RG-59/U is a specific 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

video Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...

and RF signal 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 75 ohms, and a capacitance of around 20pF/ft (60pF/m). The 75 ohm impedance matches a

dipole antenna In radio and telecommunications a dipole antenna or doublet is one of the two simplest and most widely used antenna types, types of antenna; the other is the monopole antenna, monopole. The dipole is any one of a class of antennas producin ...

in free space. ''RG'' (for ''radio guide'') was originally a unit indicator for bulk radio frequency (RF) cable in the U.S. military's

Joint Electronics Type Designation System The Joint Electronics Type Designation System (JETDS), which was previously known as the Joint Army-Navy Nomenclature System (AN System. JAN) and the Joint Communications-Electronics Nomenclature System, is a method developed by the U.S. War Depa ...

. The suffix ''/U'' means ''for general utility use''. The number ''59'' was assigned sequentially. The ''RG'' unit indicator is no longer part of the JETDS system (MIL-STD-196E) and cable sold today under the RG-59 label does not necessarily meet military specifications. RG-59 is often used at

baseband In telecommunications and signal processing, baseband is the range of frequencies occupied by a signal that has not been modulated to higher frequencies. Baseband signals typically originate from transducers, converting some other variable into ...

video frequencies, such as

composite video Composite video, also known as CVBS (composite video baseband signal or color, video, blanking and sync), is an analog video format that combines image information—such as brightness (luminance), color (chrominance), and synchronization, int ...

. It may also be used for broadcast frequencies, but its high-frequency losses are too high to allow its use over long distances; in these applications,

RG-6 RG-6/U is a common type of coaxial cable used in a wide variety of residential and commercial applications. An RG-6/U coaxial cable has a characteristic impedance of 75 ohms. The term, ''RG-6'', is generic and is applied to a wide variety of c ...

or RG-11 are used instead. In cases where the transmission distance is too long for these media, such options as UTP (

unshielded twisted pair Twisted pair cabling is a type of communications cable in which two conductors of a single Electronic circuit, circuit are twisted together for the purposes of improving electromagnetic compatibility. Compared to a Single-ended signaling, sin ...

) or

fiber optic An optical fiber, or optical fibre, is a flexible glass or plastic fiber that can transmit light from one end to the other. Such fibers find wide usage in fiber-optic communications, where they permit transmission over longer distances and at ...

can be used. RG-59 coaxial cable is commonly packed with consumer equipment, such as VCRs or digital cable/satellite receivers. Manufacturers tend to include only RG-59 cables because it costs less than

does. However, given the short lengths provided (usually ), this is generally sufficient for its typical use. RG-59 is frequently used to synchronize two

digital audio Digital audio is a representation of sound recorded in, or converted into, digital signal (signal processing), digital form. In digital audio, the sound wave of the audio signal is typically encoded as numerical sampling (signal processing), ...

devices, such as

ADAT Alesis Digital Audio Tape, commonly referred to as ADAT, is a magnetic tape format used for the Sound recording and reproduction, recording of eight digital audio tracks onto the same S-VHS tape used by consumer VCRs, and the basis of a serie ...

optical devices. This is called

word clock In digital audio electronics, a word clock or wordclock (sometimes sample clock, which can have a broader meaning) is a clock signal used to synchronise other devices, such as digital audio tape machines and compact disc players, which inter ...

References

Bibliography

* Signal cables Transmission lines {{Electron-stub

See also

References

Bibliography