c/cable-installers

That customer's 'fancy' wall mount cost me an extra hour in Phoenix

Read a post about a guy who found a hidden stud behind a plaster wall using a cheap magnet, saved him from drilling into a pipe. Tried it today on a tricky install and honestly, it beat my $200 finder on this old house. Anyone else got a weird tool trick they swear by when walls get sketchy?

That brand new crimping tool broke on the third job in Bakersfield

I picked up a fresh crimper last Tuesday thinking it would last me at least a year. Third house I hit, the ratchet just gave up and slipped right through the fitting. Didn't even get a solid connection, just a loose mess. I had to drive back to the shop for my old beat up one, which worked fine like it always does. Has anyone else had new tools fail way faster than the old standby gear? What brand actually holds up for you guys?

My coax stripper was backwards for 2 years until a newbie caught it

I've been doing residential installs for 6 years, and last month a guy fresh out of training looks at my prep work and goes, 'uh, you know the blade goes on the other side, right?' I had been using my strip tool upside down the whole time, which is why I always had to nick the dielectric with a knife to get a clean cut. It added maybe 30 seconds per drop, but on a 10 drop day that's 5 minutes, plus the occasional damaged connector that meant a redo. I checked my old crimps and sure enough, about 1 in 15 had a tiny burr that could cause signal loss. has anyone else had a basic tool habit that a rookie corrected, or am I the only one who spent years doing it wrong?

Old lady in Dayton taught me more about drops than my trainer

Tbh I was running a triple play install in Dayton last spring and this 70 something customer kept watching me fish a line through her crawlspace. She finally said, 'honey, you're fighting the joists, go around the ductwork.' I blew her off and spent 45 more minutes stuck. She handed me a wire coat hanger she'd bent into a hook and I had the line through in 5 minutes flat. Been using that same homemade hook on every hard drop since. Anyone else ever get schooled by a customer who used to do this job back in the day?

Why does nobody mention the tape measure trick for long drops?

I had a run up in Des Moines last month where the attic clearance was like 14 inches and I kept miscounting my drop length by a foot. Started marking the cable with a paint pen at the 10 foot mark before pulling and it saved me so many re-pulls, anyone else do something similar or am I just late to the party?

Found a squirrel living in a pedestal in Bakersfield

I popped a pedestal on a service call yesterday in Bakersfield and this fat squirrel had built a nest out of old coax shielding and chewed through two drops. It just sat there staring at me like I owed it rent, nut shells everywhere. Anyone else deal with wildlife in the box or is this just my luck?

My crimper died mid-job on a Friday afternoon in Austin

I was finishing up a new build in the Mueller neighborhood when my non-ratcheting crimper just snapped at the handle after maybe 300 terminations total. Had to drive 20 minutes to the nearest supply house that carried replacements, but they only had a different brand I'd never tried. Has anyone else had a favorite tool fail at the worst time and had to switch brands on the fly?

Just tried heat shrink connectors instead of twisting and taping on a big job near Dallas

I have always done twists and tape. Been doing it 12 years. Last week I had 86 drops in a new office building and decided to try those heat shrink butt connectors on a real job. Man. The difference in how clean the panel looked after. No bulky tape lumps. Took maybe the same time once I got the hang of it. What finally changed my mind was seeing a co-worker's panel from a job he did 18 months ago in Plano. Everything still tight, no corrosion marks. Mine from 10 months ago already had some green on the tape. Has anyone else made the switch and regretted it later or is it all good?

Just tried fiberglass fish sticks over steel ones

Had a crawl space job last week in an old house. Steel fish tape kept getting hung up on the cross bracing. Bought a fiberglass one from Home Depot for 40 bucks and it went through like butter. Any of you guys switched over and not looked back?

Spent 2 hours chasing a signal drop in a basement today

Turned out to be a bad barrel connector hidden behind a drop ceiling tile someone put in 15 years ago. Wish I would've just looked up first instead of checking every other possible spot. Anyone else find old work that makes you question who installed it?

Debate with a commercial installer about grounding blocks

He said bonding the ground to the water pipe is old school and coax surge protectors do it better, but after seeing a lightning hit take out his whole rack last spring I started wondering if the old ways actually had more layers of protection, what do you guys think?

I finally ditched the old screw terminal blocks for push-in connectors

I swapped to Wago style push-in connectors about two months ago. Now termination takes me maybe 30 seconds less per drop and I haven't had a single loose wire since. Has anyone else made that switch and noticed fewer callbacks?

That one Friday in July where every drop went wrong

I had to run 400 feet of aerial line through 3 oak trees in 95 degree heat. The landlord didn't mention the dog that would charge me twice. By the time I got the ground block on, my ladder slipped and I bent the coax connector. Has anyone else had a day where you should have just walked off the job?

Those cheap fiber cleavers on Amazon are a total scam.

I bought one for $35 last month. Figured it'd be fine for a few jobs. First cut actually looked okay. By the third cut it was leaving jagged edges everywhere. Tried to adjust it but the blade was already loose. Had to re-terminate 12 connectors because of bad cleaves. Wasted almost 2 hours and $20 in extra connectors. Buy a real cleaver or borrow one from your shop.

Was using the wrong compression fittings for 2 years

Finally figured out why my RG6 crimps kept failing on outdoor runs. A senior guy at the supply house in Denver showed me I was using the standard compression fittings instead of the weather sealed ones. The little rubber gasket at the base was the giveaway. That was the whole reason for signal loss every time it rained. Anyone else get stuck using the wrong hardware for way too long?

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?