Shielded header and cable assembly

A shielded header for controlling high frequency electromagnetic signals comprising

• a. a dielectric housing having a cavity open at its top, enclosed by front and rear elongated side walls and two end walls together with a floor perforated with a plurality of through holes each engaging an electrically conductive pin, a side skirt extending downward from each front and rear side wall, with a plurality of vertical grooves, each groove separated by a vertical rib in each side skirt;
• b. an elongated ground strip mounted between the side skirts, the ground strip having a plurality of notches aligned with a lower end of each vertical groove in the side skirt;
• c. an electrically conductive spring contact stamped from metal stock and formed to have alternating beams projecting upward in a common plane from a carrier strip with L-shaped ground bars between each beam, one leg of the ground bar attached to the carrier strip in a plane substantially the same as the beams and the other leg projecting at a right angle to the plane, a plurality of locking tabs attached to the carrier strip and projecting downward away from each beam, a plurality of shelf tabs attached to the carrier strip and projecting downward away from each ground bar and curled in a direction away from the ground bars;
• d. the spring contact mounted in the housing so that each beam is in contact with an interior side of the front and rear side wall, one leg of each ground bar projecting at right angles from the exterior of the side walls and the shelf tabs and locking tabs bent to grip opposite flat sides of the ground strip.