Networking Basics Lesson 007: Coaxial Cabling

Coaxial Cable (Coax)

Among the oldest categories of copper media that is still used in networking today.

What are the three main components of a coax cable?

A center core, metallic shielding, and a protective plastic insulating sleeve.

What is the purpose of the center core in a coax cable?

Data transfer.

What is the purpose of the metallic shielding in a coax cable?

Data protection and resistance to EMI.

What is the purpose of the outer sleeve in a coax table?

To protect the cable.

What was the primary network cable in the 1980s?

Coaxial cables (Coax).

RG-6 Coaxial Cable

Cable used by cable television companies to provide Internet to homes and businesses.

RG-59 Coaxial Cable

Traditional cable used to video signals in a home or office between two nearby devices.

What are the two modern day use cases of coax cables in modern networks?

RG-6 and RG-59.

What are the two types of coax connectors?

F-type and BNC.

F-Type Coaxial Cable (Coax) Connector

A modern threaded metallic connector that will screw on to a coaxial jack on the cable to the modem or the wall jack.

What are the common use cases of a F-type coax connector?

For use with cable modems and cable TV set-top boxes.

Bayonet Neill-Concelman Connector / British Naval Connector (BNC)

Legacy connector that used to be used heavily in networking back in the early days of computer networks.

What is the most common use case for a BNC?

It used to be used in the early days of computer networking.

Where would one usually see a BNC today?

When working for the DoD or one of their military subcontractors, which still work in their older command systems.

How is a BNC connector attached?

Pushing the connector in and then twisting a half turn to lock in.

What does a F-type connector look like?

A threaded metallic connector.

How is a F-type connector attached?

Screws onto a coaxial jack on a cable modem or wall jack.

TwinAxial Cable

Similar to coaxial cable, with two inner conductors to carry data instead of one.

SFP Direct Attach Copper Cable

A type of twin-axial cable capable of 10 Gbps and is more energy efficient.

What is the limitation when using SFP direct attach copper cables?

They are only optimally used for very short distances at ~7 meters.

What is the benefit to using twinaxial cables?

Very high speed and cost efficient connection cable which can be used in place of a fiber optic cable, if supported by the connected devices.