c/cable-installers

I finally stopped wrestling with fiber drop loops, wish I did it sooner

For years I coiled every fiber drop into these pretty figure eights by hand, took like 10 minutes per house. Then last month in Akron I watched a 12 year veteran just hang the slack in a loose hook and zip tie it, no coil at all. I tried it on the next job and it worked fine, even passed the meter check first try. Anyone else ditch the fancy winding and just use loops now? My hands sure don't miss it.

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danieltaylor•4d ago

Talked to a retired lineman about pole work, now I second guess every ladder climb

Had a coffee with a guy who spent 30 years on utility poles outside of Columbus and he said the worst falls he saw weren't from storms or bad cable, but from guys getting too comfortable on the second job of the day. He told me to count my hooks every single trip up, even on a simple drop, because muscle memory is what kills you. Anyone else ever get a piece of advice from an old timer that made you change up your daily routine?

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campbell.logan•6d ago

Chose single-mode over multimode for a 300ft run, fiber tester saved my butt

Last week I had to pick between using the leftover OM3 spool or pulling new single-mode for a warehouse camera install. Went with the single-mode because the distance and future upgrades made sense, but my cheap laser source showed 2.3dB loss at the first splice. Has anyone else dealt with contractors who swear multimode is fine for long runs?

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robin836•10d ago

customer's pet iguana ate my coax tape, still not sure how

Last Tuesday I was doing a rewire at a house in Tampa and this big green iguana just walked out of a bedroom, grabbed the roll of tape off my ladder, and started chewing on it like it was a snack. I mean, I've had dogs and cats mess with my gear before, but never a lizard that looked like it paid more attention to my crimps than the homeowner did. Has anyone else had a weird pet ruin their supplies mid-job, or am I just the unlucky one here?

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sage52•10d ago

Old school wiring in a 1920s house made me appreciate my crimpers more

I had a job last Tuesday over in Oak Ridge, a real brick place from 1923. The panel was a mess, knob and tube in spots but 60s cloth wire everywhere else. I spent 4 hours just tracing the runs before I could even add the new drops. It got me thinking about how the old splices were just twisted and taped, no connectors at all. Do you guys run into that stuff much, or is it just the older pockets of town that still have it?

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terrymitchell•19d ago

Discovered my toner was backwards after 4 years and 80 miles of bad hits

A fiber splicer guy finally asked why my toner was beeping on the far end and I felt like a total jackass, has anyone else gone that long with a basic setup before a random comment tipped them off?

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julia_fisher28•19d ago

Tried those cheap fiber bend testers from Amazon, regret it after 2 jobs

Picked up one of those $35 fiber optic bend testers off Amazon last month. Figured it would be a quick way to check tight spots without hauling the good OTDR out of the truck. First job went fine, second job it said a line was good and the customer had no signal. Redid the whole run and found a kink behind a drop ceiling. The cheap unit just didnt catch it. Lesson learned, I'll spend the extra hour or use the real gear. Anyone else had a cheap tool just flat out lie to them on a job?

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jadeg81•21d ago

Found a better way to run coax through finished walls after 2 bad holes

Drilled into a water pipe last month patching a line in my own living room, then tried the glow rod method with a magnet pull on the next job. Called up a retired installer from Peoria who showed me the tape-and-chain trick, got it done in 20 minutes with zero damage. Anyone else use a specific method for fishing through insulated walls that beats the drill-and-pray approach?

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reese_bell•24d ago

Bend radius rules got me for 6 years straight

Always laughed at the old timers pulling 90s too tight. Then last Tuesday on a job in Tacoma, a customer pointed at my coax and said that kink looks like a broken ankle. Checked the signal loss with my meter, 14 dB down. Turns out my whole method was trash. Anyone else have a customer teach them something basic they should've known?

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shah.olivia•27d ago

Found a cheap fix for corroded ground blocks in coastal runs

Down in Ocean City last summer, I kept getting callbacks on outdoor ground blocks that were green and crusty after just 14 months. Tried dielectric grease and it still failed. What actually worked was wrapping the block in self-fusing silicone tape after torquing the fitting to 30 inch-pounds, then sealing the bottom edge with a bit of coax seal. Has anyone else tried this on salt air jobs, or do you just replace them yearly and charge the customer?

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gavinperez•28d ago

That $300 fusion splicer kit was a total scam for me

Bought one of those budget fusion splicer kits off an online auction site last spring. The electrodes burned out after maybe 60 splices and the alignment was never true, even after I cleaned everything twice. I ended up renting a proper unit from a local shop for a weekend job and it paid for itself in time saved. Anyone else get burned by cheap splicing gear or did I just pick a bad brand?

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thea246•29d ago

Vent: dual wielding a tone generator and a tracer on a hot roof in Dallas

I tried running both at once to save time on a 14 drop rewire and got readings all over the place, ended up chasing ghost signals for 2 hours. Is it just me or does pairing them cause crosstalk, or was I just pushing it too hard?

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the_mia•1mo ago

Downhill coax drop got water in it after that storm

Last Tuesday after that big rain, I had a service call in Maplewood where the picture was pixelating bad. Found water inside the connector at the ground block, the drop had a low point right before the house and the jacket had a tiny nick from the install three months ago. I replaced the whole run with a proper drip loop and gel-filled fittings, but has anyone else had luck with those waterproof compression ends on outdoor drops or do you just always plan for a re-run?

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juliaa25•1mo ago

A foreman in Tulsa told me my drop loops were too tight

I've been running drops for 8 years and always pulled them snug to keep things tidy. Last week a foreman pointed out that my tight loops put stress on the connector and could cause signal loss in the summer heat. He had me leave about 4 inches of slack on the next run. Has anyone else gotten this kind of feedback and actually changed their loop size or do most of you keep them tight for looks?

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lisa_grant•1mo ago

I finally had a perfect install day after a string of disasters

Last Tuesday I got three jobs in a row that went smooth as butter. First house had a clear drop from the pole, no tree branches in the way, and the homeowner even had the crawlspace cleared out for me. Second stop was a new build where the builder left conduit already run from the street to the side of the house. Third was a simple swap of an old cable box that took maybe 15 minutes. I was back at the shop by 2pm which never happens. What's the best luck streak you guys have had on a single route?

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wilson.emma•1mo ago

Spent $180 on a Klein coax stripper and wish I hadn't

I bought the Klein coaxial cable stripper that does the outer and inner jacket in one pass. It keeps nicking the center conductor on RG6, so I'm back to using my old $20 blade tool. Anyone else have trouble with these all-in-one strippers?

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williams.amy•1mo ago

I finally checked the NEC code on grounding blocks after 15 years

Found out last month that over 60% of us are using the wrong size grounding block for coax installs per the 2023 code update. Has anyone else double-checked their setup since the change?

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ruby_sanchez45•1mo ago

Had to pick between a hammer drill and a rotary hammer for a job in Phoenix last month

I went with the rotary hammer for drilling through 30 year old stucco and concrete block. It was overkill for the cable runs but saved me 2 hours on a single house. Anyone else find the heavier tool worth the hassle on tough exterior jobs?

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sage52•1mo ago

Hot take: Spending $200 on a good crimper was the best decision I made all year

I was using a cheap $25 crimper from the hardware store for like two years and kept getting bad connections on RG6 ends. Finally dropped $200 on a proper Klein crimper and it's night and day difference - clean terminations every time, no more callbacks. But part of me wonders if I just got lucky or if the price tag actually matters that much. Anyone else gone back and forth on cheap vs expensive tools for coax work?

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the_jennifer•1mo ago

Tried using a fish tape to pull a coax through a wall and got stuck for an hour

I was running a line through an exterior wall in a house built in 1972 near Cleveland. The fish tape got twisted up inside some old blown-in insulation and I couldn't pull it forward or backward. After 45 minutes of wiggling and cussing, I had to cut a hole in the drywall to free it. Learned that old insulation is a beast and you gotta use a glow rod for those deep runs. Anybody else deal with insulation that fights back like that?

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kelly_coleman61•1mo ago

Had a customer thank me for actually showing up on time last Tuesday

An older lady in Evanston told me her last installer ghosted her twice, and she offered me a slice of homemade pie after I ran her new coax line through the crawlspace - has anyone else had a simple thank you stick with you like that?

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kevin_bailey•1mo ago

Hit 10,000 feet of coax pulled in a single week last month

I've been doing this for 15 years now and I never counted until my foreman dared me to keep track last month. Got curious one Tuesday morning and started logging every drop. By Friday afternoon I was at 9,400 feet and I pushed hard to crack 10,000 before clocking out. That's almost 2 miles of cable in 5 days. My shoulders felt it the whole weekend. Back when I started we were lucky to pull 2,000 feet a week with all the daisy-chaining and splitters. Now with direct runs and new construction it's just nonstop. Anyone else ever tally up their weekly pull just to see where you're at?

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mason_jackson•1mo ago

Finally chose a Klein drill over DeWalt for my install rig. Here's why it mattered.

I was stuck between the Klein 23-in-1 impact and my old DeWalt for running coax in attics this summer. The Klein is so much lighter (like 2 pounds less) and fit in tight rafters better, but I worried about losing power. After 30 jobs with it, I only had to switch back to DeWalt once for a super thick concrete wall. Has anyone else switched drill brands mid-career and regretted it or been glad they did?

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river_bailey2•1mo ago

Old lead installer told me to stop using my impact driver on satellite dish mounts

I've been cable installing for about 4 years now and always used my impact driver to crank down those J-mount bolts on satellite dishes. Thought it was fine, got the job done quick. Then this old lead installer, Mike, watched me put up a dish on a tile roof in Austin last summer and pulled me aside. He said I was over-tightening and cracking the mount flanges, causing micro-cracks that would rust out in 2 years. I laughed it off at first, but he showed me 3 of his old jobs with cracks around the bolt holes. Now I hand tighten with a ratchet and only use the driver to get it started. Time is a bit slower but I haven't had a callback since. Has anyone else had an old timer call them out on something like this? What did they say?

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simonbell•1mo ago

Bought a $200 fiber cleaver and it snapped on the third job

Picked up this budget cleaver from an online deal last month. Thought I was saving cash, but on the third install it just cracked right at the blade edge. Had to finish the residential run with my backup and the scraps were brutal. Anyone else had a tool fail that early and regret not spending more upfront?

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