Wellenwiderstand specifications

Category : Lexicon

Characteristic property of a waveguide. More specifically, it is a cable property in high-frequency cables. This property is relevant if the wavelength of the signal transported in the cable is shorter than about four times the cable length, because then wave effects appear in the cable, such as standing waves, reflections, etc.

In practice, such effects are relevant in the Hi-Fi sector for antenna cables, and possibly for video cables and digital audio cables. With analog audio, the wavelengths are too large in relation to the cable length for there to be a noticeable effect. For these cases, therefore, the characteristic impedance of a cable is irrelevant.