Backfill
The materials placed to fill an excavation, such as sand in a trench

Balanced Circuit
A circuit so arranged that the impressed voltages on each conductor of the pair are equal in magnitude but opposite in polarity with respect to ground

Balanced Line
A cable having two identical conductors with the same electromagnetic characteristics in relation to the other conductors and to ground

Ballast
A device designed to stabilize current flow

Band Marking
A continuous circumferential band applied to a conductor at regular intervals for identification

Bandwidth
The width of a communication channel, measured as frequency (in cycles per second, or hertz), A channels's bandwidth is a major determining how much informationi it can carry

Bare Conductor
A conductor having no insulation or jacket

Barrel-Packed
Method of coiling wire into a drum for shipment

Baseband
A signalling technique in which the signal is transmitted in its original form and not changed by modulation

Baseband LAN
A local area network employing baseband signalling

Beldfoil®
Belden trademark for a highly effective electrostatic shield using reinforced metallic foil

Belt
Layers of insulation on a conductor, or layers of jacket on a cable

Belted-Type Cable
Multiple conductor cable having a layer of insulation over the assembled insulated conductors

BER
Bit Error Rate. The ratio of received bits that are in error, relative to a specific number of bits received; usually expressed as a number referenced to a power of 10

BIL
Basic Impulse Level. The crest value of a lightning impulse voltage of a specified wave shape which a high-voltage cable or termination is required to withstand under specified conditions

Bimetallic Wire
A wire formed of two different metals joined together (not alloyed). It can include wire with a steel core, plated, or coated wire

Binder
A tape or thread used for holding assembled cable components in place

Binding Post
A device for clamping or holding electrical conductors in a rigid position

Birdcage
The undesired unwinding of a stranded cable

BIT
Abbreviation for binary digit. A unit of information equal to one binary decision or the designation of one of two possible and equally likely states (such as 1 and 0) of anything used to store or convey information

BITs per second (bps)
The number of bits of data transmitted through a digital process control cable in one second

BNC
Common connector for coax. BNC is said to be an abbreviation for Bayonet-Neill-Concelman

Bonded Cable
Cable consisting of preinsulated conductors or multiconductor components laid in parallel and bonded into a flat cable

Bonded Construction
An insulation construction in which the glass braid and nylon hacket are bonded together

Bonding
The method used to produce good electrical contact between metallic parts of any device. Used extensively in automobiles and aircraft to prevent static build up. Also refers to the connectors and straps used to ground equipment

Booster
A device inserted into a line (or cable) to increase the voltage. Boosting generators are also used to raise the level of a DC line. Transformers are usually employed to boost AC voltages. The term booster is also applied to antenna preamplifiers

Boot
(1) Protective coating over a cable, wire or connector in addition to the normal jacketing or insulation
(2) A form placed around the wire termination of a multicontact connector to contain the liquid potting compound before it hardens

Border Light Cable
Same as stage cable but more than 2 conductors. Type SO cable is often used

Bore Hole Cable
Power and/or communication cable suspended vertically drilled hole to equipment underground

Braid
Textile or metallic filaments interwoven to form a tubular structure which may be applied over one or more wires or flattened to form a strap

Braid Angle
The smaller of the angles formed by the shielding strand and the axis of the cable being shielded

Braid Carrier
A spool or bobbin on a braiding machine which holds one group of strands or filaments consisting of a specific number of ends. The carrier revolves during braiding operations

Braid Ends
The number of strands used to make up one carrier. The strands are wound side by side on the carrier bobbin and lie parallel in the finished braid

Braiding Machine
Machine used to apply braids to wire and cable and to produce braided sleeving and braids for tying or lacing purposes. Braiding machines are identified by the number of carriers

Branch Joint
A cable joint used for connecting one or more cables to a main cable

Brazing
The joining of ends of two wires, rods, or groups of wires with nonferrous filler at temperatures above 800ºF (427ºC)

Breakdown (Puncture)
A disruptive discharge through the insulation

Breakdown Voltage
The voltage at which the insulation between two conductors breaks down

Breaking Strength
The maximum load that a conductor can withstand when tested in tension to rupture

Bridge
A circuit which measures by balancing four impedances through which the same current flows:
Wheatstone measures resistance
Kelvin measures low resistance
Schering measures capacitance, dissipation factor, dielectric constant
Wien measures capacitance, dissipation factor

Bridged Tap
The multiple appearances of the same cable pair at several distribution points

British Standard Wire Gauge
A modification of the Birmingham Wire Gauge and the legal standard of Great Britain for all wires. Also known as Standard Wire Gauge (SWG), New British Standard (NBS), English Legal Standard, and Imperial Wire Guide

Broadband LAN
LAN which uses FDM (frequency division multiplexing) to divide a single physical channel into a number of smaller independent frequency channels. The different channels created by FDM can be used to transfer different forms of information - voice, data and video

B and S
Brown and Sharpe wire gauge - same as AWG

BSL (basic switching impulse level)
The crest value of a switching impulse voltage of a specified wave shape which a high-voltage cable termination is required to withstand under specified conditions

Buffer
A protective coating in intimate contact with an optical fiber

Building Wire
Commercial wires used in the building trades such as Types RHH, RHW, THW and THHN wire

Buna
A synthetic rubber insulation of styrenebutadiene; was known as GR-S, now as SBR

Bunch Strand
A conductor in which all individual wires are twisted in the same direction without regard for geometrical arrangement

Buncher
A machine that twists wires together in a random arrangement

Buoyant Cable
Originally military type MIL-C-2401 with built-in floatation ability. Many applications have been developed using buoyancy to its advantage - numerous types and sizes for power, communications, telecommunications have resulted

Buried Cable
A cable installed directly in the earth without use of underground conduit. Also called "direct burial cable"

Bus
A network topology which functions like a signal line which is shared by a number of nodes

Bus Bar Wire
Uninsulated tinned copper wire used as a common lead

Bushing
A mechanical device used as a lining for an opening to prevent abrasion to wire and cable

Butt Splice
A splice wherein two wires from opposite ends butt against each other, or against a stop, in the center of a splice

Butt Wrap
Tape wrapped around an object or conductor in an edge-to-edge condition

Butyl Rubber
Synthetic rubber formerly used for electrical insulating purposes

BX
A common type of armored building wire rated at 600 volt

Byte
Generally, an 8-bit quantity of information, used mainly in referring to parallel data transfer, semiconductor capacity, and data storage; also generally referred to in data communications as an octet or character

BASEEFA
British Approvals Service for Electrical Equipment in Flammable Atmospheres. They provide a range of testing and certification services primarily related to equipment and systems intended for use in potentially explosive atmospheres. BASEEFA is a constituent of EECS - a branch of the Health & Safety Executive, UK