Electrical connectors for use in connecting coaxial transmission lines to a variety of signal sources are known and have been widely used for decades. One particular application of such connectors involves connecting a signal receiving antenna to a coaxial transmission line, and one such known communication signal receiving arrangement 10 is shown in FIG. 1. Referring to FIG. 1, signal receiving arrangement 10 includes a tower 12 having an antenna 14 affixed thereto, wherein antenna 14 may be a dipole, microwave or other known antenna type. A coaxial electrical connector 16 is connected at one end to a matingly configured electrical connector coupled to antenna 14, and at its opposite end to a coaxial transmission line 18. Transmission line 18 is typically routed to a base station 20 located adjacent to tower 12 where signal evaluation and diagnostics are performed before providing the received signal to users via an output coaxial transmission line 22.
Connector 16 and antenna 14 each define complementarily or matingly configured electrical connection structures such that connector 16 may be electrically connected to antenna 14 in a structurally secure manner. An example of one such connector 16 is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,595,502 to Allison, which is assigned to the assignee of the present invention, and the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. In this embodiment, the electrical connector coupled to antenna 14 is matingly configured to receive the '502 connector in both an electrically contacting and structurally secure manner.
The present invention provides a device for connecting and sealing between a coaxial transmission line connector and a signal source connector, wherein the device is configured to prevent liquid ingress.
The present invention further provides for an electrical connector having a liquid sensor disposed therein producing a signal indicative of the liquid content within the connector.
These and other objects of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiment.