MB> Charles Ring wrote in a message to Mike Bilow:
 CM>>> RG58A/U is recommended.. RG58 is not quite up to spec.
 MB>> In fact, the "A" indicates the type of jacket insulation, which
 MB>> is irrelevant for Ethernet use unless you are burying the
 MB>> cable underground.  These old military designators were actually
 MB>> formally dropped over 30 years ago, but the terms have survived
 MB>> by custom. Higher quality manufacturers such as Belden usually
 MB>> just use their own numbering system.
 CR>> The "A" mainly indicates a stranded center conductor - much
 CR>> more survivable if there's even slight flexing.
 MB> That's not what it says in my copy of "Reference Data for Radio
 MB> Engineers."  Military RG-58 -- these designations were all part of the
 MB> old Joint Army-Navy ("JAN") system in the U.S. -- had 19 strands
 MB> making up the center conductor.  Most network coax uses a solid center
 MB> conductor because it is easier to affix the connectors using crimp
 MB> methods.  You must solder the connectors onto stranded coax, and most
 MB> network technicians these days would have no clue how to solder
 MB> something.  The technique is not simple, and the military published a
 MB> little manual explaining in detail how to solder connectors onto coax.
I come from the other side: I've used various kinds of coax far longer than 
I've had anything to do with computers, and always use solder connectors. 
When I think of RG-58, I have Belden 8240 (solid) in mind, and with RG-58A 
it's Belden 8259 (stranded). I normally use 8259 for Ethernet and have no 
problems unless I mess up the soldering (the easiest mistake is to position 
the center conductor wrong). With large radio transmitters on site I can't 
get away with using lousy coax.
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