He showed me how to use my teeth to score the jacket instead of those cheap strippers and now I haven't touched a tool for it since, anyone else have a weird trick an old installer passed down?
I was running cable through a new build out near Desert Ridge last month. Everything looked fine until I hit a spot where they put a metal stud right where my low voltage ring should have gone. Took me 45 minutes to cut a proper path with my dremel because the framer was off by 3 inches. Now I walk every path with a stud finder before I even pull my first foot of cable. Any of you guys run into framers being that far off?
I keep seeing guys at job sites using those quick push-on coax connectors instead of taking the time to crimp a proper connector. It drives me nuts because every time I follow behind one of those jobs, I'm finding signal loss and loose connections within 6 months. I was on a job last week in a new apartment complex outside Denver, and the whole building was done with push-ons. They already had 4 callbacks for pixelation and dropped channels. A good crimped connector costs maybe 30 cents more and takes 10 extra seconds per end. How do you even sleep at night knowing you left a build that sloppy? Has anyone else had to redo a whole house because of these things?
Did a 300 foot run in a warehouse in Nashville last week. RG6 gave me signal loss at the far end no matter what I tried. Swapped to RG11 and it was perfect. Has anyone else just stopped bothering with RG6 on anything over 200 feet?
Got a call to run a new line for their POS system. The run went right over the fryers and grills. My usual Riser cable would have melted or given off toxic smoke if there was a fire. The kitchen manager told me they had a grease fire 2 years ago and the old cable smoked up the whole place. Switched to plenum on the spot. Has anyone else had a close call with running non-plenum in commercial kitchens?
I used to think bonding tests were just paperwork fluff. Last month I skipped a ground bond check on a new install in a split-level house in Denver. Customer called back two days later saying their microwave gave them a tingle. Went back, tested the ground bond and it was reading 12 ohms. Fixed the bond clamps and now I test every single one before I leave. Anyone else ever gotten bit by a bad bond?
I was on a job in Greenville last week helping a green guy run lines for a new apartment complex. He spent 20 minutes trying to hammer a staple into a brick exterior instead of just using a D-ring or a cable tie. I had to stop him because he was about to damage the jacket and cause a signal loss. Has anyone else noticed new folks skipping the proper mounting hardware?
I was running Cat6 through this big apartment building near Baltimore, 4 floors of units. The first week I was rushing, not really paying attention to bend radius or tight spots. By week three, I could already see two runs that had signal drop logs from the switch. The drywall guys had pushed cables into corners and kinked them bad. Now I gotta go back and rerun those, which is about 6 hours of my life I'll never get back. Has anyone else had a project show problems this fast after install?
Last week I had a job in a new build near Chicago and the lead installer insisted we pull all the coax to the box location before running anything through the walls - his method took an extra 2 hours. But my old partner always said to fish from the box outward so you don't fight slack in tight spaces. Which way do you guys think saves more time on average?
I always thought glove liners were just another thing to lose in the truck, but my hands went totally numb on a fiber splice up in Green Bay last winter while my buddy was fine. He swore by those cheap Mechanix glove liners and now I dont go out without them. Any other installers have a tool or piece of gear they hated at first then ended up using daily?
I was on a job last Tuesday in Brighton, swapping out a rusty old drop amp in a basement. The homeowner was like 70, retired cable guy from the 80s. He watched me work and then pointed out I was using too many compression fittings where a simple barrel splice would do. Told me he used to run entire neighborhoods with fewer splices and less signal loss. It hit different because I always thought more connections meant better reliability, but he showed me his old system from 1985 still had cleaner numbers than my new builds. Now I'm rethinking every junction I throw in. Has anyone else had an old timer drop some knowledge that made you feel like you been doing it backwards?
Was running RG6 through a new apartment complex in Aurora and did the math - 87 units with 115 feet average per run, plus the trunk lines from the basement. Has anyone else tracked their total footage on a big install and been shocked at the final number?
I've been doing cable installs for about 7 years now and I always figured any old crimper would do the job. My buddy Dave kept telling me to buy a good Klein ratcheting set but I thought he was just being a brand snob. Well last Tuesday I was working a job over in Elmwood on a hotline I thought was dead. Used my $8 Harbor Freight crimper and the handle slipped right off when I squeezed it. My hand went straight into the cable and I got a nasty jolt that knocked me off my ladder. Nothing broke thank god but my arm hurt for two days. I bought the Klein set that same night and now I get why people spend the money. Anyone else ever cheap out on tools and learn the hard way?
So last Thursday I'm in this new build out in Avondale, running Cat6 through a drop ceiling like I've done a hundred times. I had this beautician's tape pull already in place from the attic, but I got distracted by a homeowner asking if I could move their router to the kitchen. I went to snip a zip tie on an existing bundle and my side cutters went right through a blue fiber patch cable that I'd just terminated an hour before. My heart just sank man. I had to drive 45 minutes back to the shop for a fusion splicer because I'm not about to run a whole new drop. Ended up being on site until 8 PM doing the splice and re-testing the light levels. I finally got it back to -18 dBm, but the homeowner was giving me the stink eye the whole time. Has anyone else had to re-splice their own work in a tight spot like that?
I've been dispatched to fix 3 different jobs around Denver this month where guys used electrical tape on outdoor coax splices instead of weatherproof connectors. Every single one had corrosion inside the fitting within 6 months. The tape just traps moisture and makes it worse over time. If you're doing anything outside spend the $4 on a proper waterproof compression fitting. Has anyone else been running into this on service calls?
He pointed out my outer jacket wasn't flush with the connector and I was annoyed at first but honestly the signal tested way cleaner after I fixed it. Has anyone else had a customer call them out on something small that actually improved their work?
That budget tonearm wire kit made my turntable hum so bad I had to pay 40 bucks to have a shop redo it with Mogami cable, has anyone else learned that lesson the hard way?
I always swore by my Klein tools and laughed at the $8 no-name strippers from Amazon. After 3 months of daily use on a big apartment complex job in Phoenix, that cheap one still hasn't broken or dulled. Anyone else had a budget tool surprise them?
I spent years using steel fish tape for every job, but last week I had to run coax through a finished wall in a house built in the 1960s. The attic space was tight and the insulation was packed in like cotton. After fighting with the fish tape for 20 minutes I switched to a fiberglass glow rod set I bought off Amazon for 30 bucks. The rods went through in under 5 minutes no snags. Has anyone else found that glow rods beat fish tape in residential retrofits or am I just late to the party?
I've been using RG59 for like 8 years on residential jobs because it's cheaper and more flexible. Then last Tuesday I'm running a long line for a new customer out in the suburbs, and my buddy Mark sends me a link from some cable engineering PDF. It showed RG59 loses about 6dB at 100 feet for 1GHz signals, while RG6 only loses like 3.5dB. That's almost double the loss. I always knew there was a difference but never saw actual numbers laid out like that. Found the same thing on a forum thread from 2021, guys were arguing about it. Now I'm thinking I should just eat the extra cost and run RG6 on anything over 50 feet. Anyone else deal with signal issues from using the wrong coax on longer runs?
Got called to a house in the Hollywood Hills last Tuesday. Customer said no signal. Found the trunk line hanging off the side of the house. Squirrel chewed clean through it. Rained that morning so everything was wet. Had to splice it on a ladder with one hand holding a bucket over my head. Signal came back clean. Customer tipped me $40.
I was on a job in Tulsa last month helping out a veteran installer who's been doing this since the 80s. He watched me terminate a line, then just shook his head and said "you're killing the signal with those twists." He showed me how to keep the cable straight and use a compression tool properly, said I was making micro fractures. Has anyone else had to unlearn bad habits from bosses who didn't know better?
I was troubleshooting a weak signal at a customer's house last Tuesday and must have spent 4 hours chasing noise on their line. Finally checked the ground block on the side of the house and it was one of those cheap plastic ones with the metal insert falling out. Took me 30 seconds to swap it and the problem disappeared. Cost me about $300 in lost time for that one stop since I had to push two other jobs to the next day. I thought I was being smart keeping a few of those blocks in my van from a bulk order I did years ago. Anyone else have a bad ground block cause a nightmare service call?
I did two jobs last month, one with crimp connectors and one with compression fittings on the same type of RG6. The crimp job had signal loss up to 3 dB after a rainstorm, but the compression job held steady. I'm leaning toward compression being better for weather resistance. What do you guys use when you have exposed cable runs?