I was doing a standard install on a two story house, running the coax from the pole to the side of the house. Got about halfway up the ladder when the tension let go and the line whipped back at me. Missed my face by maybe a foot. I checked the clamp on the pole and it was corroded bad, should have spotted it sooner. Now I'm double checking every anchor point before I climb. Anyone else had a close call like that?
I had five jobs scheduled and every single one went sideways. First house had a dog that wouldn't stop barking at me from the basement while I ran lines. Third stop I drilled into a pipe in the wall and water started spraying everywhere, took me an hour to patch it up. By the fifth job my crimping tool broke and I had to drive 20 minutes back to the van for my old backup one. Customer at the fourth house kept asking if I could move her furniture while I worked, like I'm a mover not a cable guy lol. Has anyone else had a week where it feels like the universe is just against you?
They pulled 800 feet of cable through a 4 inch pipe that was half full of mud and it worked perfectly. Has anyone else tried this instead of trenching?
I figured spending a bit more would get me something that lasts, but the handle started slipping after maybe 15 jobs. The blade keeps catching on the plastic too, which never happened with my old $30 one from Home Depot. Talked to a few guys on a job site in Denver and they all said the same thing about that model. Should I just go back to the cheap ones or is there a mid-range option that actually works? Anyone else had issues with that brand lately?
I was swapping out a run at this old apartment complex downtown last week and had to go up from the basement through a fire stop. My fish rod bent so bad I thought it was gonna snap. I always figured stiffer meant better but then this old sparky I ran into at the supply house told me sometimes you want a little flex to get around those tight corners. That got me thinking. Is there a sweet spot for rod stiffness or am I overthinking this? What do you guys run for those nasty vertical drops through multiple floors?
Just finished a big apartment complex job in Phoenix where we had to terminate 500 coax drops in 5 days. That's 100 terminations a day, no room for sloppy work because every unit had to pass signal testing on the first try. My thumb is still numb from squeezing the compression tool, and I went through 3 pairs of gloves. The worst part was the heat in the attic crawl spaces, but we got it done with zero re-dos. Has anyone else hit a crazy termination count like that and found ways to keep your hands from cramping up?
Last week I was on a job in a new development in Austin where the builder wanted drops in every room, but the customer said they only needed two. I'm torn because running extra lines now saves headaches later when they add a bedroom TV or office. What do you all do, run the extra cable upfront or wait until they call you back?
I was at a job last week in an apartment building downtown and the customer's TV kept cutting out. I checked everything, connectors, splitters, even the drop. Then the old guy who lives there walks over and watches me for a minute. He says 'you're nicking the copper, that's your problem.' I had been stripping cable with the cheap tool from my van kit and leaving tiny cuts on the center conductor for YEARS. He showed me his method using a utility knife at a specific angle. Fixed the signal loss on the spot. Has anyone else ever had a basic step embarrass them in front of a customer?
He said every 12 inches on vertical runs, 18 on horizontal. Fixed my sagging cat6 problem in a second. Anyone else got spacing rules they swear by?
I was doing a new install in Phoenix last August and the crawlspace was maybe 18 inches high. I spent 4 hours on my knees running coax and by the end my knees were bruised and bloody. A buddy of mine told me about these gel knee pads he uses for tile work so I grabbed a pair. Has anyone else found a good solution for those tight spaces or am I just getting old?
I had a job last week in a 1970s apartment building in Denver where the walls were all concrete block. No way to drill through them. The customer wanted cable in two bedrooms on opposite sides of the unit. I remembered an old HVAC guy told me once that some buildings have unused ventilation ducts from before they sealed things up. So I popped a register cover off in the hallway and sure enough there was a metal duct that went nowhere. I fed a glow rod through it and pulled both lines in about 15 minutes. But here is the debate part - some installers say running cable through ducts is against fire code or can mess with air flow. Others say if the duct is sealed off and not used it is fine. Does anyone else take shortcuts like this or do you stick to drilling through block every time?
I was on a new apartment complex job over in Columbus last Tuesday, running lines from the basement to the top floor. By the time I packed up my truck, I had pulled 5000 feet of RG6 before lunch. Anyone else ever hit a number like that and stop to realize how much the job has changed since the days of running quad shield by hand?
I bought this cheap $40 termination kit off Amazon last fall, and I was sure it was gonna be junk. The cleaver felt flimsy and the crimper looked like a toy compared to my buddy's $200 setup. But I used it on a rush job in a tight attic crawlspace last week, and honestly it worked fine. The connectors seated clean and the loss reading was under 0.5dB. Has anyone else had a budget tool surprise them or am I just lucky?
I grabbed a $8 stripper from the hardware store last week and it snapped the dielectric clean off on 3 out of 4 connectors. Anyone else had that happen with lower end tools on the thicker cables?
I had a line in a downtown Denver office building that was completely dead. Usually I just swap ends and hope for the best, but I grabbed the Klein VDV Scout Pro and the tone tracer for once. After about 20 minutes of tracing, I found a staple driven right through the jacket under a drop ceiling tile. Never woulda spotted it without the tone, so I'm sold on using that combo for all dead runs now. Any of you guys actually use the tone feature regular or just me?
Been using the same Fluke meter for 7 years and figured those $40 testers were garbage but grabbed one for a backup. Three jobs in and the thing gave me a false reading on a 200 foot run that had me chasing a ghost for two hours. Anyone else had one of these cheap testers burn them on a job?
I was out on a job in North Austin running a line for a new build and my brand new spool of RG6 just totally locked up on the reel. Tried to pull off about 50 feet and it started kinking so bad I had to cut it and waste like 15 feet of cable. Ended up having to go back to the truck and grab an older spool I had sitting there to finish the run. Has anyone else had this happen with the new spools from the supply house lately or is it just my bad luck?
I spent 3 hours last Tuesday trying to run coax through a finished basement ceiling with a standard fish tape and kept getting snagged on insulation. Turns out if you tape a strong magnet to your fish tape and have someone hold another magnet on the ceiling drywall, you can guide it way faster. Has anyone else tried this trick or got a better method for tight spaces?
This old timer named Dave saw me struggling with a tough attic run and told me to use a glow rod with a piece of heat shrink on the tip instead of a fish tape. I thought he was full of it (you know how some guys love to give unsolicited advice), but I gave it a shot on a two-story house with blown-in insulation. It slipped through the insulation way easier and I avoided snagging on every joist like I normally do with my fish tape. I finished that whole drop in under 30 minutes when I usually budget an hour for attics that bad. Has anyone else tried swapping out their fish tape for a glow rod in tight spaces?
Was splicing a main line in a new apartment complex outside Phoenix when the screen went dark and the unit just stopped. Tried swapping batteries and resetting it but nothing happened, had to drive 45 minutes back to the shop for a backup. Anyone else had a Fujikura just quit on them with no warning?
I bought this expensive Klein crimper off a FB marketplace ad thinking it'd save me time on coax connectors. Took me 3 hours to figure out it was for some weird military spec cable I never even see. The guy said it worked for standard RG6 but it kept crushing the connectors wrong and I ruined like 20 ends. Should've just stuck with my old generic one that cost $40 from Home Depot. Any of you guys ran into this where a tool just straight up lies about what it works with?
For years I used generic toner in my HP LaserJet because it's half the price. Figured it all comes from the same factory anyway. Last month I printed 200 service orders for a job in Austin and half of them came out streaky. Had to redo every single page, wasted a whole Saturday. The client was ticked off because the labels looked unprofessional. I finally caved and bought genuine HP toner and the difference is night and day. No streaks, no jams, just clean prints every time. Anyone else have a bad experience with off-brand printer supplies?
Found out last Thursday that touching the fiber end with your bare fingers even for a second leaves an oil residue that can mess up the signal. I read it in a FOA newsletter after I had three bad splices in a row on a job over in Greenwood. The oil from your skin is enough to scatter the light and cause loss readings over 0.5 dB. Has anyone else been taught this trick or did I just miss it in training?
Talked to an old timer named Dave from Denver last week. He said if you snap a fish stick on a tough attic pull, you eat the cost because it's part of the job. But I've lost 4 sticks in 3 months on old homes with blown insulation. That's $60 out of my pocket. My boss says tack it onto the bill as a materials charge. Dave says that's bad business and makes us look cheap. What do you guys do when you break gear on a rough run?