Experiment No.

1
STRAIGHT THROUGH AND CROSS OVER UTP CABLES

1. Objective(s):
The activity aims to study the different types of Network cables and Practically implement the cross-
wired cable and straight through cable using crimping tool.
2. Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs):
The students shall be able to:
2.1 learn the general information about UTP cables
2.2 know the standards in cabling specifically for UTP cables
2.3 experience crimping straight through and cross over cables
3. Discussion :
Choosing the cables necessary to make a successful LAN or WAN connection requires consideration
of the different media types. UTP cabling connections are specified by the Electronics Industry
Alliance/Telecommunications Industry Association (EIA/TIA). The RJ-45 connector is the male
component crimped on the end of the cable. When viewed from the front, the pins are numbered from 8
to 1. When viewed from above with the opening gate facing you, the pins are numbered 1 through 8,
from left to right. This orientation is important to remember when identifying a cable.

A straight-through cable has connectors on each end that are terminated the same in accordance with
either the T568A or T568B standards.
Use straight-through cables for the following connections:
• Switch to a router Ethernet port
• Computer to switch
• Computer to hub

For two devices to communicate through a cable that is directly connected between the two, the
transmit terminal of one device needs to be connected to the receive terminal of the other device.
The cable must be terminated so the transmit pin, Tx, taking the signal from device A at one end, is
wired to the receive pin, Rx, on device B. Similarly, device B's Tx pin must be connected to device A's
Rx pin. These "crossed over" pin connections give this type of cable its name, crossover.
To achieve this type of connection with a UTP cable, one end must be terminated as EIA/TIA T568A
pinout, and the other end terminated with T568B pinout.

To summarize, crossover cables directly connect the following devices on a LAN:

• Switch to switch
• Switch to hub
• Hub to hub
• Router to router Ethernet port connection
• Computer to computer
• Computer to a router Ethernet port
4. Resources:
RJ-45 Crimp Tool ; Cat-5e Cable ; RJ-45 Jacks ; Cable tester ; UTP Cable Cat5e ; ruler; tape measure
5. Procedure:
1. Prepare your workspace. Take the roll of UTP cable and cut the cable to 2 meters length using the
cutting blade on the crimp tool.

2. Splice the end by using the splicing blades to expose the unshielded twisted pairs to about 1 inch.
3. Take each twisted pair and make four wire strands, each going out from the center of the wire.
Now take the individual twisted wire pairs and untwist them down to individual wires following the
EIA/TIA T568B termination or in the order: Striped Orange, Orange, Striped Green, Blue, Striped
Blue, Green, Striped Brown, and Brown.

4. Next, grasp the wires with your thumb and index finger of your non-dominant hand. Take each wire
and snug them securely side by side. Be sure they are very straight.

5. Using the cutting blade of the crimp tool, cut the top of the wires even with one another so that they
are 1/2" (12.5 mm) long from the base of the jacket, as the jacket needs to go into the 8P8C
connector by about 1/8", meaning that you only have a 1/2" of room for the individual cables. Be
sure they are evenly leveled.
6. Keep the wires flat and in order as you push them into the RJ-45 plug with the flat surface of the
plug on top.

7. Place the wired plug into the crimping tool. Give the handle a firm squeeze. You should hear a
ratcheting noise as you continue. Once you have completed the crimp, the handle will reset to the
open position. To ensure all pins are set, some prefer to double-crimp by repeating this step

8. Repeat all of the above steps with the other end of the cable following the EIA/TIA T568B
termination.

9. Test the cable to ensure that it will function in the field. The cable that you made is a straight
through cable. The way you wire the other end (568A or 568B) will depend on whether you're
making a straight-through or cross-over cable. For straight through, both ends will have the same
color coding arrangements for example EIA/TIA T568B termination while for crossover cable it will
be different.

10. Take another roll of UTP cable and cut the cable to 1 meter length. Make 1 crossover cable with
one end having EIA/TIA T568B termination and another one with EIA/TIA T568A termination.

11. Test the cable to ensure that it will function in the field.

12. Label your cables as Last Name, First Name __ST and Last Name, First Name __CO respectively.
Course: Experiment No.:
Group No.: Section:
Group Members: Date Performed:
Date Submitted:
Instructor:

6. Observations and Results

Signature of professor/instructor for every tested working cable.

6.1. Straight through cable - __________________________

6.2. Crossover cable - __________________________

7. Observation:

A category 5e cable was used to create a straight through cable. The difficult part of this experiment is the
splicing of the cable because it should be done gently so the small inner wires will be not cut by the splicing
tool. After removing the outer jacket of the cable, the small wire are untwisted and lined according to T568B
termination. After arranging the small wires, cut it with a crimping tool blade to the length that it will fit in the
RJ-45. Also, make sure that the jacket has an allowance that will also go inside the RJ-45 to be properly
locked when crimped. Lastly, use a cable tester to determine the connectivity of the cable whether it’s
properly connected or not.
8. Conclusion

UTP stands for Unshielded Twisted Pair cable. UTP cable is a 100 ohm copper cable that consists of 2 to
1800 unshielded twisted pairs surrounded by an outer jacket. They have no metallic shield. This makes
the cable small in diameter but unprotected against electrical interference. The twist helps to improve
its immunity to electrical noise and EMI.

Straight-Through refers to cables that have the pin assignments on each end of the cable. In other words
Pin 1 connector A goes to Pin 1 on connector B, Pin 2 to Pin 2 ect. Straight-Through wired cables are
most commonly used to connect a host to client. When we talk about cat5e patch cables, the Straight-
Through wired cat5e patch cable is used to connect computers, printers and other network client
devices to the router switch or hub (the host device in this instance).

9. Recommendation
10. Assessment:
BEGINNER ACCEPTABLE PROFICIENT
CRITERIA SCORE
1 2 3
I. Laboratory Skills
Members do not Members occasionally
Manipulative Members always
demonstrate needed demonstrate needed
Skills demonstrate needed skills.
skills. skills
Members are unable Members are able to Members are able to set-up
Experimental
to set-up the set-up the materials the material with minimum
Set-up
materials. with supervision. supervision.
Members do not Members occasionally Members always
Process Skills demonstrate targeted demonstrate targeted demonstrate targeted
process skills. process skills. process skills.
Members do not Members follow safety
Safety Members follow safety
follow safety precautions most of
Precautions precautions at all times.
precautions. the time.
II. Work Habits
Time
Members do not finish Members finish on Members finish ahead of
Management /
on time with time with incomplete time with complete data
Conduct of
incomplete data. data. and time to revise data.
Experiment
Members have
Members do not know
defined Members are on tasks and
their tasks and have
responsibilities most have defined
no defined
Cooperative and of the time. Group responsibilities at all times.
responsibilities.
Teamwork conflicts are Group conflicts are
Group conflicts have
cooperatively cooperatively managed at
to be settled by the
managed most of the all times.
teacher.
time.
Clean and orderly
Clean and orderly
Messy workplace workplace with
Neatness and workplace at all times
during and after the occasional mess
Orderliness during and after the
experiment. during and after the
experiment.
experiment.
Members require
Ability to do Members require
occasional Members do not need to be
independent supervision by the
supervision by the supervised by the teacher.
work teacher.
teacher.
Other Comments/Observations: Total Score