1c: Principles of Data Communications: Media Characteristics

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. The Electromagnetic Spectrum
   1. Electromagnetic Spectrum Visualised
   2. EM Waves SAQ
3. Media Characteristics
   1. Guided media
4. Coaxial Cable
   1. Types of Coaxial Cable
   2. Thinnet (10Base2)
   3. Thinnet Connections
   4. BNC Components
   5. Thicknet (10Base5)
   6. Thicknet Connections
   7. Cabling SAQ 1
5. Twisted Pair
   1. Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) Cable
   2. Shielded Twisted Pair (STP) Cable
   3. Twisted Pair Cable Components
   4. TIA/EIA Standards
   5. Other UTP Standards
   6. Cabling SAQ 2
6. Fibre Optic Cable
   1. How Fibre-Optic Cable Works
   2. Advantages and Disadvantages of Fibre
   3. Multi-Mode Fibre
   4. Single Mode (Mono Mode)
   5. Fibre Connectors
   6. Cabling SAQ 3
   7. Cabling SAQ 4
   8. Balanced and Unbalanced Lines
7. Unguided Media
8. Radio Transmission
   1. Satellite Transmission
   2. Satellite Orbits
   3. Low Earth Orbit (LEO)
   4. Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO)
   5. Polar Orbit
   6. A Satellite's Coverage Area
   7. Satellite Advantages and Disadvantages
   8. Unguided Media SAQ 1
   9. Satellite Practical
9. Microwave Transmission
   1. Principles of Microwave Transmission
   2. Microwave Advantages and Disadvantages
   3. Unguided Media SAQ 2
   4. Media Characteristics Crossword
   5. Formative Assessment

Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) Cable

A common implementation of UTP is 100BaseT, which allows for a maximum cable length segment of 100 metres. There are different categories of UTP cable and one differentiation factor is the number of twists per foot of cable. The more twists the higher quality the cable, i.e. there are less twists per foot in Cat3 compared to Cat5 UTP cable.

Cat5 UTP cable is a popular choice for network cable because it meets the European standard for allowing data transfer speeds of 100Mbps.

100BaseT stands for:

• Data Transmission Rate of 100Mbps, i.e. 100
• Uses baseband transmission, i.e. Base
• The media is twisted pair, i.e. the T.

Click on this link to review the wikipedia resource on UTP cable.

Next: Shielded Twisted Pair (STP) Cable