[Tfug] Cables -- postscript

[Bexley Hall]

Well, the third time's the charm...?

I built my third -- and final? -- CAT5 cable
this morning.  Piece of cake!  :>

*However*, I don't attribute this to my
proficiency at crimping  :-/

Rather, I note that this cable was built with
plenum cable -- solid wire instead of stranded
(yes, I know... better to use stranded for
cables that will see wear/ause but this will
be just fine for *my* use  :> ).  This makes
a *huge* difference in assembling the cable!

The solid conductors tend to "stay where you
put them".  By contrast, the stranded cables
wanted to return to their place in the bundle
as soon as you let go of them.  I.e., it is
harder to retrain lots of individual strands
to assume a new shape than it is to retrain
one *solid* strand!

I'm also wondering if the difference between
the stranded and solid *shells* has more to
do with the diameter of the insulation on
the individual conductors (?)  I noticed that
they "fed differently" into the shell than the
stranded conductors did.

<shrug>  Just figured it was a point worth
mentioning.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled
program...

--don


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