This document has been composed to provide a industry reference for the major coaxial cable groups and their nominal specifications. Cable grouping is important to ensure compatibility across different manufacturers. Rather than introduce a brand new cable type with unique dimensions, RF cable manufacturers typically produce their cable to align with a well known cable group. This ensures connectors from one company can be used on another company's cable.

This can sound confusing, so to help illustrate the point consider the following example. Powertec produce coaxial cables such as our PTL-240, which sits alongside others including CommScope CNT-240, Telegärtner G30, Times Microwave LMR-240, and many others, who all manufacture an "L-240" group cable.

Cable Groups by Attenuation (dB/m)

Cable Groups by Max. Frequency

Explore RF Cable Groups

Illustration Group Flexibility Cable Diameter Max. Freq. Atten. @ 1 GHz
RG142 coaxial cable layers
RG-142
Flexible 4.95 mm 12.4 GHz 0.42 dB/m
RG174 coaxial cable layers
RG-174
Flexible 2.79 mm 2 GHz 0.97 dB/m
RG-178 coaxial cable layers
RG-178
Flexible 1.83 mm 3 GHz 1.49 dB/m
RG213 coaxial cable layers
RG-213
Flexible 10.30 mm 2 GHz 0.23 dB/m
RG-214 coaxial cable layers uses
RG-214
Flexible 10.80 mm 11 GHz 0.24 dB/m
RG-223 coaxial cable layers
RG-223
Flexible 5.30 mm 12.4 GHz 0.44 dB/m
RG-316 coaxial cable
RG-316
Flexible 2.50 mm 3 GHz 0.85 dB/m
RG393 coaxial cable layers
RG-393
Flexible 9.91 mm 11 GHz 0.24 dB/m
RG400 coaxial cable layers
RG-400
Flexible 4.95 mm 12.4 GHz 0.48 dB/m
RG401 Semi Rigid coaxial cable layers
RG-401
Semi-Rigid 6.35 mm 19 GHz 0.22 dB/m
RG402 Semi Rigid coaxial cable layers
RG-402
Semi-Rigid 3.58 mm 34 GHz 0.37 dB/m
RG405 Semi Rigid coaxial cable layers
RG-405
Semi-Rigid 2.20 mm 61 GHz 0.64 dB/m