c/cable-installers

My foreman told me to stop using a toner and I lost 3 hours on a dead drop

He swore the old fluke meter was faster for tracing lines, but down on 14th Ave the signal was so weak I pulled the wrong cable twice. Took the toner out of the truck and finished in 20 minutes flat. Anyone else stick with the old school gear against a boss's call?

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grace565•5d ago

Fiber terminations for a full year now, and I'm split on the clear cure gel

I started using the clear cure gel on every fiber termination back in January, after a buddy swore it saved him on a warehouse job outside Pittsburgh. About 6 months in I noticed my return loss numbers were actually better than with the standard epoxy, but I also had three terminations fail at the connector boot where the gel never fully set, even after the recommended UV time. The first failure was on a Friday rush job, customer was already angry about the delay, and I had to redo the whole drop in the dark. Now I'm torn, do I stick with the gel because the good days are really good, or go back to epoxy and accept the extra setup time? Has anyone else seen this same split between cleaner signals and brittle joints with the gel, or did I just get a bad batch? I'd rather hear from the field than trust the spec sheet again.

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riverf34•5d ago

Rant: 4 hours on a bad ground bond at a strip mall in Reno

Spent a whole afternoon chasing a packet loss issue that turned out to be one corroded ground clamp behind a transformer, and I'm wondering if anyone else sticks to the 2 hour rule before calling it a bad drop or just keeps digging like I did.

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umamoore•7d ago

Stop using cheap RJ45 ends on outdoor runs, trust me

I've been running CAT6 for 8 years and always used the bargain bin ends. After 5 service calls on one house in Beaverton, I finally dropped $40 on premium weatherproof connectors. Zero issues since, and the customer's mom even said my work looked cleaner. What's your go-to for exposed runs?

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linda_mason82•7d ago

Apartment complex on 14th St made me change my whole drill setup

I was doing a retro install at a 6 story building near 14th St in Denver and the walls were all poured concrete. My standard hammer drill was taking forever, and the building manager came out and told me I needed a rotary hammer with a vacuum attachment, or he'd have to shut me down because of the dust. I went and picked one up that afternoon, and it cut my time per hole from about 4 minutes to under 30 seconds. Now I never leave home without it for multi unit work. Has anyone else run into a building that just flat out requires you to change your gear mid job?

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leor37•10d ago

That apartment complex in Seattle made me question everything about attic pulls

Went to do a simple rewire at this 1970s building near Capitol Hill and the attic access was a 14 inch hole in a closet ceiling that had three flex runs and a bird nest in it. Took me 45 minutes just to get my ladder set up right, has anyone else hit a spot that makes you wonder how the original crew even worked in there?

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michaelrodriguez•10d ago

Took me 6 hours to fix a drop amp problem that was just a bad ground

I was out on a service call in Bloomington last Tuesday, customer said their internet kept dropping every time the furnace kicked on. I checked the line, checked the modem, swapped a splitter, even reterminated the coax twice. After about six hours I finally looked at where the ground block was tied to the copper water pipe, and the clamp was loose as a goose. A $3 clamp and five minutes later it was solid. Anyone else ever chase a signal issue that turned out to be something stupid simple like that?

1 comments

scott.grace•10d ago

Finally gave in and tried a toner probe after 8 years of eyeing them

Always thought they were overpriced gimmicks until last Tuesday when I had to trace 14 lines in a messy apartment panel in Columbus and it took me 20 minutes instead of 2 hours. Has anyone else held out on a tool forever and then felt dumb for waiting?

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the_joseph•10d ago

Got told to stop stripping so much coax, took me 3 weeks to admit they were right

Had a senior tech ride with me in Detroit last month and he pointed out I was stripping back way too much cable before every termination. I argued about it for a solid 20 minutes because I've done it that way for 6 years and never had a call back. He just said 'you're making a weak point for no reason' and left it at that. Then I hit a job in Dearborn where the connector kept failing signal tests, and I couldn't figure out why until I remembered his words. Cut back to about 1/4 inch less stripping and it passed first try. Has anyone else gotten feedback that felt like nitpicking but turned out to be the actual fix? I'm curious how many of us are doing the same thing without knowing it.

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richard_mason•10d ago

Shoutout to the homeowner who asked if their coax could 'catch the wifi better'

I spent 20 minutes explaining the difference between RF and Wi-Fi to her, but then she told me her router was sitting inside a cast iron pot for 3 years, so I guess that explains a lot, has anyone else met a client who thought cables worked like antennas for everything?

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troykim•11d ago

Tried that fiber drum trick on a DT run, now I'm wondering if I've been wasting time

Last Friday I had a downtown Charlotte job with 8 drops in one building, so I finally tried rolling the fiber onto a 5 gallon bucket lid like that older guy on a forum mentioned. It took me about 20 minutes to set up and I kept thinking it would turn into a tangled mess, but honestly it spooled out cleaner than my usual hand coil method. I finished all 8 terminations by 3pm, which is about an hour faster than my normal pace on those multi-floor runs. The catch is that it only works on open walls where you can spin the lid, so it's not a universal fix. Has anyone else bothered with this for long pulls, or do you all stick with standard reels for bigger jobs like this one?

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lily511•12d ago

That contractor's offhand comment about coax bends stuck with me

Last Wednesday I was on a job in Austin and this older contractor walked by while I was wrestling a stiff RG6 around a tight corner. He just said, 'you're training that cable to fail, not to fit' and kept walking. I measured it later, the bend radius was maybe 2 inches when the spec calls for 5. He was right though, I've seen too many service calls where a sharp kink caused intermittent signal drop months later. Now I carry a 5-inch PVC pipe section in my van as a quick bend guide on tricky runs. Any of you guys ever had a hidden kink come back to bite you on a rework?

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hunt.jana•14d ago

Went fishing for a buried drop and found a 1987 time capsule

Last month I was locating a line under a driveway in Boise and my tone rod hit solid metal about two feet down, turned out to be a rusty coffee can full of old receipts and a pay stub from a cable company that no longer exists. I dug it out to check for damage, and the homeowner watched the whole thing from her kitchen window, then came out and said, "I wondered where that went, my ex-husband buried it after a fight in '87." Has anyone else unearthed something weird that was blocking a run, and do you rebury it or hand it over?

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blake_martinez•15d ago

Warning: fiber splice tray saga ate my whole Friday

Had a routine aerial drop in Columbus that turned into 6 hours because the fiber was wound too tight in the tray, and every time I closed the lid it pinched the jacket. I finally got it done but my knuckles are wrecked and I missed two other jobs. Has anyone else dealt with these trays that just fight you no matter how you route the slack?

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perez.christopher•17d ago

Tuesday was a nightmare, then Thursday saved my week

So Tuesday I had three back to back jobs in Tacoma, all of them hit me with the same issue: old splitters that were fused to the drop with corrosion. I spent nearly 4 hours just fighting one connector on a house near the waterfront, and my truck AC died at like 2pm right when it hit 88 degrees. I was ready to quit. Then Thursday I get a call from a customer in Puyallup who said, "my internet drops every time the dryer runs." Turns out her neighbor's buried line had a nick and was picking up interference from the dryer vent fan motor. Took me 20 minutes to find it with my Toner probe and re-run about 30 feet of new RG6. She tipped me $40 in cash and gave me a cold Gatorade. Has anyone else had one of those weeks where the bad days make the good ones feel way better than they should?

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nathan_thompson62•18d ago

Got a new toner today and it won't work with my old probes

Picked up a Klein VDV500-820 toner from the supply house this morning. Got back to the jobsite in Arlington and tried to hook it up to my old Fluke probes and nothing happens. Called the shop and they said the connectors changed a few years back. Anybody else run into this problem where newer gear just doesn't click with the older stuff you already have? Wondering if I need to buy a whole new kit or if there's an adapter I'm missing.

2 comments

anderson.spencer•19d ago

Old timer told me to never use flush cutters on steel messenger wire

Guy with 30 years in the trade warned me I'd ruin my $80 Knipex cutters if I kept using them on steel. Didn't listen, snapped the tip off on a nasty 0.25 inch messenger by the third job. Anyone else had a tool die from cutting stuff you knew you shouldn't?

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ben_lopez25•19d ago

Saw a guy using an impact driver on a coax connector today

Was doing a install in a apartment complex near downtown Austin this morning. Another contractor was in the same building running cable for a different unit. I watched him grab a impact driver to tighten a compression fitting. Not a torque wrench, not even a regular drill with a clutch. He just zipped it down. I wanted to say something but didn't. That's gonna cause signal issues down the line if not right away. How do you guys even approach telling someone they're doing it wrong without starting a fight? Has anyone actually tried to correct a fellow installer on site?

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abby_martin28•25d ago

Worst Tuesday ever - 3 service calls in a row went sideways.

First house had a dog that wouldn't stop barking at me, second call the customer yelled at me for 10 minutes about a bill I didn't touch, third call the drop was buried under 2 feet of dirt. Anyone else have a day where nothing goes your way?

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derek_burns•27d ago

Had a line snap on me yesterday up on a ladder in Decatur

I was doing a standard install on a two story house, running the coax from the pole to the side of the house. Got about halfway up the ladder when the tension let go and the line whipped back at me. Missed my face by maybe a foot. I checked the clamp on the pole and it was corroded bad, should have spotted it sooner. Now I'm double checking every anchor point before I climb. Anyone else had a close call like that?

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garcia.charles•27d ago

Man last Tuesday was a nightmare from start to finish

I had five jobs scheduled and every single one went sideways. First house had a dog that wouldn't stop barking at me from the basement while I ran lines. Third stop I drilled into a pipe in the wall and water started spraying everywhere, took me an hour to patch it up. By the fifth job my crimping tool broke and I had to drive 20 minutes back to the van for my old backup one. Customer at the fourth house kept asking if I could move her furniture while I worked, like I'm a mover not a cable guy lol. Has anyone else had a week where it feels like the universe is just against you?

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the_amy•28d ago

Watched a crew in Raleigh run fiber through an old storm drain last week

They pulled 800 feet of cable through a 4 inch pipe that was half full of mud and it worked perfectly. Has anyone else tried this instead of trenching?

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derek_burns•29d ago

That $90 Klein punchdown tool I bought last month was a total waste

I figured spending a bit more would get me something that lasts, but the handle started slipping after maybe 15 jobs. The blade keeps catching on the plastic too, which never happened with my old $30 one from Home Depot. Talked to a few guys on a job site in Denver and they all said the same thing about that model. Should I just go back to the cheap ones or is there a mid-range option that actually works? Anyone else had issues with that brand lately?

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paul330•1mo ago

Question about wall fish rods and when they actually flex too much

I was swapping out a run at this old apartment complex downtown last week and had to go up from the basement through a fire stop. My fish rod bent so bad I thought it was gonna snap. I always figured stiffer meant better but then this old sparky I ran into at the supply house told me sometimes you want a little flex to get around those tight corners. That got me thinking. Is there a sweet spot for rod stiffness or am I overthinking this? What do you guys run for those nasty vertical drops through multiple floors?

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scott.grace•1mo ago

Hit 500 drop terminations in one week and my fingers still hurt

Just finished a big apartment complex job in Phoenix where we had to terminate 500 coax drops in 5 days. That's 100 terminations a day, no room for sloppy work because every unit had to pass signal testing on the first try. My thumb is still numb from squeezing the compression tool, and I went through 3 pairs of gloves. The worst part was the heat in the attic crawl spaces, but we got it done with zero re-dos. Has anyone else hit a crazy termination count like that and found ways to keep your hands from cramping up?

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