Design
Originally, the connector was designed to carry signals at frequencies up to 1 GHz in military applications, but today's common Type N easily handles frequencies up to 11 GHz. More recent precision enhancements to the design by Julius Botka at Hewlett Packard have pushed this to 18 GHz. The male connector is hand-tightened (though versions with a hex nut are also available) and has an air gap between the center and outer conductors. The coupling has a 5/8-24 thread. Amphenol [1] suggests tightening to a torque of 15 pound-feet (20 N·m), while Andrew Corporation suggest 20 pound-feet (27 N·m) for their hex nut variant. Since torque limit depends only on thread quality and cleanliness, whereas the main operational requirement is good RF contact without significant steps or gaps, these values should be seen as indicative rather than critical.

Power ratingThe peak power rating of an N connector is determined by voltage breakdown/ionisation of the air near the center pin. The average power rating is determined by overheating of the centre contact and is a function of frequency, as heating depends on the resistive insertion loss. Typical makers curves for a new clean connector with a perfect load such as page 275 of [2] for example imply ~5000 watts at 20 MHz and ~500watts at 2 GHz, i.e. a square root frequency derating law as might be expected from skin depth decreasing with frequency. At lower frequencies the same maker recommends an upper bound of ~1000V RMS. To achieve reliable operation in practice over an extended period, a safety factor of 5 or more is not uncommon, particularly when generic parts may be substituted, or the operating environment is likely to lead to eventual tarnishing of the contacts.

Impedance optionsThe N connector follows the MIL-C-39012 standard, defined by the US military, and comes in 50 and 75 ohm versions. The 50 ohm version is widely used in the infrastructure of land mobile, wireless data, paging and cellular systems. The 75 ohm version is primarily used in the infrastructure of cable television systems. Connecting these two different types of connectors to each other can lead to damage due to the difference in diameter of the center pin.[3] Unfortunately, many type N connectors are not labeled, and it can be difficult to prevent this situation in a mixed impedance environment. The situation is further complicated by some makers of 75 ohm sockets designing them with enough spring yield to accept the larger 50ohm pin without irreversible damage, while others clearly do not, and expect users to segregate their connectors and adaptors. In general a 50 ohm socket is not damaged by a 75 ohm pin, but the loose fit means the contact quality is not guaranteed.

The 50 ohm type N connector is favored by enthusiasts who create their own Wireless LAN antenna systems, which run at 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz. The Cantenna is one such design. The enthusiasts have settled on using the N connector as a standard connection for homebrew antennas. By using a cable with an N connector one can easily interchange homebrew antennas. 50Ω N connectors are also commonly used on amateur radio devices (e.g., transceivers) operating in UHF bands.