RG-58/U is a type of

coaxial cable Coaxial cable, or coax (pronounced ), is a type of electrical cable consisting of an inner Electrical conductor, conductor surrounded by a concentric conducting Electromagnetic shielding, shield, with the two separated by a dielectric (Insulat ...

often used for low-power signal and RF connections. The cable has a

characteristic impedance The characteristic impedance or surge impedance (usually written Z0) of a uniform transmission line is the ratio of the amplitudes of voltage and current of a wave travelling in one direction along the line in the absence of reflections in th ...

of either 50 or 52 Ω. "RG" was originally a unit indicator for bulk RF cable in the U.S. military's Joint Electronics Type Designation System. There are several versions covering the differences in core material (solid or braided wire) and shield (70% to 95% coverage). The outside diameter of RG-58 is around 0.2 inches (5 mm). RG-58 weighs around 0.025 lb/ft (37 g/m), exhibits approximately 25 pF/ft (82 pF/m) capacitance and can tolerate a maximum of 300 V potential (1800 W). Plain RG-58 cable has a solid center conductor. The RG-58A/U features a flexible 7- or 19-strand center conductor. Most

two-way radio A two-way radio is a radio transceiver (a radio that can both transmit and receive radio waves), which is used for bidirectional person-to-person voice communication with other users with similar radios, in contrast to a broadcast receiver, whi ...

communication systems, such as marine, CB radio,

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

, police, fire, WLAN antennas etc., are designed to work with a 50 Ω cable. RG-58 cable is often used as a generic carrier of signals in laboratories, combined with

BNC connector The BNC connector is a miniature quick-connect/disconnect RF connector, radio-frequency connector for coaxial cable. It was introduced on military radio equipment in the 1940s, and has since become widely used in radio systems and as a common t ...

s that are common on test and measurement equipment such as

oscilloscope An oscilloscope (formerly known as an oscillograph, informally scope or O-scope) is a type of electronic test instrument that graphically displays varying voltages of one or more signals as a function of time. Their main purpose is capturing i ...

s. RG-58 in versions RG-58A/U or RG-58C/U was once widely used in "thin"

Ethernet Ethernet ( ) is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 198 ...

( 10BASE2), for which it provides a maximum segment length of 185 meters. However, it has been almost completely replaced by twisted-pair cabling such as Cat 5, Cat 6, and similar cables in data networking applications. RG-58 cable can be used for moderately high frequencies. Its signal attenuation depends on the frequency, e.g. from 10.8 dB per 100 m (3.3 dB per 100 feet) at 50 MHz to 70.5 dB per 100 m (21.5 dB per 100 feet) at 1 GHz.Coaxial Cable Loss and Dynamics
by Benton County ARES/RACES. Archived from the original on 20 Feb. 2020

References

Signal cables Transmission lines {{Electron-stub

See also

References