DEC BC09J cable

From: Tothwolf <tothwolf_at_concentric.net>
Date: Thu Feb 28 06:16:47 2002

On Thu, 28 Feb 2002, William S. wrote:
> On Thu, Feb 28, 2002 at 05:12:40AM -0600, Tothwolf wrote:
>
> > What you should be concerned about is shielded vs unshielded cable.
> > Shielded round cable with D-Sub type connectors will be more immune to RF
> > noise, and less likely to generate the same. A twisted pair or flat silver
> > satin cable with RJ-45 (8 conductor) or RJ-14 (6 conductor) connectors
> > isn't shielded, and most RJ-45/RJ-14 to D-Sub adapters are also not
> > shielded. I've made up both types of cables, but I usually use shielded
> > cables for connections between equipment since my systems live in an
> > residential neighborhood.
>
> By shielded do you mean CAT5 cable? I was planning on using that.
> Speaking of which, is there a proper color to use? ie) grey, red,
> blue? This will only be a home setup but was wondering if there is an
> official color code.

Cat5 (category 5 rated) cable is more appropriately called UTP (unshielded
twisted pair) cable. UTP cable is not shielded, and for serial
applications, the category rating isn't very important. Keep in mind that
category '5e' cable is much more difficult to work with compared to
category 5/4/3 if you are planning to install RJ45 connectors yourself,
due to molded pairs. As far as wire colors go, UTP cable has a standard
color code for the individual pairs, but the pinout varies depending on
the application for the cable. I'm not aware of any "standard" color code
for UTP cable when it is used for serial applications.

-Toth
Received on Thu Feb 28 2002 - 06:16:47 GMT