CB Radio – The Coaxial Glossary

CB Radio – The Coaxial Glossary

The most important piece of equipment as a CB radio operator is not the external speaker or microphone. Heck, it’s not even the antenna or transceiver. It’s the coax.

Without this coax cable connecting the antenna with the rig, you can’t transmit or receive communications. You can’t even listen to DX conversations. Since a CB doesn’t have a built-in antenna, it needs a connection to an independent antenna to work.

Know Your Coax

There are some operators who know very little about the cables they use. The result is a reduction of power or a bleed of transmission wattage. And, when something is wrong, they don’t know how to describe it.

Let’s help you with this. Here are a few items in the coaxial glossary to get familiar with.

Center Conductor: The wire at the cable’s center that conducts a signal from one location to another.

Insulator: Material that surrounds the center conductor to protect it from electrical surges and other damage.

Shield: The outer coating that surrounds the insulator.

Jacket: The visible top-layer coating covering the Shield, Insulator, and Center Conductor.

Propagation Velocity: How fast the signal travels from one end of the coax to another.

RG-58: Used for single antenna setups.

RG-8X: Also used for single antenna setups, this coax model has stronger shielding to handle higher power outputs.

RG-59: A cable model used for dual antenna setups.

Want to know more? Contact the specialists at CB Radio Supply to determine the best coax cable for your equipment.