[ASK] Coaxial RG-174 vs RG-58 under 150 cm or 5 feet

[BravoV]

Does it matter much ?

I'm about to make another batch of relatively short coax cables with BNC connectors for my electronic bench. And quite favor the RG-174 coax as its quite thin & flexible, and also its quite a space saver if you have a bunch of them rolled and stacked on the bench compared to RG-58.

Scope of this discussion is for the T&M interconnects like from/to scope, FG, active probes and etc, that will be used at the bench only, with working signal is under 500 MHz.

[helius]

RG-174 is higher loss, but with short cables that isn't significant. I believe RG-58 has a higher dielectric withstanding voltage, but this will be practically limited by your connectors, so may not matter in actual use.

[David Hess]

I made myself a couple of RG-174 and RG-316 patch cables and while they are useful, their major disadvantage is that the thinner cable is fragile compared to a thicker cable.  My favorite patch cables use RG-400 which is the diameter of RG-58 but double shielded.

[CJay]

I lucked into a couple of bags of brand new 1 Metre RG174 BNC-BNC cables in a bargain bin at a component supplier, they've been excellent for my needs (HF to UHF) and have proven to be reliable in the year or so I've been using them to hook up test gear (frequency counter, 'scope, spectrum analyser with relevant adapters, modulation meter etc...)

[SingedFingers]

Incidentally you can buy RG174 by the metre here: http://www.spectrumcomms.co.uk/Aerials.htm#FEEDER%20CABLE%20&%20PATCH%20LEADS

Good company.

[BravoV]

Thanks for the feedbacks guys, RG-174 it is. 

I made myself a couple of RG-174 and RG-316 patch cables and while they are useful, their major disadvantage is that the thinner cable is fragile compared to a thicker cable.  My favorite patch cables use RG-400 which is the diameter of RG-58 but double shielded.

As patch cables only which are only like 4 or 5 feet ( 150 cm) length, is there any significant difference between RG-174 and RG-316 ? What max working frequency do you usually work on when using these ?

RG-400, yeah, it would be an ideal like for fixed/permanent cable between T&M equipments, apart from double shielded, its also has stranded core that make the cable quite flexible compared to the stiff solid core coax, its only for patch cables. Its just really hard to find it locally here, and probably way too expensive for just few meters for my needs. 

Anyone want to sell me just "few" meters of RG-400 ? 

[David Hess]

I made myself a couple of RG-174 and RG-316 patch cables and while they are useful, their major disadvantage is that the thinner cable is fragile compared to a thicker cable.  My favorite patch cables use RG-400 which is the diameter of RG-58 but double shielded.

As patch cables only which are only like 4 or 5 feet ( 150 cm) length, is there any significant difference between RG-174 and RG-316? What max working frequency do you usually work on when using these?

Loss is mostly dependent on cable diameter so solid polyethylene RG-174 and Teflon RG-316 perform almost identically.  RG-316 is a little easier to work with because the Teflon dielectric will not melt at soldering iron temperatures.  Incidentally, both make great shielded audio and microphone cable.

I can see the difference in edge and dribble-up response between RG-174/RG-316 and RG-58/RG-400 at 300 MHz but not at 100 MHz.

RG-400, yeah, it would be an ideal like for fixed/permanent cable between T&M equipments, apart from double shielded, its also has stranded core that make the cable quite flexible compared to the stiff solid core coax, its only for patch cables. Its just really hard to find it locally here, and probably way too expensive for just few meters for my needs. 

I used to pick up RG-400 from the cable guy at the ham radio swap meets.  It does not age like RG-8X so I never worried about old stock.

There is a double shielded solid conductor version of RG-400 (RG-142?) which should be almost as good and is probably easier to work with.  The Teflon dielectric and double shielding of RG-400 make it pretty stiff even with its stranded center conductor.