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Re: [TowerTalk] Lightning protection

To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Lightning protection
From: Art Greenberg <art@artg.tv>
Date: Wed, 10 Jul 2013 09:55:45 -0400 (Eastern Daylight Time)
List-post: <towertalk@contesting.com">mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
On Wed, 10 Jul 2013, Jim Lux wrote:

they clearly make preterminated outdoor suitable cables, because that's what the Verizon FIoS guys use when doing installs.

I'd have thought that Verizon could afford to terminate on site. Or at least make their own assemblies for use in field install.

David did point to one on-line shop that does, which I missed. They don't give pricing on line, but claim a good selection and even offer to install a pull eye. I'll have to call them.

Yes, if you installed 1/2" conduit, it's not going to be easy to find a terminated cable that will fit.

That said, the connectors on the end of fiber are sort of about the size of an SMA connector. If you can pull coax with a PL259 on it through the conduit, then the fiber should be possible.

Its a 1-inch SCH40 conduit. It was put in many years ago by the previous owner of the property, and had been used to run power to the barn. I had a new, separate service installed, so I pulled the wires in anticipation of using it for something else. When I pulled the wires out of it, they were just a little wet.

L-com has a 50 meter duplex 62.5/125 cable with ST connectors for $77. The ST connector is pretty small. That's for a OFNR (riser) type cable.

Most of the outdoor cables I've seen have been more strands, though (6 or 12 seems common). I think that's because in most situations, the glass cost is small compared to the labor cost to pull the cable, so you might as well pull 12 and use 2, leaving 10 dark.

Hence my concern over pulling a preterminated cable. High strand count and perterminated probably means expensive, too. And I really would feel awful to cut off perfectly good terminations.

It also depends on what your standard of performance is. Maybe indoor cables will work just fine in your conduit, even with the water. Or maybe you'd have to pull new cables every 10 years or something.

I'm very curious about this. I'm going on information from one source who does this type of work.

The cable is obviously protected in the conduit, so I *think* the only concerns are pull tension and the possibility of small amounts of water.


--
Art Greenberg
WA2LLN
art@artg.tv

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