On the lower end, Klein Tools has some nice units. This one will determine cable length which can be really useful for us: Klein Tools VDV501-851 - Scout Pro 3 Tester Starter Kit <https://www.tequipment.net/Klein-Tools/VDV501-851/Tool-Kits/?Source=googleshopping&gclid=CjwKCAjw5cL2BRASEiwAENqAPl7ajlnrv_Vtx_hHG3HiLNqkzpddxUON8u__tS8yy6r-PRe-YGIkYBoCyecQAvD_BwE> and we could easily afford having a couple of these in our inventory. The cable tracing is a nice added benefit. They make a range of testers in this area. I have used one once and it seemed well built (which is not a surprise from Klein). -Doug- On Fri, May 29, 2020 at 2:33 PM John C. Miller <kx7jm@jmit.com> wrote:
Bart,
I'm willing to kick in some extra $$ to help pay for a cable qual tester.
John kx7jm@jmit.com
---- On Fri, 29 May 2020 12:37:49 -0700 *Bart Kus <me@bartk.us <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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