Cable Utilities
Pick the right coaxial cable for any RF installation. Enter frequency, length, transmit power, and constraints. Get a ranked list of real manufacturer cables with loss, power headroom, and cost tier at a glance.
There are more coaxial cable types in active service than any one engineer can keep straight. RG-58, RG-213, RG-8X, RG-142, RG-174, RG-316. LMR-100, 200, 240, 400, 600, 900, 1200. Andrew and CommScope Heliax in 1/4 inch, 1/2 inch, 7/8 inch, and 1-1/4 inch sizes, in both standard LDF and superflex FSJ flavours. Semi-rigid UT-141 and UT-085 for microwave assemblies. HUBER+SUHNER SUCOFLEX for phase-stable test leads. Each one is the right answer to one specific question, and the wrong answer to several others. Choosing between them on every job is slow, and getting it wrong costs power budget, system reliability, or money.
The noIM₃ Coaxial Cable Selector is a precision picker for that decision. Enter the operating frequency, the run length, the transmit power, and the constraints that apply to the installation: which connectors you can terminate, whether the cable will see UV or burial or plenum, how flexible it needs to be, and how much money is on the table. The tool interpolates each candidate cable's datasheet attenuation curve on a log-log axis at your frequency, multiplies by length to get total loss, interpolates the power-handling curve at the same frequency, applies a sensible derating for outdoor and buried environments, and then filters and scores everything that survives.
The library is curated from published manufacturer datasheets. Times Microwave LMR-100 through LMR-1200. CommScope Heliax LDF4-50A, LDF5-50A, LDF6-50, and the FSJ superflex family. HUBER+SUHNER SUCOFLEX 104. Generic mil-spec RG-58, RG-213, RG-8X, RG-142, RG-174, RG-316, and UT-141 semi-rigid. Each entry carries the full datasheet attenuation and power-handling curves, jacket ratings, shielding details, connector compatibility, and a cost tier. If your cable isn't in the library, the tool accepts a datasheet PDF submission. Once reviewed and verified, your submission is merged into the shared library for every user.
Times Microwave LMR (100 through 1200). CommScope Heliax LDF and FSJ (corrugated copper outer, foam dielectric, plenum-rated and direct-bury variants). HUBER+SUHNER SUCOFLEX 104 phase-stable. Generic mil-spec RG-58, RG-213, RG-8X, RG-142, RG-174, RG-316, and UT-141 semi-rigid. Each cable carries the full attenuation curve, power curve, jacket ratings, shielding, connectors, and cost tier.
Attenuation and power-handling are interpolated on a log10-log10 axis between datasheet points. This matches the underlying physics of skin-effect-dominated cable loss and produces values within a couple of percent of the published datasheet across the cable's rated frequency range.
Indoor, outdoor UV-exposed, direct-bury, plenum, and fire-retardant constraints filter the candidate set before scoring. Outdoor and buried installations apply a sensible 0.8x derating to the rated CW power-handling capacity. Connector availability and flexibility class (hand-flex, standard, low-flex, corrugated, semi-rigid) further constrain the result.
The compare view places the three best-scoring cables next to each other with attenuation at five reference frequencies, power rating at the operating frequency, headroom in dB, physical dimensions, minimum bend radius, jacket ratings, and cost tier. Makes the trade-off between LMR-400 and LDF4-50A obvious at a glance.
If a cable you need isn't in the library, upload the manufacturer datasheet PDF with your email, manufacturer, and model. Submissions go to a review queue. Once verified for accuracy, they are merged into the shared library so every user has access to the growing dataset.
Selection and ranking run entirely in your browser. The only data sent to a server is a datasheet PDF you choose to submit. No project details, design parameters, or transmit powers leave your machine.
Reach for the Coaxial Cable Selector in any of the following situations.
It optimises for low total loss first, generous power headroom second, and low cost third. The exact weighting is designed so that a cable cannot win by being cheap if it loses too much signal, and cannot win by being low-loss if it cannot handle the transmit power. Headroom below 0 dB is treated as a hard fail.
Values are taken from published manufacturer datasheets and interpolated on a log10-log10 axis between sample points, which matches the dominant skin-effect physics of coaxial loss. Across each cable's rated frequency range the interpolated values are within a couple of percent of the published curve. Extrapolation beyond the cable's maximum frequency is permitted but flagged.
Coaxial attenuation is dominated by skin-effect, which scales as the square root of frequency. Dielectric loss adds a term linear in frequency. On a log-log axis the combined curve is close to a straight line in segments, so linear interpolation in log space produces much better accuracy than linear interpolation in linear space, especially across decade-wide frequency steps.
Outdoor UV-exposed and direct-bury environments apply a 0.8x multiplier to the manufacturer CW power rating. This is a conservative engineering rule of thumb that captures the effect of elevated ambient temperature, solar load, and the absence of forced convection on the cable jacket. Datasheet values are for laboratory ambient conditions.
Use the Submit Datasheet button to upload the manufacturer PDF, along with your email, manufacturer name, and model number. The submission goes to the review queue. Once verified for accuracy, the cable is added to the shared library and becomes available to every user. We do not auto-merge submissions to protect the integrity of the dataset.
No. Selection and ranking run entirely in your browser. The only data sent to a server is a datasheet PDF you explicitly submit through the Submit Datasheet form. Operating frequency, length, transmit power, and any other inputs stay on your machine and are remembered between sessions through your browser local storage.
LMR-400 is a stranded-conductor, foam-dielectric, braid-shielded cable in a flexible PE jacket. Heliax LDF4-50A is a corrugated solid-copper outer, foam-dielectric cable in a stiffer jacket. Both are 1/2 inch nominal. LDF4 has lower loss (about 35 to 40 percent better), handles more power, and is designed for fixed installations like tower feeders. LMR-400 is more flexible, cheaper, easier to terminate in the field, and is the workhorse for shorter outdoor and tactical runs. The selector ranks them side-by-side so the trade-off is visible.
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