Term
Definition
Belden
A leading manufacturer of the specialty wire, cable and fiber products needed for new applications in data, audio, video and voice signal transmission, among other things.
Beldfoil
Belden trademark for highly effective electrostatic shield of reinforced metallic foil.
Binder
A tape or thread used for holding assembled cable components in place.
Color Code
A system of different colors or stripes used to identify components of cables such as individual conductors or groups of conductors.
Composite Cable
Cable having conductors with two or more AWG sizes or more than one cable type.
Cord
A very flexible insulated cable.
CSR
Customer Service Representative.
Daisy Chain
A cable assembly with three or more termination areas.
Extruded Cable
Conductors are simultaneously insulated and the cable is formed by a continuous extrusion process.
Filled
Cables that are gel filled.
Fillers
Nonconducting components cabled with the insulated conductors or optical fibers to impart roundness, flexibility, tensile strength, or a combination of all three, to the cable.
Harness
A flat cable or group of cables, usually with many breakouts with the wire ends prepared for termination or terminated to connectors and ready to install.
Hook-Up Wire
Single conductor wire with various types of insulation.
Jumper
A short length of conductor or flat cable used to make a connection between terminals or around a break in a circuit, or between circuit boards.
Laminated Cable
Insulated or uninsulated wires which are encapsulated by two sheets of laminate material to maintain a predetermined pitch.
Lay
The length measured along the axis of a wire or cable required for a single strand (in stranded wire) or conductor (in cable) to make one complete turn about the axis of the conductor or cable. In a twisted pair cable, the lay length is the distance it takes for the two wires to completely twist around each other.
Lay Direction
The direction of the progressing spiral twist in a cable while looking along the axis of the cable away from the observer. The lay direction can be either "left" or "right".
Lead Dress
The placement or routing of wiring and component leads in an electrical circuit.
Lead-in
The cable that provides the path for r-f energy between the antenna and the receiver or transmitter.
Limpness
The ability of a cable to lay flat or conform to a surface as with microphone cables. The ability of a cable to bend in a short radius.
LMDS
Local Multipoint Distribution Service
Margin
Distance between reference edge of cable and nearest edge of first conductor or center of first conductor.
MDS
Multipoint Distribution System.
MMDS
Multichannel Multipoint Distribution System (see also).
Molded Cable
Cable assemblies with molded connectors on one or both ends.
Multi-Conductor Cable
Cable with more than one conductor.
Pitch
Nominal distance from center-to-center of adjacent conductors within a cable. When conductors are flat, pitch is usually measured from the reference edge of a conductor to the reference edge of the adjacent conductor. Spacing.
Planar Cable
Also referred to as flat and/or ribbon cable. Any cable with two or more parallel conductors in the same plane encapsulated by insulating material.
Point-to-Point Wiring
Wiring that consists of continuous conductors terminated at each end to circuit destination.
Polarization
The orientation of a flat cable or a rectangular connector. e.g., for gray flat cable, the colored edge indicating the number one conductor.
Portable Cordage
Cable with two or more twisted conductors for flexible applications. Also called flexible cord.
Putup
Packaging of finished wire or cable.
Reference Edge
Edge of cable or conductor from which measurements are made, such as in flat cable. Sometimes indicated by a thread, identification stripe, or printing. Conductors are usually identified by their sequential position from the reference edge, with number one conductor closest to this edge.
Retractile Cord
A cord having specially treated insulation or jacket so that it will retract like a spring. Retractibility may be added to all or part of a cord's length.
Rope Strand
A conductor composed of groups of twisted strands.
Routing
The path followed by a cable or conductor.
Self-Support
Undulated core with aluminum, polyethylene and a support strand. For aerial use.
Separator
Pertaining to wire and cable, a layer of insulating material such as textile, paper, Mylar, etc., which is placed between a conductor and its dielectric, between a cable jacket and the components it covers, or between various components of a multiple-conductor cable. It can be utilized to improve stripping qualities, flexibility, or can offer additional mechanical or electrical protection to the components it separates.
Sheath
Pertaining to wire and cable, the outer protective covering, also called jacket, that may also provide additional insulation.
Spacing
The distance between the centers of two adjacent conductors. Pitch.
Span
The distance between the center of the first conductor and the center of the last conductor in a flat cable.
Stay Cord
A component of a cable, usually of high tensile strength, used to anchor the cable ends at their points of termination and keep any pull on the cable from being transferred to the electrical conductors.
Strand
A single uninsulated wire.
Stranded Conductor
A conductor composed of groups of uninsulated wires.
Strip
To remove insulation from a cable or wire.
Tinsel
A type of electrical conductor comprised of a number of tiny threads, each thread having a fine, flat ribbon of copper or other metal closely spiraled about it. Used for small size cables requiring limpness and extra-long flex life.
Topcoated Wire
Conductor produced by applying a layer of tin over a stranded bare copper conductor holding the strands together allowing easier soldering and preventing the fraying of strands.
Unilay
A conductor with more than one layer of helically laid wires with the direction of lay and length of lay the same for all layers.
WCS
Wireless Communications Service.
Wire
A conductor, either bare or insulated.
Wireless
Really a misnomer. Belden makes a variety of cables needed to build the transmitting infrastructure required to support "wireless" devices. Wireless is a technology that allows a device (phone, pager or satellite dish) to be unconnected from the transmission point of a voice, video or data signal. The transmission infrastructure required to support such wireless devices is a wired platform of transmission towers and stations that communicate point to point and to telephone central offices.