c/cable-installers

That electrician who told me to stop using Klein cutters for coax

Guy from a job site in Chicago kept saying my Klein cutters were dulling too fast on coax cable. I told him I'd been using them for years no problem. After 3 more cuts that shredded the jacket, I finally tried his recommendation for a cheap pair of ideal strippers instead. Night and day difference, the coax comes out clean every time now. Anyone else been stubborn about switching tools and regretted it?

Old timer in Spokane told me to stop using fish tape for attic pulls, said I was making it harder on myself

So I'm working this new construction build up north and the lead installer, guy's been doing this since the 80s, watches me fight with a fish tape through blown insulation for like 20 minutes. He walks over, says "put that thing down and get a glow rod set." I told him I've always used fish tape, it's what I learned on. He just shrugs and walks off. After another 15 minutes of sweating and cursing, I grabbed his glow rods. That first pull took me maybe 5 minutes tops. No snags, no fighting the tape kinking up. Has anyone else made the switch and actually stuck with it?

Why does nobody warn you about the phone line voltage shift after a rain storm

I went back to a customer's house last week after a heavy downpour and my meter showed 12 volts less on the same pair than I measured dry. Has anyone else noticed the copper getting weird after a soak like that, or am I chasing ghosts?

Had a splicer die on me mid-job yesterday in Raleigh

Was working on a 36-count fiber terminal and my fusion splicer just gave out after the third splice, no warning or error code. I ended up having to borrow a guy's old mechanical splicer from his truck to finish the job, but that took twice as long. Do you carry a backup splicer on site or just gamble with maintenance schedules?

Bought a $200 cable toner that couldn't find a wire 3 feet away

Grabbed a top rated Klein toner off Amazon because my old one died. Spent 2 hours chasing a dead signal on a run that was literally in plain sight. Anyone else had a modern toner just crap out on them?

Contractor grade NOT always better - my Klein cutter snapped yesterday

Was finishing a termination at a house off Maple Drive yesterday. Went to snip some excess coax and my Klein cutters just snapped at the hinge. Middle of the job, customer watching me. Had to borrow some rusty pair from the homeowner to finish. Anyone else have a trusted brand fail on you like that?

That time I found a raccoon living inside a cable vault at the Johnson's Creek substation

I was doing a routine splice at the Johnson's Creek substation off Route 42 last Tuesday when I popped the lid on an underground vault and heard snarling. Turns out a raccoon had built a nest right on top of the fiber tray and chewed through three strands of 48-count. It took me and a guy from the county 45 minutes to coax it out with a broom and a trash can. Has anyone else dealt with animals nesting in weird spots like that?

Spent 2 years stripping coax wrong before a senior guy corrected me

I always used my utility knife to score the jacket and then just pulled it off. Sometimes it would nick the braid or even the dielectric. Last month an old timer watched me do it and handed me a proper coax stripping tool. Took me 10 seconds to strip a clean end after that. Anyone else hold onto bad habits because nobody told you different?

Rant: That one customer who insisted I drill through her crown molding

Had a lady in a 1920s craftsman house who wanted the coax run hidden behind her new crown molding, even after I told her it'd crack the plaster underneath. She stood there with her arms crossed and said "just be careful" like that would stop gravity. Has anyone else had to deal with people who don't get that some walls just aren't meant for perfect cable runs?

That weird twist on RG6 I kept noticing at apartment complexes

I was doing a bulk install at a complex on 5th Ave last month and kept seeing these sharp 90 degree bends right at the wall plate. People were basically kinking the cable with a pair of pliers to get it to fit behind the faceplate. It took me like 3 service calls that week alone to fix signal loss that was totally preventable. Has anyone else run into this where a little extra slack and a gentle loop would have saved everyone the headache?

Showerthought: The elderly lady who showed me a better way to fish cable

I was running coax through a drop ceiling in an old folks' home near Wichita last spring, struggling with a fish tape that kept snagging on insulation. An 82-year-old resident shuffled over with her walker and said, 'Honey, put a magnet on the end of your tape, it'll glide right past the metal studs.' I mean, I felt dumb for not thinking of it myself, but she was spot on - that trick saved me 45 minutes on that one run. Has anyone else gotten killer tips from a customer or passerby like that?

PSA: That attic pull cord snapped on me mid-pull in a customer's house last Tuesday

I was running a new drop through a tight attic space over in Oakwood and the old string broke right as I had the cable halfway pulled, leaving me to fish out a new pull line blind through blown insulation for 45 minutes - has anyone found a good trick to avoid busted pull cords in dusty attics?

Just hit 5000 feet of coax pulled in one day by myself

I was running line through a new apartment complex in Phoenix and the foreman challenged me to beat my personal best. Ended up at 5030 feet by quitting time and my shoulders feel like they're on fire today. Has anyone else tried to track their daily footage and found a trick to push past 4000?

That cheap toner probe from Harbor Freight actually worked for me

I was always skeptical of those $20 toner probes but picked one up on a whim last Tuesday at the Harbor Freight in Akron. Used it to trace a line through a nightmare ceiling in a 1970s office building and it picked up the signal clear as day. Has anyone else had good luck with budget toner probes for runs over 100 feet?

The BEFORE and AFTER on shielded cat6 is NIGHT AND DAY for me

I used to think shielded cable was a waste of money. That was before I ran 200 feet next to a fluorescent light fixture in a commercial building downtown. After I swapped to shielded cat6 and actually grounded both ends properly, my packet loss went from 15% to zero. The interference from those old ballasts was destroying my signal the whole time and I could not see it. Has anyone else had a big moment like this where you realized the standard unshielded stuff just is not enough?

The Tuesday that every attic was full of bird nests

Last Tuesday I had three back to back attic jobs and every single one had a bird nest wrapped right around the cable drop. The third one was so bad the customer said they'd been hearing scratching for months and didn't think to check. Has anyone else run into a season where nests just pop up nonstop?

Switched to a coax prep tool and cut my install time by 20 minutes

For years I was just using a basic knife and stripper for every coax end. Always had a couple that tested bad or needed re-done. Finally picked up one of those 3-in-1 prep tools at a supply house for like $15. No more nicked shielding or messed up dielectric. Has anyone else had that moment where you can't believe you didn't switch sooner?

Clients keep asking me to hide splitters behind drywall and it drives me nuts

I've been doing cable installs for over 15 years now. Back in the early 2000s, nobody wanted splitters hidden in walls because they knew they'd need access. Now every homeowner or GC tells me to just bury the splitter and call it clean. I had a job last month near Columbus where I refused and the guy got mad. Then 6 months later his signal dropped and he had to cut a hole in his finished basement ceiling anyway. Has anyone else had luck convincing people not to do this?

My uncle's advice about stretching RG6 before clamping saved my bacon last week

He told me to always pull a good 6 inches of slack before locking it in the compression fitting. I ignored him on a job in a tight attic crawlspace and the connector popped right off after I shifted the cable - took me 20 minutes to redo it. Anyone else have a relative's tip that turned out to be gold?

Wasted 3 hours on a cheap toner that kept giving false readings

Picked up a $15 toner from a flea market last week thinking it would save me some cash, but it kept beeping on every wire in the wall and I couldn't trace a single line. After ripping open two drywall patches for nothing I finally used my coworker's Fluke and found the right cable in 5 minutes. Anyone else ever get burned by a bargain tool that just made the job worse?

Old timer told me to stop using compression fittings on overhead drops

Guy with 30 years in the trade saw me putting a compression connector on a line running across a ceiling joist. He told me I was asking for trouble because the cable weight would eventually pull it loose. Six months later I got a callback from that same house and sure enough the fitting had slipped and the connection was dead. Has anyone else noticed compression fittings sagging over long spans like that?

Switched from crimp connectors to compression fittings for outdoor cable runs

Last month I did 12 house re-runs using compression fittings after years of using crimp connectors, and not a single one has come back with signal loss. The water sealing on these is just way better (obviously) but has anyone else found they last longer in wet weather?

The day I found a raccoon living in a customer's attic cable run

I was out on a service call in Oak Park last Tuesday and opened up the attic access to find a whole nest of shredded insulation and coax cable. A raccoon had chewed through three of the lines and dragged them into its den. I had to call my supervisor to get permission to reschedule, then spent 45 minutes rerouting the whole drop through the garage instead. Has anyone else dealt with animal damage this bad on a standard install?

Spotted a new apartment complex in Austin running all their cables through a central chase instead of drilling through each unit

Was doing a drop in a new build over on Riverside last week and noticed the MDF had a big vertical chase going up through all 4 floors. Every unit gets fed from that one path. No more punching through fire stops or fishing walls in each apartment. Way cleaner install. The super said it added about 3 grand to the build but saved them a ton in callbacks. Has anyone else seen builders start doing this or is it still rare where you are?

Pro tip: I used to run RG6 through conduits with zero lube until I snapped a 200 foot pull on a 100 degree day in Phoenix