at video frequencies a reflection is a visible ghost. If the panel is legacy and undocumented, look at what is plugged into it today, or measure a known-good cable with an ohmmeter between center pin and shield. We build either, and we verify the impedance of the coax lines before the assembly is packed.

Impedance	Convention	Typical use	If you get it wrong
50 ohm	RF and data	Test instruments, radio, coaxial digital	Mismatch loss and reflections on an RF link
75 ohm	Video	Broadcast, analog video, BNC picture feeds	Ghosting and level error on a video path

What this cable is not for

These shells carry analog or RF signals over coax. They are not a digital signal carrier. If you are moving TMDS, USB 3.0 or Ethernet, use a cable built for that interface: a mixed-contact D-Sub has neither the controlled impedance nor the pair geometry a differential digital link needs, and the most common way these assemblies get mis-applied is someone inheriting a panel full of 3W3 connectors and assuming they can carry anything. They cannot. They carry what they were designed to carry, and they do it very well.

Contact termination: crimp or solder

Coaxial contacts for these shells come in both flavors, and the choice is usually made for you by the tooling you have. Crimp contacts are faster and more repeatable in production and are the default for a volume build. Solder contacts are what you want for a prototype, or where the contact is being reworked in the field by a technician with a soldering iron and no crimp tool. Either way the important part is the preparation: the braid has to be trimmed clean, the dielectric must not be nicked, and the center conductor has to be the right length in the contact. That is workmanship rather than materials, and it is what IPC/WHMA-A-620 Class 3 inspection is looking at on every unit.

Typical applications for this mixed contact combo cable

Test fixtures and patch panels using mixed-contact D-Sub shells
Broadcast studio video and audio patching
Aerospace and high-frequency signal breakout
Replacement cable for legacy 2V2, 3W3 or 5W5 chassis wiring
BNC breakout leads where a multi-way shell feeds individual instruments

How to specify your build

Shell size – 2V2, 3W3 or 5W5 – and the gender of each end.
Impedance – 50 ohm or 75 ohm – confirmed, not assumed.
Cable type – RG-178 or RG-316, or your specified coax.
Far end – same shell, or a BNC breakout.
Length and jacket color.
Quantity, and whether this is a sample or a production order.

Workmanship and testing

2V2 / 3W3 / builds are assembled and inspected to IPC/WHMA-A-620 Class 3 criteria, with ISO 9001 as the quality system over 32 to 12 AWG work. continuity and pinout are checked on every 2V2 unit before packing, and seal checking is quoted whenever an ingress rating is on the drawing.

Material declarations against RoHS and REACH are issued per project, alongside the dimensional and electrical reports agreed at quotation; see certifications, compliance and material declarations. Where your drawing names a UL style or another approval, the build follows your drawing and ships with the supporting document rather than a claim of our own. The strain relief and molded body are produced on tooling we cut ourselves see overmold tooling cut in our own tool room so the tool is quoted separately, owned by you, and available for repeat runs years later. More background: cable assemblies for test and measurement.

Custom builds and ordering

2V2 / 3W3 / prototype builds start from 1 to 50 pcs and are out in 3 working days. Production is quoted from 500 pcs at 14 working days after approval. Tooling not already held adds around 10 working days. Private-label 2V2 runs ship under your part number and labeling, and material certificates and first-article reports can be supplied.