Loading…
7
Had a drop where the signal tested fine at the tap but dead at the box, 3 hours of my life gone
Was out in Mesa on a Tuesday job, older neighborhood, homeowner had been without internet for 4 days and was not happy to see me. Tested at the tap, -2 dBmV, clean as could be. Tested at the ground block, still clean. Ran a new jumper to the modem and nothing, no signal at all. Turned out a landscaper had nicked the buried drop about 20 feet from the house and water got in the shield, so it read fine on a short test but crapped out the second any real load hit it. I ended up running a temp line across the yard just to get her back online that night and came back Friday to bury a new one. How do you guys catch a partial shield fault fast without swapping the whole drop first?
1 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In1 Comment
alices166d ago
Ugh, been there way too many times. First thing I do now is throw a toner on the drop and wet the shield, or just wiggle the cable at the suspect spot while watching the meter under load. If you've got one, a TDR will show you exactly where the nick is, saves you from pulling the whole run. Nine times out of ten the water in the shield thing shows up as soon as you put any real current through it.
1