A new cable design for military carrier telephone systems

A COMPANION paper1 has shown how the trend to high-speed warfare has dictated the expansion and increased flexibility of military carrier telephone networks and how the Signal Corps Engineering Laboratories planned and developed a completely new military communication system based upon experience gained in World War II. This paper describes the work done in connection with one important component of the system, namely, a cable for use with 4-channel and 12-channel carrier telephone equipments. As in the design of other military equipments, the cable design goals stressed advantages in weight, bulk, usable bandwidth, and reliability along with significant improvements in electrical and mechanical characteristics in comparison with the carrier cable of World War II. This World War II cable WC-548 was a rubber insulated and jacketed 4-conductor cable of the star quad type, and it became known as spiral-4.