HOW TO MAKE A

NETWORK CABLE

To create your own network cables you

will first need the equipment on the
list:

Cat5,Cat5e,Cat6, orCat7cable- This cabling can be

purchased in large spindles at stores that specialize in cabling.
Cat5 cabling is the most commonly used cable used today for
networks
RJ-45connectors- These connectors can be purchased at most
electronic stores and computer stores and usually come in bulk
packages. It is always a good idea to get more than you think you
need.
Crimping tool-These tools are often purchased at electronic
stores such as radio shack. To create a network cable you need a
crimper that is capable of crimping a RJ-45 cable (not just aRJ-11
cable, which looks similar to a RJ-45).
Wire stripperor Knife- If you plan on making several network
cables you should also consider getting a wire stripper cable of
stripping Cat5, Cat6, or your cable of choice. If you do not plan on
creating many network cables a knife will suffice. For simplicity
and to prevent potential issues we recommend a wire stripper.

TYPES OF NETWORK CABLE

Cables are commonly used to carry
communication signals within LAN. There are
three common types of cable media that can
be used to connect devices to a network and
they are coaxial cable, twisted-pair cable,
and fiber-optic cable.

1. COAXIAL CABLE

Coaxial cable looks similar to the cable used to carry TV signal. A

solid-core copper wire runs down the middle of the cable. Around
that solid-core copper wire is a layer of insulation, and covering that
insulation is braided wire and metal foil, which shields against
electromagnetic interference. A final layer of insulation covers the
braided wire.
There are two types of coaxial cabling: thinnet and thicknet. Thinnet
is a flexible coaxial cable about inch thick. Thinnet is used for
short-distance. Thinnet connects directly to a workstations network
adapter card using a British Naval Connector (BNC). The maximum
length of thinnet is 185 meters. Thicknet coaxial is thicker cable
than thinnet. Thicknet cable is about inch thick and can support
data transfer over longer distances than thinnet. Thicknet has a
maximum cable length of 500 meters and usually is used as a
backbone to connect several smaller thinnet-based networks.
The bandwidth for coaxial cable is 10 Mbps (Mega bits per second).

2. TWISTED PAIR
Twisted-pair cable is the most common type of cabling you can see in today's LAN
networks. A pair of wires forms a circuit that can transmit data. The pairs are twisted
to provide protection against crosstalk, the noise generated by adjacent pairs. When
a wire is carrying a current, the current creates a magnetic field around the wire. This
field can interfere with signals on nearby wires. To eliminate this, pairs of wires carry
signals in opposite directions, so that the two magnetic fields also occur in opposite
directions and cancel each other out. This process is known as cancellation. Two
Types of Twisted Pairs are Shielded Twisted Pair (STP) and Unshielded Twisted Pair
(UTP).
Unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) cable is the most common networking media.
Unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) consists of four pairs of thin, copper wires covered in
color-coded plastic insulation that are twisted together. The wire pairs are then
covered with a plastic outer jacket. The connector used on a UTP cable is called a
Registered Jack 45 (RJ-45) connector. UTP cables are of small diameter and it doesnt
need grounding. Since there is no shielding for UTP cabling, it relies only on the
cancellation to avoid noise.
UTP cabling has different categories. Each category of UTP cabling was designed for
a specific type of communication or transfer rate. The most popular categories in use
today is 5, 5e and 6, which can reach transfer rates of over 1000 Mbps (1 Gbps).

The following table shows different UTP

categories and corresponding transfer rate:

3. OPTICAL FIBER CABLE

Optical Fiber cables use optical fibers that carry digital data
signals in the form of modulated pulses of light. An optical
fiber consists of an extremely thin cylinder of glass, called the
core, surrounded by a concentric layer of glass, known as the
cladding. There are two fibers per cableone to transmit and
one to receive. The core also can be an optical-quality clear
plastic, and the cladding can be made up of gel that reflects
signals back into the fiber to reduce signal loss.
There are two types of fiber optic cable: Single Mode Fibre
(SMF) and Multi Mode Fibre (MMF).
Single Mode Fibre (SMF) uses a single ray of light to carry transmission
over long distances.
Multi Mode Fibre (MMF) uses multiple rays of light simultaneously with
each ray of light running at a different reflection angle to carry the
transmission over short distances

TWO MAJOR NETWORK

CABLES

1. STRAIGHT-THROUGH CABLES
CAT 5 UTP cablingusually uses only four wires
when sending and receiving information on the
network. The four wires, which are used, are wires
1, 2, 3, and 6. When you configure the wire for the
same pin at either end of the cable, this is known
as a straight-through cable.
Computer to hub, switch, router, or wall.

CROSSOVER WIRED
CABLES

Crossover wired cables (commonly called crossover cables) are

very much like Straight-Through cables with the exception that TX
and RX lines are crossed (they are at opposite positions on either
end of the cable. Using the 568-B standard as an example below
you will see that Pin 1 on connector A goes to Pin 3 on connector B.
Pin 2 on connector A goes to Pin 6 on connector B ect. Crossover
cables are most commonly used to connect two hosts directly.
Examples would be connecting a computer directly to another
computer, connecting a switch directly to another switch, or
connecting a router to a router.Note: While in the past when
connecting two host devices directly a crossover cable was
required. Now days most devices have auto sensing technology
that detects the cable and device and crosses pairs when needed.
Computer to Computer
Network device to network device. For example,routerto router.

ROLLOVER WIRED CABLES

Rollover wired cables most commonly called rollover

cables, have opposite Pin assignments on each end
of the cable or in other words it is "rolled over". Pin 1
of connector A would be connected to Pin 8 of
connector B. Pin 2 of connector A would be
connected to Pin 7 of connector B and so on.
Rollover cables, sometimes referred to as Yost cables
are most commonly used to connect to a devices
console port to make programming changes to the
device. Unlike crossover and straight-wired cables,
rollover cables are not intended to carry data but
instead create an interface with the device.

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