US Patent 10148025 Header connector of a communication system

A header connector includes a header housing having a base and a cavity with header signal contacts coupled to the base and header ground contacts coupled to the base having a mating end extending into the cavity providing electrical shielding for corresponding contact pairs of the header signal contacts. Each header ground contact includes an end wall and a side wall extending from the end wall. Ground contact shield elements are coupled to corresponding header ground contacts along the corresponding side walls of the header ground contacts. The ground contact shield elements are deflectable and spring biased to extend toward the nearest header signal contact of the corresponding contact pair such that the ground contact shield element is positioned closer to the header signal contact than the side wall of the corresponding header ground contact.