I bought one of these many years ago when I was building many custom length cables.  I will swear by it, and I've never had a bad cable that tested good.

https://www.flukenetworks.com/enterprise-network/network-testing/CableIQ-Qualification-Tester 

It's pricey, but it meets all your requirements and to boot, it's quite rugged, mine has fallen from a 12 foot ceiling joist to the concrete below, bounced once, and shows nothing but a couple scratches on one corner.

 -Chris

On Fri, May 29, 2020 at 1:37 PM Aaron Spangler <aaron777@gmail.com> wrote:
BTW I learned a long time ago the reason why tdrs are so expensive is because of the cost of certification of each device. (think human hours) 

On Fri, May 29, 2020, 1:34 PM Aaron Spangler <aaron777@gmail.com> wrote:
I made a simple one the other day. It can do LF/MF(not UHF+)  style TDF if you push it in code. That's how I found the wires were continuous but paired wrong in one cable. See http://www.kg7bhp.org/2020/05/simple-tdr.html

One could expand on that. I just threw it together after a bit. There are some mods we could do to test the shielding for common mode currents. But it the package would need to be cleaned up rather than in breadboard form.

On Fri, May 29, 2020, 1:21 PM Steve <stevewa206@gmail.com> wrote:
Also, when I had to use shielded cable....buying tested pre terminated is also a good way to go if you know the distance  and have the weather proof shells that can accommodate it.....   sometimes can’t be done.

Steve 

On Fri, May 29, 2020 at 1:18 PM Darcy Buskermolen <darcyb@gmail.com> wrote:
Correct, STP = Shielded Twisted Pair, vs UTP un-shielded twisted pair, which is what you normally see in everyday ethernet cable. 

On Fri, May 29, 2020 at 1:15 PM Kenny Richards <richark@gmail.com> wrote:
Darcy - For those of us not in the know, what does "STP" stand for?  I'm guessing it has todo with testing the shield termination?  (Google failed me trying to look it up)

Thanks
Kenny

On Fri, May 29, 2020 at 1:07 PM Darcy Buskermolen <darcyb@gmail.com> wrote:
Yes such a device does exist,  they are going to be $$, a fluke or lantech unit will be well north of $1000.00 per test setup. STP make the options less readily available.  You certainly want something more involved than a simple cable map function.  

If STP can be removed from the must-have list, then https://pockethernet.com/ is a decent value proposition

On Fri, May 29, 2020 at 12:51 PM Steve <stevewa206@gmail.com> wrote:
Maybe get Fluke to donate?  Anybody have connections or work for them?

Just a thought.

Steve N0FPF

On Fri, May 29, 2020 at 12:37 PM Bart Kus <me@bartk.us> wrote:
HamWAN is in the business of deploying lots of long CAT5 cables,
terminated by amateurs, in remote locations.  We often have a hard time
getting the terminations right.  In the worst cases, the problems are
only discovered once the cables are installed on a tower, and need to be
re-terminated up there.  A method of testing the cables before
installing them would save us headaches and speed up deploys.

Can someone volunteer to lead an effort to research the market and
select an appropriate cable tester?  HamWAN would then purchase at least
2 of these, and keep them with folks who are doing site deploys.

Here are some requirements I'd like the tester to meet:

0) The tester is a reliable quality device.
1) Ability to detect proper shield termination, since we use shielded
CAT5 to keep RFI down.
2) Ability to report performance characteristics of the cable, beyond a
simple pass/fail LED.
3) Ability to operate in rainy conditions.
4) Battery powered, preferably rechargeable.
5) UI friendly to color-blind people.  :)

Additional requirement suggestions welcome.

--Bart

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