Cabling Chronicles
What’s Wrong with My Cable?
While the most common causes of failures in twisted pair cabling include installation errors, defects found in poor-quality components (cables, connectors, patch cords, etc.), damage to the installed cable and incorrect tester set up, sometimes technicians want to know specifically WHY a link failed.
Based on which performance parameter failed testing, there are specific possible causes that a technician can consider. Let’s take a closer look.
February 13, 2019
To Bundle or Not Bundle?
If you recently attended the BICSI Winter Conference in Orlando, picked up an industry publication or participated in a webinar, you’ve probably been exposed to plenty of information on PoE and its effect on cabling plants. By now, you may even be tired of hearing about heat rise in bundles of cables that are delivering remote power to devices and how this can cause insertion loss, degrade the cable and impact Ethernet transmission.
February 5, 2019
Expert Profile: Vangie Michenzi, Senior Fiber Optic Project Manager, Advanced Communication Technology Services Part 1 of 3
Part 1 of a three-part series
Even though their work is essential to today’s world, you don’t hear much about the professionals who build and maintain the world’s communications networks. While their exploits may not have the wide interest of reality TV stars or politicians, I bet that you, like me, find them a lot more interesting. Tune into the Cabling Chronicles and follow along with us as we share #CablingStories from around the world.
January 30, 2019
Importance of Cable Verification, Qualification and Certification
When it comes to testing a cabling installation, there are essentially three choices--verification, qualification and certification.
While some features overlap between test tools as you move up the hierarchical ladder from verification to certification, each type of testing answers one of the following questions to help you make the right choice.
January 23, 2019
Learn from the Experts at the BICSI Winter Conference!
Learn from the Experts at the BICSI Winter Conference!
Planning to attend the upcoming BICSI Winter Conference & Exhibition on January 20 - 24 at the Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center in Orlando, FL?
Fluke Networks’ experts will be offering plenty of educational opportunities to learn all about PoE, fiber best practices and how to make sure your next singlemode fiber project is on the right path.
January 15, 2019
Insertion Loss Should Be a Positive Number
Insertion loss, or the loss of signal that happens along the length of a fiber optic link, is expressed in dBs and should always be a positive number. But it can be a negative number (which isn’t a good thing).
Return loss, which measures the amount of light reflected back toward the source, is also expressed in dBs and is always a positive number. A high return loss is a good thing and usually results in low insertion loss.
January 8, 2019
101 Series: Know Your Fiber Connectors
Fiber optic connectors include plugs that feature a protruding ferrule that holds the fiber in place and an associated adapter for aligning and mating fibers to form a connection point. The first ferrules introduced in the 1970s were comprised of metal or a hard plastic, and then in the mid-1980s, the introduction of the ceramic ferrule improved alignment and allowed for lower insertion loss.
January 2, 2019
Beauty Isn’t Skin Deep
While neatly combed bundles of cables might look really nice in exposed overhead cable trays and in racks and cabinets, this aesthetically pleasing deployment isn’t always a thing of beauty when it comes to performance.
Sometimes this can be hard to explain to your customers who seem to care more about how the cable looks versus how well their data transmits.
December 27, 2018
Happy Holidays from All of Us at Fluke Networks!
'Twas the night before Christmas when all through the NOC,
Technicians were testing, their eyes on the clock.
The connectors terminated with the utmost care
In hopes there would be not a single bit err.
The Versiv set up, all ready to test
And give the results to put us at rest,
With the best fiber tech and her CertiFiber Pro
Prepared for Tier 2 with launch set to go.
December 18, 2018
Going the Distance
A couple of weeks ago, we published a Cabling Chronicles Blog about exceptions to the 100-meter (m) channel length rule and the fact that you can’t necessarily go the full distance due to temperature rise, gauge size and subsequent insertion loss and DC resistance. But did you know that you can also EXCEED the 100 m length? Let’s take a look at that scenario.
December 11, 2018
