Coaxial cable is built from a layered structure — center conductor, dielectric insulator, foil shield, braided shield, and outer jacket — designed to carry data while blocking electromagnetic interference. Common coaxial standards include RG6, RG11, and RG59, with F-type and BNC connectors among the most widely used termination options.
Coaxial Cable
First of all, this center part right here is the conductor. That's where the data is actually being transferred across, so that's the center conductor.
Then we have a dielectric around the outside here. That's an insulator — it insulates it, it makes sure that no electricity is flowing between that center conductor and the outside foil.
So then we have the outside foil here. That's a foil shield, and it protects it from some of the EMI that will be around this device. That's what's protecting the data, so the data can be cleaner as it comes through that center conductor. And then we've got a braided shield around the outside, so we've got kind of two shielding components here. And then finally we've got the jacket along the outside, so that none of these conductors are exposed. So that's coaxial cable right there.
There are a lot of different types of coaxial cables out there, and we don't need to know all of the differences. Just know that things like the size of the conductor, and some other variables in here, are going to change and are going to determine which standard is out there, and they're all going to have their pros and their cons. I'm not going to name them all, because the nuances between those differences are really not that important.
Just know that one of the things that defines these out there is the radio guide, or RG, which will define the characteristics for each one of these types. RG6 is one of those. RG11 and RG59 might be some of those that you still see out there. For a lot of your cables, though, you're going to be probably working a lot more with Ethernet cables within your networks, unless you're working for some of the big ISPs that have these cables that are running there.
Then the other thing is, occasionally we'll see twinax cable out there, or twinaxial cable, and that's where you have multiple conductors in the middle, or two conductors in the middle. So it's the same type of cable with the shielding on the outside, but this inside part will have two different strands to it, and we'll have two different conductors going in there for the data side of it.
There's also lots of different types of connectors out there as well. We don't need to know all of the different types of connectors, but two that I'm going to mention are the F-type of connector and the BNC type.
The F-type connectors are the ones that have threads on the inside. You can see threads that are on there right now. Those are the ones that you're going to put into the equipment and you're going to be turning quite a few times to get it fully screwed on tight. So that's the F-type.
Then you have the BNC type of connectors. What they do is, on the other end of it, it will slide onto there, and there'll be probably about a quarter of a turn or a third of a turn to actually lock it into place. So there's the hole right there, and then a slot right here. That slot will go over kind of a part that sticks out a bit. It'll slide on, you'll put a little quarter of a turn in there, and they'll snap into place where this little hole is right there. So that's the type you'll push on and do a little quarter of a turn to make it stick.
F-type connectors and BNC are two of the most common types of connectors.
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