Cables Coaxial Cable Communication Cable RG59/U, RG6/U and RG11/U Coaxial Cable for Video Applications

Coaxial cable conducts electrical signal using an inner conductor (usually a solid copper, stranded copper or copper plated steel wire) surrounded by an insulating layer and all enclosed by a shield, typically one to four layers of woven metallic braid and metallic tape.

The advantage of coaxial design is that with differential mode, equal push-pull currents on the inner conductor, and inside of the outer conductor, the signal's electric and magnetic fields are restricted to the dielectric, with little leakage outside the shield.

Further, electric and magnetic fields outside the cable are largely kept from interfering with signals inside the cable, if unequal currents are filtered out at the receiving end of the line.

Common applications of coaxial cable include video and CATV distribution,

RF and microwave transmission, and computer and instrumentation data connections

The cable is protected by an outer insulating jacket. Normally, the outside of the shield is kept at ground potential and a signal carrying voltage is applied to the center conductor.

This property makes coaxial cable a good choice both for carrying weak signals, that cannot tolerate interference from the environment, and for stronger electrical signals, that must not be allowed to radiate or couple into adjacent structures or circuits. Larger diameter cables and cables with multiple shields have less leakage.

• RG59 cables are made of 95% copper shields and this helps them block RFI inclusion.
• Insulation is not as good as RG6 cables.
• The inner conductor of RG59 cables is thin – 20 AWG copper center. This makes its diameter smaller than RG6.
• The frequency range is lower. RG6 can work even with 3Ghz but RG59 may start showing inefficiency upon touching 2 GHz.
• If you need to work below 50 Mhz, RG59 is the way to go.
• RG6 provides lower attenuation when compared to RG59. This is a significant drawback for RG59 cables.