Abstract. In this paper the fundamental properties of surface waves along conducting cylinders with and without dielectric coating are investigated for cylinder diameters in the centimeter range and frequencies in the gigahertz range and higher. Analytical results for the phase constant and attenuation versus the cylinder radius are derived and cutoff frequencies of various TE, TM, and hybrid waves are computed. The radial power distribution is computed in order to investigate the spatial extent of the wave fields.