Been using the same Fluke meter for 7 years and figured those $40 testers were garbage but grabbed one for a backup. Three jobs in and the thing gave me a false reading on a 200 foot run that had me chasing a ghost for two hours. Anyone else had one of these cheap testers burn them on a job?
I was out on a job in North Austin running a line for a new build and my brand new spool of RG6 just totally locked up on the reel. Tried to pull off about 50 feet and it started kinking so bad I had to cut it and waste like 15 feet of cable. Ended up having to go back to the truck and grab an older spool I had sitting there to finish the run. Has anyone else had this happen with the new spools from the supply house lately or is it just my bad luck?
I spent 3 hours last Tuesday trying to run coax through a finished basement ceiling with a standard fish tape and kept getting snagged on insulation. Turns out if you tape a strong magnet to your fish tape and have someone hold another magnet on the ceiling drywall, you can guide it way faster. Has anyone else tried this trick or got a better method for tight spaces?
This old timer named Dave saw me struggling with a tough attic run and told me to use a glow rod with a piece of heat shrink on the tip instead of a fish tape. I thought he was full of it (you know how some guys love to give unsolicited advice), but I gave it a shot on a two-story house with blown-in insulation. It slipped through the insulation way easier and I avoided snagging on every joist like I normally do with my fish tape. I finished that whole drop in under 30 minutes when I usually budget an hour for attics that bad. Has anyone else tried swapping out their fish tape for a glow rod in tight spaces?
Was splicing a main line in a new apartment complex outside Phoenix when the screen went dark and the unit just stopped. Tried swapping batteries and resetting it but nothing happened, had to drive 45 minutes back to the shop for a backup. Anyone else had a Fujikura just quit on them with no warning?
I bought this expensive Klein crimper off a FB marketplace ad thinking it'd save me time on coax connectors. Took me 3 hours to figure out it was for some weird military spec cable I never even see. The guy said it worked for standard RG6 but it kept crushing the connectors wrong and I ruined like 20 ends. Should've just stuck with my old generic one that cost $40 from Home Depot. Any of you guys ran into this where a tool just straight up lies about what it works with?
For years I used generic toner in my HP LaserJet because it's half the price. Figured it all comes from the same factory anyway. Last month I printed 200 service orders for a job in Austin and half of them came out streaky. Had to redo every single page, wasted a whole Saturday. The client was ticked off because the labels looked unprofessional. I finally caved and bought genuine HP toner and the difference is night and day. No streaks, no jams, just clean prints every time. Anyone else have a bad experience with off-brand printer supplies?
Found out last Thursday that touching the fiber end with your bare fingers even for a second leaves an oil residue that can mess up the signal. I read it in a FOA newsletter after I had three bad splices in a row on a job over in Greenwood. The oil from your skin is enough to scatter the light and cause loss readings over 0.5 dB. Has anyone else been taught this trick or did I just miss it in training?
Talked to an old timer named Dave from Denver last week. He said if you snap a fish stick on a tough attic pull, you eat the cost because it's part of the job. But I've lost 4 sticks in 3 months on old homes with blown insulation. That's $60 out of my pocket. My boss says tack it onto the bill as a materials charge. Dave says that's bad business and makes us look cheap. What do you guys do when you break gear on a rough run?
Last Tuesday in Phoenix, lady says she just needs a new line from the box to her living room. Simple, right? Get there and she's got a finished basement with drop ceiling tiles every 3 feet and a wall of built-in shelving that's bolted to the floor. Took me 4 hours to snake through the joists and another 2 to patch the drywall I had to cut. Charged her for a full day and she acted like I was ripping her off. Anyone else have a "simple job" that turned into a nightmare?
I'm out in the burbs near Phoenix and hit 3 houses this morning. Every single one, the builders just ran ethernet and forgot about coax altogether. Had to drill through pre-painted walls and fish lines myself. It's wild how fast things shifted. Even 5 years ago most new builds had a basic outlet in every living room. Now they act like cable is dead. Has anyone else run into this on new construction lately?
Back in 2019, my foreman Mike told me to stop using fiberglass glow rods on a commercial run in Denver and stick with steel fish tape because it's tougher on long pulls. I ignored him on a 150-foot conduit pull and snapped two glow rods before giving up and using his tape which got it done in 20 minutes. Has anyone else fought the glow rod vs. fish tape debate and found a clear winner?
Tried to run a new coax line from the attic to the living room and accidentally punched a hole through a water pipe on Tuesday. Has anyone else had a simple job turn into a disaster because of old wiring or plumbing you didn't expect?
A senior guy showed me how a 3/8 inch fitting saves 15 minutes per drop and now I'm ordering a case of them tomorrow, anyone else have a tool or part they swore off till someone proved them wrong?
I know the textbook says take your time for clean terminations but after that Austin job I'm wondering if the 'right' way is always the best way for basic installs - has anyone else seen better results from a quick and dirty job?
Last Tuesday I had this old timer tell me I didn't need to ground the block on a new house install since the cable was already bonded at the tap. First service call back was a fried modem and a customer yelling about lightning damage. Now my supervisor has me redoing that entire job and writing up what happened. Any of you guys ever get bad advice from someone with 20 years on the job?
So Dave, the old timer on my crew, kept telling me to stop using zip ties and just use velcro straps for everything. Said it'd save me time on reworks. I thought he was being lazy, but after 3 callbacks last month where I had to cut zip ties to add a new line, I finally tried his way. Now I'm kicking myself for being stubborn. Any of you guys had a boss or coworker push a tip that turned out to be right?
I figured I could cheap out on a basic fishtape for a residential run in a ranch house outside Nashville. First pull through some conduit went fine, but on the second one it just snapped in half about 8 feet in. I spent the next hour digging it out with a magnet and some coat hanger wire. Anyone else have a cheap tool fail at the worst possible moment?
Was on a job in Bakersfield last week. Customer saw me with my fish tape and said that. I just smiled. Pulling coax through a finished wall in a 90s house is never simple. Not with those staple guns they used back then. Took me 45 minutes to get one line from basement to attic. Has anyone else dealt with people thinking this job is easy?
He told me he's been using the same cheap Klein crimper for 12 years because he cleans it with contact cleaner every Friday, and I've been buying new tools every 6 months because mine keep jamming up. Anyone else got a simple maintenance trick that saved you hundreds?
Got sent to run cable in a dark crawlspace over in Maplewood last week, and my regular fish tape was useless down there. Borrowed a Klein Tools one with a little LED on the end, and I pulled three Cat6 runs in half the time. Anyone else find these gimmicky or is it actually worth buying one?
Was running Cat6 in a new build last week and an old sparky came up and asked why I was fighting the bundle. He said try pulling from the middle of the spool instead of the end, it cuts down on twist and tangles. I gave it a shot on the next run and it saved me like 20 minutes of wrestling. Anyone else get random advice from other trades that actually works?
Ran into an old timer named Jerry at a job site in Dayton last Tuesday. He watched me messing with my compression tool for like 5 minutes, then just said "son, you're fighting the cable, not working with it." Showed me how to strip it in one smooth motion instead of two. Been doing it his way for two weeks now and my loss readings dropped by half. Anyone else pick up a dumb simple trick from some random guy on a job?
Ever since we started rolling out gigabit fiber here in Portland about 18 months ago, I've noticed way more callbacks for signal noise issues than with the old 50mbps connections. The higher frequencies just seem to pick up every little imperfection in the run, so who's actually benefiting from this speed war?
I always used the cheap stripping tool from the supply house. Last week an old timer handed me his manual stripper and showed me the trick. Anyone else stick with tools they know are bad just because you're used to them?