c/cable-installers

I thought those new fiber optic splice protectors were just overpriced plastic sleeves.

My boss made us use them on a job in Phoenix last month, and we had zero signal loss after a week of 110 degree heat. What's something you guys thought was a gimmick that actually worked out?

Warning: A customer's attic in Phoenix last month was 140 degrees and my drill battery died in 10 minutes.

I started keeping a spare battery in a small cooler bag with an ice pack, and it lasted the whole two hour crawl space run. Anyone have a better trick for extreme heat?

My old foreman told me to always carry a spare coax barrel connector, and I finally saw why.

He said, 'You'll thank me when you're on a roof in the rain and the customer's fitting is stripped.' Last Tuesday in Dayton, that exact thing happened, and I had the part in my bag. What's one piece of gear you guys never leave the truck without?

Rant: My crimper finally gave out mid-job in a Denver attic yesterday

The handle snapped clean off trying to put an end on some 10 gauge, had to finish with pliers and a hammer. Anyone got a brand that can actually handle the cold up here?

Warning: That cheap coax stripper cost me a full day's pay

I grabbed a $15 stripper from a truck stop instead of my usual Klein tool, and it mangled the shielding on three drops before I figured it out. Had to re-run them all, which ate up four hours of billable time. Anyone have a stripper they swear by that won't break the bank?

Had a brand new compression fitting blow out on a second floor install yesterday. Just sprayed water everywhere for a solid minute before I could get to the main shutoff.

Got a call back for a job in Phoenix where I used to just push coax into crawl spaces

I used to run RG6 straight through any hole I could find, but after a rat chewed through a line in a Mesa attic last summer, I switched to always using flexible conduit for the last three feet into the house. The extra five minutes and $2 in parts per job saves so many trouble calls. Anyone else making that small change after a bad animal hit?

Went back to my first apartment building in Akron and the old cable drop is still there

I was driving through my old neighborhood yesterday and swung by the first complex I ever worked on back in 2010. The original RG6 drop I ran from the pole to unit 4B is still hanging there, 14 years later. It's got that old, stiff black jacket and the weather boots are all cracked, but the connection looks solid. They've just layered new lines over it for fiber and everything else. Makes you think about how much cable and connectors have changed since then. Anyone else got an old install out there that's still holding up?

Tried both the Klein and Southwire coax strippers on a job in Phoenix

The Klein one kept leaving tiny nicks in the center conductor, maybe one out of every five lines. Switched to the Southwire model and it was clean every single time, no signal loss issues. Anyone else find a tool that just works better for them?

Heard a customer call our work 'just plugging in a box' yesterday

It was a 3 hour job fixing a rat's nest of old coax behind their drywall. Makes you wonder if people get how much actual trade skill this is, or do they all think it's that simple?

Just learned the hard way about using cheap coax barrels in crawl spaces

Had a job last month where I used a bunch of those bargain bin brass barrels from the hardware store to extend a run under a house. Figured it was fine for a quick fix. Two weeks later, the customer calls with pixelated video and slow internet. Went back, found three of them already showing green corrosion, and the signal loss was huge. Cost me a full afternoon of rework, about $150 in lost time, plus the gas to drive back out. What do you guys use for connections in damp spots that won't eat your profit?

My brother-in-law the electrician said our coax runs are 'digital archaeology' and it got me thinking.

We were helping my sister move into her new place in Dayton last weekend, and I was re-running some lines in the crawlspace. He looked at the old, messy bundle of RG-6 and said, 'You guys are basically historians, preserving pathways for signals nobody even uses anymore.' It hit different because he works with clean, modern data cables all day. Are we holding onto old methods and gear too much, or is keeping that old infrastructure knowledge a key part of the job?

The Tuesday a squirrel cost me $200 and a whole afternoon in Decatur

It chewed through a main line in an attic, and the re-run took four hours because I had to fish around old knob and tube. Anyone have a good animal deterrent that actually works?

Vent: Had a job in a 1920s house with zero attic access for a second floor drop. My partner said to cut a hole in the closet ceiling, but I tried fishing from the basement up through a cold air return instead. It actually worked in under an hour.

Spent $80 on a 'universal' coax crimper that couldn't handle RG-11

Picked it up from a truck stop last month thinking it would save me a trip to the supply house. The jaws were too small for the connector, and I actually bent the crimp ring trying to force it. Ended up having to drive 40 minutes to get the right tool anyway, wasting half a morning. Anyone else have a go-to brand for heavy-duty crimpers that won't let you down?

Got called out for a bad attic crawl in a 1920s house last month

I was in Portland running a new drop through a tight attic with blown-in insulation, and my foot went right through the ceiling drywall below. I patched it with a scrap of plywood and some joint compound from my truck, but the homeowner saw the dust fall. Do you guys carry small repair kits for this stuff, or just hope it never happens?

Heads up about those cheap coax strippers from the big box stores

I used to just grab whatever $8 stripper was on the rack, but after a job in Tempe last month where I had three bad crimps in a row from nicked center conductors, I switched to a Klein VDV512-822 and haven't had a single callback since. What's your go-to stripper for clean prep work?

An old timer in Omaha once asked me why I was rushing a drop wire job

I was 23, trying to finish a four-unit apartment install before lunch. He watched me for a minute from his porch and said, 'You're putting that line up for the next twenty years, not just for today.' He pointed out how I'd pulled the wire too tight against a downspout. That was six years ago, and I still check every anchor point twice. How do you balance speed with doing a job that lasts?

Reading that the average cable installer walks 5 miles a day on the job, according to a union survey.

That's way more than I would have guessed. Do you think that's accurate, or does it depend on the type of work you do?

Found a way to fish wire through a finished wall without cutting a huge hole

Got a call for a new drop in a living room with vaulted ceilings and no attic access. The customer didn't want any big patches in the drywall. I was about to give up, but then I remembered an old trick with a coat hanger and a strong magnet. I taped the magnet to the hanger, dropped a steel nut on a string down the wall cavity from the top, and fished it out from the bottom plate in about 20 minutes. Has anyone else used magnets for tricky runs like that?

Overheard a new guy at the supply counter say he 'hates fishing walls'

I was grabbing some RG6 in Tacoma and heard this kid tell the clerk he avoids any job needing a wall fish. It made me remember how I used to feel the same until I got a flexible drill bit and practiced on my own garage. What's one job you used to dread that got easier with a specific tool?

Talking to a retired installer at the supply house made me see my job differently

I was grabbing some fittings in Tacoma and got chatting with this older guy, Frank. He said, 'You're not just running wire, you're building the nerves for the house.' That stuck with me. I've been on autopilot for a while, but now I slow down and think about the whole system more. Anyone else have a simple comment from a customer or coworker that shifted how you work?

Just had a customer ask me to run a line through their pet door

Last week in Tempe, I was setting up a new drop for a house and the homeowner insisted the coax should go through the small flap for their cat. I spent ten minutes trying to explain why that was a bad idea before they finally agreed to a proper wall plate. What's the weirdest place a customer has ever wanted you to put a cable?

Got schooled by an old timer on a job in Boise last Tuesday

Honestly, I was trying to fish a line through a tight wall cavity and getting nowhere for like 20 minutes. This retired installer who lived there saw me struggling and just said, 'Kid, try a coat hanger with a tennis ball on the end.' Ngl, it worked perfectly on the first try. What's the weirdest tool trick you've ever picked up on a job?

My boss in Austin switched our whole crew from those old crimp connectors to compression fittings about 6 months ago, and our callback rate for bad fittings has basically vanished.

We used to get maybe 2-3 callbacks a week for moisture or signal issues at the tap, but now it's maybe one a month, and it's usually something else entirely, so has anyone else made this switch and seen the same results?