Been running cable for my company for 8 years now. Always did the standard 2 inch strip like everyone taught me. Then this 60 year old retired installer stopped by a job in Akron last Tuesday and told me to strip 3 inches on every coax termination. Said it prevents the dielectric from cracking near the compression point. Tried it on a 50 unit apartment complex this week. Zero fails on the signal meter after terminating all 120 ends. That extra inch really does let the connector seat better without stress. Anyone else heard this trick or got other old school tips that actually work?
I was out in Riverside yesterday finishing up a new install and the homeowner pointed to this old junction box in the garage. Said he tried to move it himself and got a tingle off the cover. I popped it open carefully and there was a splice from like 15 years ago with no tape on the ground wire, just loose. Lucky he didn't get hit harder. It really made me wonder how many other hidden time bombs are out there in older houses. Has anyone else run into sketchy old splices that were barely holding together?
Had a guy named Rick from Comcast tell me 2 years ago to never use that silicone gel on coaxial terminations. I laughed it off at first because everyone in my old crew used it. Fast forward to last month when I got called back to a job I did 18 months ago and found three fittings completely corroded at the connection point. Rick was 100% right and I wasted a whole Saturday fixing my own mess. Has anyone else had a seasoned installer give you advice that saved your butt later?
I took a rewire job at a house built in 1923 in Elmhurst last summer. The attic had blown-in cellulose so deep you couldn't see the joists, and it was 105 degrees up there by noon. After I fell through the ceiling sheetrock into a kid's bedroom, I swore off any attic work over 100 degrees unless the homeowner clears it out first. Any of you guys have a hard rule you set after a bad job site experience?
I was working a new build in Phoenix last July and this guy named Frank who's been installing since the 80s kept telling me to leave a 3 foot service loop at every drop. I thought he was being old school and wasteful so I trimmed them all down to about 6 inches. Three months later the homeowner decided to move the TV to the opposite wall and my short runs were useless. Had to run all new lines and spent 4 hours in a 110 degree attic cursing Frank's name. Anyone else learn a lesson the hard way from ignoring the veterans in this trade?
I was troubleshooting a customer's internet drop in Ohio last week and finally found the problem. They had a 3-way splitter from the dollar store feeding three TV boxes. I swapped it out for a quality 2-way with a 75 ohm terminator on the unused port. Downstream signal went from -15 dBmV to -7 dBmV after the swap. The customer said their streaming stopped buffering immediately. Has anyone else seen that much difference just from swapping a splitter?
I've always been the guy who says pre-polished ends are for rookies. But after terminating 48 drops on a new apartment building near downtown last week, my left hand was cramping up something fierce from all the cleaving and polishing. A coworker let me try his single-mode pre-polished connector kit for the last 8 runs. No polishing, no crap with epoxy, just strip and crimp. Time per drop went from about 9 minutes down to 4. The light readings were within 0.1 dB of my hand-polished ones too. Has anyone else switched over and seen similar time savings on multi-unit jobs?
Went out to a new subdivision in Fresno last week to run cable for a family friend and noticed they used those old screw-on F connectors instead of compression fittings. I asked the lead installer about it and he said it's what the boss buys because they're cheaper, but I had to re-crimp three of them before I got a solid signal. Anyone else run into builders cutting corners like that on new construction?
I wrapped up a new build basement in Lancaster last Friday, four drops all run neat and tidy through the joists. Monday morning he calls me and says he wants the TV outlet moved from the south wall to the north wall, plus wants an extra data line in the office. So I spent Tuesday pulling out all my work and starting fresh, which added about four hours to a job I already priced tight. To top it off, he watched me the whole time and kept asking if I could "just hide it better" every five minutes. Has anyone else dealt with customers who change the plan after you button everything up? How do you handle the extra time without eating the cost?
He wanted every single line stapled flat against the studs with zero slack, even in the attic where nobody sees it. Has anyone else run into homeowners who want cable runs that look like they're competing for a straightness award?
Ngl, I was out in Butler County on a new build and the customer wanted internet in a detached garage about 200 feet from the house. I had to choose between burying a fiber line or running a coaxial cable overhead through some tree branches. I picked fiber because the ground was already soft from rain and I figured it would handle future speeds better. Honestly, digging that trench took me like 3 hours with a shovel since I didnt have a trencher on hand. The fiber went in smooth and I terminated it at both ends, but I got dirt in my boots and my back is killing me now. Has anyone else dealt with long runs to outbuildings and regretted going one route over the other?
I've been installing cable for about 3 years and last month I hit 500 calls completed. That made me realize I've probably stepped into more attics and crawl spaces than most people see in a lifetime. Has anyone else tracked their total and been surprised by the number?
I keep seeing guys at my shop in Nashville grabbing the tone generator for every single cable pull, even when we're just checking for a basic short or open. Meanwhile, I still use my old Fluke continuity tester for 90% of residential rough-ins because it's faster and tells me what I need without the extra setup. But then we had a job last month where a neighbor's buried cable was causing noise, and tone tracing found it in 15 minutes where continuity was useless. So which do you rely on more day to day, and why?
I had a job last week in an old house in Richmond where I needed to run a line from the basement to the second floor attic. Looked simple on paper, but the fire blocks were placed in the worst spots ever. I spent a solid 2 hours just trying to find a path through the walls with my glow rod. Then I hit a nail plate that stopped me dead for another hour. Ended up having to drill three extra holes in the drywall and patch them after. My boss was not happy when I rolled in 4 hours late to the next job. The whole thing took me from 9am to 2pm and I didn't even have lunch. Has anyone else dealt with those old balloon-frame houses that seem designed to make you suffer?
I was at the supply house grabbing some RG6 yesterday and an old timer showed me how he strips cable with just his teeth in a pinch. Said it saves him 10 minutes per job when his crimper is buried in the truck. Anyone else got a weird shortcut like that?
I had a day last month where I pulled up to a job in Pittsburgh and the customer had already run all the lines through the attic for me. Found out later he used to be a sparky and just wanted to save some cash. Finished 3 hours early and got paid for the full day. Anyone else ever have a customer actually make the job easier instead of harder?
I was halfway through terminating a 48-port patch panel when my Klein crimper just snapped at the hinge. Had to drive 20 miles to the nearest supply house to grab a replacement while the client's IT guy stood there tapping his foot. Anyone else had a favorite tool quit on them at the worst possible moment?
Was doing a service call in a condo building and the neighbor was complaining about a cable jack that got pushed back into the drywall. Guy said his installer just shoved it in and left. Makes me wonder how many guys are skipping the low voltage bracket step. You ever get called back for something that just got tucked behind the wall instead of mounted right?
I was working a new build last Tuesday up in the attic and watched another installer yank his RG6 straight into a compression fitting. Three seconds later the center conductor snapped off inside the connector. I've seen this exact thing happen at least 15 times on different jobs. A quick 90 degree bend with your fingers before you strip the jacket saves you the headache. Any of you guys run into this on your crews too?
He swore by leaving a drip loop and using weatherproof silicone tape instead. Six months later, none of my connections have corroded like the ones I did before.
I did my first all-fiber install in a new subdivision near Austin last spring and now going back to old copper houses feels like I'm wrestling a snake in a bucket, has anyone else noticed how much cleaner fiber jobs look start to finish?
We had a 400a panel that looked like a rat's nest of cables after three different crews touched it. 8 hours of labeling and rerouting later, I can actually trace every line without pulling my hair out. Anyone else deal with panels that got handed off too many times?
Picked up a no-name cable tester for $18 because I figured it would speed things up on a new build in Aurora last Tuesday. Got through 60 feet of Cat6 runs, terminated everything, and the tester said all pairs were good. Hooked up the gear and nothing worked. Replaced terminations, still dead. Finally busted out my Fluke and found the 4-5 pair was shorted inside a wall plate. That Amazon special never caught it, and I lost 4 hours of time and 3 service calls. Anyone else trust a cheap tester and get burned?
I was running a line through a tight attic space near a house on Maple Street last Thursday, and the homeowner's comment got under my skin. He watched me fight with spider webs and 130 degree heat for 45 minutes and still thought his YouTube video made him an expert. Has anyone else had to bite their tongue when a customer downplays the actual labor involved in this job?