ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Voice - Data - Video Discussion outside Cat 5

FIRE IN THE HOLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!


[This message has been edited by mkoloj (edited 11-03-2005).]

Hello everyone.

It has been a few days/weeks since I posted &/or viewed the forums, so forgive me for the latency on this first part of my message.

< Moderator Hat = ON >

Please, Please, Please try to keep the heated discussions to a minimum (temperature wise and reply wise).

Remember, there are People joining in + viewing these threads to learn, and eventually share, so let's not scare anyone off with flame wars.

OK, with that said ...

< Moderator Hat = OFF >

Had my own little "CAT-5" tirade earlier this week, and the Apprentice who has been working with me lately, got a good laugh out of it!
(He did make a comment today, that so far he has learned a whole lot more than expected to, and on more than just power systems installations!)

This project is a groundwater cleanup pump station deal-ee' o bob
(Replenish the contaminated ground water - via well pumps and water treatment equipment - all automatic... typical situations found at old Gasoline stations, but on a larger scale).

It has an Analog MODEM for status reports, which talks to the Service Company via a simple POTS 2 wire pipe. The MODEM is an external US Robotics 56KBPS X2.

When ordering the cable to get to the NID, I requested something simple - like CAT-3 UTP with CMR /MPR jacket. The guy taking the order searched the inventory database, and even the warehouse ... no CAT-3. Gazillions of boxes of CAT-5, in all flavors and colors - so I reluctantly agree to order CAT-5 for this _Very Low Speed_ Analog connection.

When the material is delivered, I find the UTP to be CAT-5e! On goes the tirade about using only the blue pair of the 4 pairs, the price paid for an unachievable throughput, yadda,yadda,yadda - not to mention the extra effort involved with terminating the 5e!

The Apprentice was both laughing and interested, which made me start laughing!
So the tirade lasted a whole 2 minutes before it became a technical discussion (with random transient tirades included).

This project is one of the several Electrical Design / Builds I am involved with currently, so this Apprentice is learning some of the Electrical Engineering related side of the trade, and just what is involved with Clients, Vendors, Plan Check, etc.

All together, it's a great learning experience for the Person ... and for myself, too!

Leaving the Podium now...

Scott35

I think there's a tendency these days for people to have a quest for speed even in applications which just don't warrant it. (Although it's not helped by some of the horrendous protocols which involve transferring vast numbers of bytes for very little actual useful data..... ).

One of my computer/software contracts is for the local taxi company. Being a rural area which goes very quiet at night, they transfer dispatch operations to the owner's home all but Friday and Saturday evenings. At the moment, the entire bookings database ZIPs to about 50KB on average, and is tranferred over a simple dial-up link at 9600 bps. Slow by current standards, but perfectly adequate for the application, and only takes a few seconds to complete the transfer.

On a related issue over cable types, we're just seeing ADSL rolling out around here, so I've had a few installs.

Why do some folk insist that the cable from the TelCo's network interface to their ADSL jacks "absolutely must" be CAT5?

Where I live we're already running through almost 5 miles of assorted telephone cables just to get here from the central office, and some of that stuff is decades old multi-pair cable, long before CAT5, CAT3, or CAT-anything else was ever dreamed about.

Do they really think that after 5 miles of regular old telephone cable that running the last 25 ft. in CAT5 is going to make a difference?

You will discover that you can't get DSL unless you are pretty close to a fiber hub. The same is somewhat true of 56kb service too. You won't have "miles" of old pulp cable in there for either service.

I've seen similar General Cable product at HD, although it is 4-pair Cat5E rated. Same beige color, and the jacket feels like silicon. Almost slippery. Marked as "Sunlight and Oil Resistant" if memory serves. The packaging also states it is suitable for "Short outdoor runs", although "short" is not defined.

As to cracking in cold weather, I always try to bring reels inside first thing, and give them an hour or so to warm up. Not really possible on a small job, so I'll bring a couple inside overnight and load them in the morning. Front floor of the van helps keep them toasty.

Boxes are worse. Bring them in out of the cold and let them sit for an hour. Then stick your hand in through the carry hole, and it's still cool inside!

I've seen outside plant telephone cable specifications that say it complies with Cat 3 (from at least two different cable manufacturers).

I can't remember who they were, though.

Standard DSL is good for 3 miles of copper, give or take a little depending on the wire gauge and line conditions.

Here's a good write-up:
http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid7_gci213915,00.html


[This message has been edited by electech (edited 11-29-2005).]

Why even waste good CAT 3 for phone lines? Good ole 22/4 burglar alarm wire works just fine!

Yeah, it's Teflon coated to make pulling it easier.

Teflon, it's the way of the future.
Just like Cat 3 was 20 years ago.