Pete> On Mar 5, 9:37, Paul Koning wrote: Pete> It Pete> nickname Pete> According to the standard, the markings are supposed to be on Pete> all 10base5 cable; they're to indicate where it's safe to put a Pete> transceiver, and where to cut the cable at the ends. They're Pete> every 2.5 metres, and there should be at least two between Pete> transceivers. However, I've seen cable that didn't have the Pete> bands, but it was probably ordinary coax rather than intended Pete> specifically for ethernet. The "yellowjacket" prototype cable I was talking about was (at DEC) replaced by teflon jacketed cable that was a dull orange color. Both had stripes (the teflon cable stripes weren't as easy to see, teflon is hard to mark). It sounds like other manufacturers may have stuck with the yellow color (and perhaps using polyethylene rather than teflon for the outer jacket). The rules aren't quite what you said -- the transceiver rule is that you put them on the stripes. You can put transceivers on adjacent stripes. Cable ends are NOT at stripes; the recommended cable lengths are funny numbers chosen to get reflections not accumulate over multiple segments. The rule says "odd multiples of a half wave at 5 MHz, which translates to odd multiples of 23.4 meters. paul