In this section of the course,
we're going to discuss media and cabling.
Now, when we use the term media and networking,
we're not talking about video or audio content,
like you might be thinking.
Instead, media refers to the physical material
that's going to be used to transmit data between devices.
Now, when it comes to media,
the most common types are copper,
fiber, and radio frequency waves.
For example, if you're using a Cat6A cable
to connect your desktop to your network,
that is a copper cable or copper-based media.
If you're using a fiber optic connection
to connect to your internet service provider,
that is considered fiber media.
Or if you're using wifi to connect
to your smartphone to your home network,
that's actually a radio frequency wave-based media type,
because those invisible radio waves
are what will be carrying our network traffic on our behalf
or that series of ones and zeros.
So in this section of the course,
we'll be covering media and cabling,
and we'll be focused mostly on Domain 1,
or networking concepts,
but we'll also be jumping briefly into Domain 5,
network troubleshooting, too.
Specifically, we'll be focused mostly on Objective 1.5,
which states that you must be able to compare
and contrast transmission media and transceivers.
But we'll also briefly explore Objective 5.5,
which states that given a scenario,
you must be able to use the appropriate tool
or protocol to solve networking issues.
Now, first we're going to take a look at copper media
and explore the different types of copper media
and the different bandwidth
and distance limitations for each type.
Then we'll cover copper network connections,
and we'll explore the different connectors that are used
to attach a copper based media cable to the network,
including things like RJ45, RJ11,
F-Type, and BNC connectors.
Next, I'm going to teach you how to create
your own copper-based network patch cable
using some basic tools like a cable stripper,
a cable crimper, and a cable tester.
After that, we'll explore the different types
of fiber media used in our networks,
including single-mode fiber and multi-mode fiber.
We'll also be focused on the benefits and limitations
of each of these different types of fiber media
that are used inside of our networks.
Next, we'll discuss the different fiber network connections
that you may come across when working as a technician,
including SC, ST, LC, MTRJ, and MTP connectors.
After that, we'll cover the different uses
for transceivers inside of our networks.
Now, a transceiver is a device
that combines both the transmission
and receiving capabilities into a single unit,
and this is often used to connect different media types
like fiber and copper networks
that you may want to convert between.
Finally, we'll take a short quiz to see what you learned
during this section of the course
and review your answers to ensure
that you know why the right answers were right
and the wrong answers were wrong.
So if you're ready, let's get started in our coverage
of media and cabling in this section of the course.