Tru2Way has hit two markets so far. Denver and Chicago. I was lucky enough to shadow an install in the Chicago market of Comcast. Luckily it was a non-event! Before I get into detail, for the tech, find a comfy spot to sit in the home because the provisioning side will take about 1/3 to 1/2 of your total install time. For the customer, get that kid a glass of water at least. Because he is nervous and hoping the one half of the install he has no control over goes smooth! As are we all.

To start lets go over some loose specs.

     Now that we know what we are shooting for we went about cleaning up the existing cabling. Replacing the deteriorated ground, changing out weatherd and poorly made connectors and running a fresh RG11 in place of the dogged RG6 MidSpan drop. There was also an amp inside that was powering 3 outlets. With +15/+15 at the groundblock we really couldnt guess why the amp was ever in play. As shown in the image to the right there is a line leading from the tap leg of the DC6 that was previously cut and just hanging off of the configuration. The DC6 is completely uneeded and simply just cutting more signal for no reason before it heads inside to ultimately hit another uneeded amp. Effecient cabling shouldnt be an art, but it is rarely given the consideration it deserves. New ground, connectors, housebox.

     The fitting to the left is sucked out. Majorly sucked out. This connector is shown above, coming from the 2way into the home. This is paerhaps what warranted the amp that we removed. However cutting a new fitting might have been a little more effecient. Working smart not hard. Words were never more true.

     Sucked out fittings are generally caused by careless connector prepping but can also be caused by extreme weather conditions that force the dialectric to retract back into the well of the fitting. This compromises the integrity of the signal isolation and usually pulls the center conductor or "Stinger" out of the port it is seated in. Be it a tap port or groundblock/splitter port.

     The fitting here was feeding the upstairs and hitting 3 tvs. No amp on that line but picture quality wasnt too great either. What you see to the left is weather damage and a bit of corrosion starting. Couple that with an unterminated line hanging off of an uneeded DC and you have a pretty horrible and ineffecient cabling system. All of which can be rectified in a good solid 5 minutes. 

Still with me? Now that our cabling is effecient and clean once again, On to the meat of the install. Provisioning.

    CableTechs.org has long since suffered from inadequate hosting. This year will mark the end of its 4 year relationship with SITE5. Countless complaints from patient forum goers are about to be answered. CT.org is currently investigating new hosts for reliability.

    Since CableTechs is a virtual 3.0 version we expect some new and welcomed traffic. For the first time in this sites history sections are being created and opened up to the general public. Information contained within the tech forum will also be shared on the main sites forum. Various techniques, challenges and insights will be published right here for all to view. Our brash and gnarley group of cable techs are emmerging from the cave of the tech forum and populating the Main Sites general forum. Ready and eager to help with issues, answer questions or just talk shop.

     As of the publishing of this article the General Forum is still in development. Sections are not yet set, formats and configurations are also still in a sandbox mode. This doesnt mean you cannot join and play in the sand with us! We will be reaching out to a select few as well to help keep things in line and shore up any technological defecencies. In the near future a newsletter will be mailed out inviting those back to CableTechs. Those that either didnt bother to become verified after thier registration or did not qualify under the Tech Forums registration guidelines.

     We at CableTechs look forward to this next incarnation of the site and feel comfortable in this new direction. Please join us if you have a minute and provide any feedback, and needs you can think of. CableTechs has always been a loosely moderated member driven forum.  One this newsman is happy to be a part of.

Who else is excited?!

Hell yeah you are!