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Reflections on 50 Years in Cable

By Ron Hranac – As much fun as the technology part of our industry has been, the people I’ve known and worked with have without a doubt been the best part of the last 50 years.

Signal Level: The Powers That Be

By Ron Hranac – When we measure the level of an analog TV signal’s visual carrier, we are measuring its peak envelope power. For a legacy SC-QAM signal, we measure the entire haystack’s average power. And for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signals, we also measure average power.

A Word Paints a Thousand Pictures

By Ron Hranac – It’s been said that the only constant in the cable industry is change, and that’s certainly true when it comes to technology and the terminology associated with that technology. Hopefully this introduction helps to clarify some of the often confusing terminology used by the cable industry.

Frequency Response Testing

By Ron Hranac – Frequency response is one of several metrics that can be used to determine the performance of a component, device, system, or network. The term frequency response is more accurately called complex frequency response, the latter a measure of magnitude- and phase-versus-frequency.

Taps: A Peek Under the Hood

By Ron Hranac – Today’s DC-based taps support much wider RF bandwidths, higher through-current capacity, the ability to condition drop levels, and more.

Mathematics of Cable: A New Resource

By Ron Hranac – As we started work on the draft math operational practice, NCTA’s Andy Scott commented that the challenge would be figuring out “when to put the pencil down.” He was right.

Coaxial Cable Attenuation

By Ron Hranac – Coaxial cable attenuation increases approximately as the square root of frequency. In other words, if you know the attenuation at one frequency, the attenuation in decibels at four times that frequency will be approximately double the lower frequency’s attenuation.