Click here to learn how semi-rigid cables are manufactured (new for February 2022)
Click here to see our coax cable model (new for November 2020)
Click here to go to our main page on microwave connectors
Click here to go to our main page on coax
Click here to go to our page on VSWR
This page will explain some cable and connector terminology and technologies. For those of you with cable questions, a good contact is Ruth Fawson, her company RF Connections sponsors our page on microwave connectors.
Industry standard coax cables
Below is a table the characteristics of many popular coaxial cables. RG cables refer to an ancient MIL spec, where RG refers to "radio guide". These are typically not used beyond a few GHz.
SR cables refer to semi-rigid.
D is the outer diameter of the dielectric, and d is the diameter of the center conductor.
One of these days we'll compile more cable data and offer it as an Excel download. Feel free to contribute!
| Cable Type |
OD
(inches)
|
D
(inches)
|
d
(inches)
|
Z0
(ohms)
|
fc
(GHz)
|
| RG-8A |
0.405
|
0.285
|
0.089
|
50
|
14.0
|
| RG-9A |
0.420
|
0.280
|
0.085
|
51
|
14.2
|
| RG-58A |
0.195
|
0.116
|
0.031
|
50
|
35.3
|
| RG-59A |
0.242
|
0.146
|
0.032
|
75
|
30.5
|
| RG-62A |
0.242
|
0.146
|
0.025
|
93
|
32.2
|
| RG-174 |
0.100
|
0.060
|
0.019
|
50
|
65.6
|
| RG-196 |
0.080
|
0.034
|
0.012
|
50
|
112
|
| RG-214 |
0.360
|
0.285
|
0.087
|
50
|
13.9
|
| RG-223 |
0.216
|
0.113
|
0.037
|
50
|
34.6
|
| SR-085 |
0.085
|
0.066
|
.0201
|
50
|
60.2
|
| SR-141 |
0.141
|
0.1175
|
0.0359
|
50
|
33.8
|
| SR-250 |
0.250
|
0.210
|
0.0641
|
50
|
18.9
|
Some specialty topics we hope to deal with soon:
Test equipment cables
High performance antenna cables
Heliax cables
Low loss cable
High-end systems cables
Semi-rigid, semi-flex, hard-line
High temperature cables
Delay lines