c/cable-installers

Talked to a 20 year vet in Atlanta and it changed how I run cable

I was on a job in Buckhead last Tuesday and ran into an old timer named Dave who does commercial installs. He told me he never uses pull string on long runs over 150 feet because he said it just adds friction and wastes time. He showed me his method of just taping the bundle every 4 feet with velcro and it cut my runtime by half. Has anyone else tried skipping the pull string on long conduit runs?

Warning: That free cable toner from a supplier nearly cost me a full day's work

Three months ago I took a free toner from a supplier at a job fair in Nashville. Used it on a tricky run in an old apartment building last Tuesday. The thing started beeping randomly on every wire I touched. Turns out it was crossing signals with a neighbor's setup and I spent 4 hours tracing the wrong line. Had to borrow a Fluke from a buddy to finish. Has anyone else had cheap toners give them false readings like that?

The quality drop in RG6 cable over the last 15 years is wild

I was digging through some old storage at the shop last week and found a roll of RG6 from like 2007. Compared it side by side with a new spool we got from the supplier last month. The old stuff has way thicker copper and the dielectric feels denser, not as squishy. I guess it makes sense with how much they've cut costs since then, but man it is a pain now when you have to bend cable around tight corners and the cheap stuff just kinks or breaks. I had a job in an old apartment building downtown last Tuesday where I had to rerun three lines because the new cable just would not hold up in the tight space behind the panel. Does anyone else notice the shielding is worse too? Like I swear I get more interference on long runs with this new batch we got from a place in Phoenix. Any tips on a brand that still makes decent stuff without paying an arm and a leg?

That time I finally figured out why my coax connectors kept failing

After about 80 bad connections in a row on a job site near Austin, I took a closer look and realized I was stripping the cable with way too much jacket left on, maybe a quarter inch too much. A senior guy named Dave walked over, saw me fighting with a compression fitting, and said "you're leaving too much dielectric, man." Once I trimmed it down to exactly 3/8 inch exposed, every single connection passed on the first try. Has anyone else had a similar "aha" moment on a basic step they thought they had down?

Shoutout to the retired electrician who showed me his trick for fishing wire through insulated walls

That fiber splice trainer lied about how many passes you need

Guy at the certification class said a mechanical splice should be good after 2-3 attempts. Took me 7 tries on a job in Detroit before I got a clean 0.2db reading. Anyone else notice those classroom setups are way easier than real conditions?

Had to pick between fiber and coax for a new apartment complex last month

I went with fiber because upload speeds were promised, but now I am dealing with a bunch of splices that keep failing on me, has anyone else had better luck with coax in multiunit builds?

Been crimping coax ends wrong for 6 years - strip gauge saved me

I always just eyeballed how much to strip off the coax before putting the connector on. Last week a customer in Denver complained about signal loss and I spent 2 hours troubleshooting before pulling out a strip gauge from my old Klein kit. Turns out I was taking off about 3/8 inch too much every single time. Has anyone else found that one simple tool or habit completely changed their install quality?

Just realized my crimper was the problem the whole time

I was out on a job last Tuesday at a house on Elm Street in Austin, fighting with a bad coax connector for 20 minutes. Kept getting intermittent signal and thought it was the cable itself. Turns out my cheap Klein crimper had worn down the die just enough to mess up the compression. Had to drive 30 minutes back to the shop to grab my backup, and it fixed it first try. Anyone else run into a tool wearing out in a way that threw you off?

Had to choose between a hammer drill and a rotary hammer for a concrete job

Last month I was on a job in an old apartment building and had to drill through 12 inches of reinforced concrete for a cable run. I brought both my regular hammer drill and my buddy's Bosch rotary hammer to compare. The hammer drill barely got through 4 inches before it started smoking and slowing down. Switched to the rotary hammer and it went through like butter in under 2 minutes. Anyone else find themselves carrying both just in case or do you pick one and stick with it?

Old timer in Toledo convinced me to stop using gel caps on drops

I used to put gel caps on every single drop, thought it was the professional way to go. Then this guy with 30 years in the trade took me on a ride along and showed me his method. He just uses electrical tape and a dab of silicone on the connector, been doing it that way for decades. I argued with him for a bit but he pointed out gel caps trap moisture in humid basements and cause corrosion later. Switched to his method about 6 months ago and haven't had a single callback for signal loss. Anyone else ditch gel caps for something simpler?

I finally checked the date code on that spool of RG6 I've been using for 2 years

Turns out it expired back in 2018 and I found out after a customer in Phoenix showed me his signal levels dropped 15 dB since his last install last month, has anyone else ever bothered looking at those stamps?

Spent 3 hours running a line only to find a rodent had chewed through the jacket

I was at a house off Maple Street in Dayton last Tuesday, fishing a new RG6 through a crawlspace for a TV install. Got all the way to the living room wall plate and tested the line, got zero signal all the way through. Turns out a mouse or something had gnawed right through the outer jacket near the furnace duct, and I had to pull the whole thing back and start over with a new spool. Has anyone else run into critter damage in older homes and found a way to prevent it without using metal conduit everywhere?

Switched from fiberglass to steel fish tape for conduit pulls

Honestly, I used fiberglass fish tape for years on residential jobs until I did a 150-foot pull through 2-inch PVC in a commercial building outside Austin. The fiberglass just kept getting stuck on the couplings and fraying. Ngl, the steel tape paid for itself after that one job. Anyone else find fiberglass only works for short, straight runs?

Had the worst Tuesday of my career pulling fiber in downtown Austin

I was trenching near a busy intersection and hit a abandoned gas line nobody marked, took out our whole crew's progress for 4 hours. My supervisor just shrugged and said 'welcome to utility work, kid' while I was standing in mud up to my ankles. Has anyone else dealt with unmarked lines that weren't on the blue stake request?

Just changed my mind about using flex bits after 12 years in the trade

Last week I was running cable through a finished basement in Denver and swore I'd never use a flex bit again after getting one stuck in a stud. But yesterday I watched a guy from Comcast pop through a triple top plate in under 3 minutes with a 6 foot Milwaukee bit and a cordless drill. He showed me how to use a magnet on the tip to find the exit hole. Now I'm thinking about giving them another shot. Anyone else had a bad first experience with flex bits that turned around later?

Fiber vs. coax for a 3-story apartment building I did last Tuesday - fiber won by a mile

Was running a new drop in a older building downtown. Had to decide between pulling new RG6 or running the fiber line they already had in the riser. Went with fiber after fighting with the coax splitters on the other floors for 20 minutes. Took me half the time once I swapped. Anyone else find fiber way easier in tricky multi-unit setups?

Bought a $150 toner and probe kit from Amazon - biggest waste of money this year

I needed to trace some lines in a new apartment building last month and figured I'd save a few bucks. Picked up this no-name toner kit for $150 instead of renting a proper one from the supply house. The probe wouldn't hold a signal past 30 feet and kept picking up interference from the fluorescent lights. I spent 4 hours trying to make it work and ended up calling my buddy to borrow his Fluke. Lost a full afternoon of billable time plus the $150. Anyone else get burned by cheap test gear they thought would work?

Rant: Wasted $200 on a fancy crimper that couldn't handle basic RG6

Bought this high-end crimper off some website last month thinking it would speed up my jobs. First time I used it on a connector it bent the pin sideways and ruined three fittings in a row. Tried adjusting it for an hour before tossing it in the trash and grabbing my old $30 one from the van. Turns out the fancy one was made for some weird European coax size not common here. Anyone else fall for a tool that looked good but just didn't work?

Pulled 500 feet of coax through a 3/4 inch conduit this morning in Phoenix without a single snag

I had this job where the customer wanted a new line to their backyard shed. The conduit was already buried (thankfully) but it was that skinny 3/4 inch stuff. Normally I hate those because the cable always gets stuck halfway. I tried the old trick of taping a piece of string to a shop vac and sucking it through first. Then tied the coax to the string and pulled. Worked perfect. No lube either (which I usually forget anyway). Has anyone else tried the vacuum method for tight runs? My buddy says he just uses a fish tape but that never works for me in small conduit.

PSA: I finally stopped using electrical tape for everything after a fire chief talked to me at a job in Nashville

He was inspecting our work behind a new apartment complex and told me tape fails in heat, showed me scorch marks from a previous install. That got me to switch to heat shrink for all my outdoor connections. Anyone else had a close call with tape melting?

Cat 6 keystone jack failed after 3 months in an office building downtown

Replaced 24 jacks in a medical office last Tuesday because the factory crimp job was loose on half of them, has anyone else had that problem with pre-terminated faceplates?

Remember when we used to fish coax with a tape measure and a prayer?

I started doing cable work in the late 90s in Phoenix. We'd run RG6 through attics and just hope we had enough slack. No toner, no fancy tester. Just a 25 foot tape and a flashlight. Now I got a whole kit with a signal meter and a tracer that beeps. Got my first Fluke meter about 5 years ago and it changed everything. But I still catch myself eyeballing a run sometimes. Anyone else still use the old methods out of habit?

Can we talk about how people run coax through the same hole as electrical?

I swear I see this on almost every service call lately. Last Tuesday I pulled a drop at an older house and found coax sharing a 3/4 inch hole with 14-2 Romex about 4 feet from the panel. I get that it saves time on a new build, but I've seen interference on HD channels more than once from that setup. Am I wrong for stopping and re-drilling a separate hole every time, or is this just how crews do it now?

Hit 10,000 feet of cable pulled this week and it hit different

Ngl, I didn't think much of it until I did the math in the truck yesterday. 10,000 feet in 5 days on a new build near Columbus. Just a solid grind that reminded me why I still love this trade. Anyone else track their weekly totals or am I just bored?