AKG MKA5 Antenna Cable 16 ft BNC to BNC 50 Ohm RG 58 Wireless Systems

AKG MKA5: The 16 Ft Jumper Every Wireless Rack Needs Several Of

The AKG MKA5 is a 16 ft (5 m) antenna cable for wireless systems, built from RG 58 coaxial cable with a 50 ohm characteristic impedance and fitted with gold-plated BNC connectors on both ends. AKG specifies it for connecting external antennas, antenna boosters, antenna booster supplies, antenna power splitters and receivers, and its length is sized for work inside and immediately around a rack rather than across a room. That makes it the everyday interconnect in a multi-channel wireless rack, where an antenna power splitter has to reach four or eight receivers and every one of those links needs its own cable. The AKG item number is 2455H00620. It is the least glamorous part in the rack and the one most often needed in multiples.

Splitter to Receiver: Where This Length Earns Its Place

Antenna distribution is the job this cable does most, and understanding it explains why 16 ft is the right size. A multi-channel wireless system does not give every receiver its own pair of antennas; instead one antenna pair feeds an antenna power splitter, which divides that signal among several receivers while keeping the levels matched, and each receiver is then patched to the splitter with a short coaxial jumper. Sixteen feet is comfortably enough to reach any receiver in a full rack from a splitter mounted anywhere in it, with slack for dressing the cable neatly down a rack rail rather than pulling it taut across connectors. Broadcast facilities and touring racks buy these by the handful because a system with eight receivers needs eight of them plus spares.

Keeping the Run Short Is Itself a Technical Choice

Coaxial cable attenuates the signal it carries, and every additional foot of RG 58 costs a little of the received level, so choosing the shortest cable that reaches is a genuine engineering decision rather than tidiness. Attenuation on a coaxial run rises with both length and frequency, which means a UHF wireless signal loses more per foot than a low-frequency signal would, and the loss lands directly on the weakest part of the chain: the tiny signal arriving from a transmitter somewhere across the room. Matching the 50 ohm characteristic impedance of the cable to the 50 ohm ports at each end preserves what is left, because an impedance mismatch reflects energy back down the cable instead of delivering it. Studio owners with a wireless rack in the same room as the talent get better results from a 16 ft jumper than from a coiled 65 ft one.

Living in a Rack: Connectors, Dressing and Spares

Gold-plated BNC connectors on both ends are the detail that matters most for a cable living permanently in a rack that gets rebuilt between jobs. A BNC bayonet coupling seats with a quarter turn and locks mechanically, so it survives the vibration of transport and the repeated plugging that a rehearsal or rental rack sees, while the plating keeps contact resistance stable rather than creeping upward as the surface oxidises. Route each jumper away from mains and power-supply leads inside the rack, keep a gentle service loop behind the receiver so a unit can be slid forward without straining a connector, and label both ends of every link. AV integrators handing a council chamber or lecture hall over to a facilities team save that team hours by having done exactly that.