LAB# 01

BAHRIA UNIVERSITY KARACHI CAMPUS

Department of Electrical Engineering
DATA COMMUNICATION AND NETWORKS
LAB EXPERIMENT # 1

Straight & Crossover Ethernet Cable

OBJECTIVE:

Make straight and cross Ethernet cable using EIA/TIA 568A and EIA/TIA 568B standard.

EQUIPMENT:1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Ethernet Cable
RJ 45 Connector
Crimping Tool
Wire Cutter
Cable Tester

THEORY:Ethernet category cable includes four twisted pairs in a single cable jacket. Inside the Ethernet
cable, there are 8 color coded wires. Wires are twisted into 4 pairs of wires. Each pair has a common
color theme. This use of balanced lines helps preserve a high signal-to-noise ratio despite interference
from both external sources and other pairs (this latter form of interference is called crosstalk). This
type of cable is often used in structured cabling for computer networks such as Ethernet, and is also
used to carry many other signals such as basic voice services, token ring, and ATM (at up to 155
Mbit/s, over short distances).
CIRCUIT DIAGRAMS:

Orange / Orange-white
Green / Green-white
Blue / Blue-white
Brown / Brown-white
Fig 1.1: Ethernet Cable

LAB# 01
Note that pins 4, 5, 7, and 8 and the blue and brown pairs are not used in either standard. Two wires
color-code standards apply: EIA/TIA 568A and EIA/TIA 568B.The codes are commonly depicted
with RJ-45 jacks as follows (the view is from the front of the jacks). If we apply the 568A color code
and show all eight wires, our pin-out looks like this:

Fig 1.2: Cross &Straight Ethernet Cable

PROCEDURE AND OBSERVATION:1. First, you'll want to measure out how long you want your cable to be, just so you don't have
all this extra cable slack, or you don't make a cable too short, that would suck. Then, add 5
inches to that length so you have something to work with when terminating the cable ends.
2. Pull out your wire strippers and strip about an inch off of the cable, now you'll want to untwist the cables all the way to the rubber shield. You'll want to make sure there is a few
millimeters of copper exposed so they can make contact with the RJ-45 connector
3. What you want to do is make sure each wire is in the correct position before you put on the
RJ-45 connector. For straight cable by using 568B standard it should be white-orange, orange,
white-green, blue, white-blue, green, white-brown, brown, and this should be from look at the
top of the connector.
4. Put on the RJ-45 connector, and make sure the copper ends are making contact with the metal
plates in the RJ-45 connector, if they aren't go back and try organizing the wires so they all
connect.
5. Put it in the crimping tool and crimp it, now you have one end terminated.
6. For the other end repeat steps 2-6.
7. Plug your Ethernet cable into the tester and see if it all the lights light up green, if they do
then you're good, and you can get to making your other cables, if they don't you'll have to cut
off the RJ-45 connector and determinate your ends with a new connector.
2

LAB# 01

QUESTIONS:1. Write only name which Ethernet cable used between given type of connections:

Connection Type
Switch to router
Switch to PC or server
Hub to PC or server
Switch to switch
Switch to hub
Router to router
PC to PC
Router to PC

Ethernet Medium

2. Make cross/straight Ethernet cable and submit.

LAB# 01

3. Define following network terminologies:

EIA/TIA 568A and 568B standards:

________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
Color combination of straight and cross Ethernet cable

________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) & Shielded Twisted Pair (STP)

________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
Straight Through and Cross-over Ethernet Cable

________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
RJ-45 connector

________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________

LAB# 01
Teacher Signature:

________________________

Student Registration No:

________________________