Six truths on decluttering after 60

[Caveman Jim]

We still use existing copper infrastructure, we've been installing Ethernet over copper on it.
3M stopped making UR and UY butts, and punch blocks are getting nearly impossible to find. We have to buy 3M splice closures on eBay.

A few years ago I went to Graybar to buy a butt set. The person behind the counter had a really confused look on his face..... Turns out they still had Fluke butt set, just no one asked for one in a long time.

I've got 2) 890 module machines used for large cable splicing unit jobs. Manhole gear, lead and paper cable tools even. I've made tons of money with them over the years but theres no large cables being placed nowadays.
I GOT BUTTSETS!!!

 

[made in china]

I've got 2) 890 module machines used for large cable splicing unit jobs. Manhole gear, lead and paper cable tools even. I've made tons of money with them over the years but theres no large cables being placed nowadays.
I GOT BUTTSETS!!!

View attachment 2042888 View attachment 2042890 View attachment 2042891 View attachment 2042892 View attachment 2042893 View attachment 2042894 View attachment 2042895

The largest cable I ever need to deal with is 100 pair.
I used to install ethernet over copper in Seattle for the traffic signal system.
I now work for a different City, we have 177 traffic signals that almost all have telecom interconnect cables run to, anywhere between 6-25 pair for the majority.
When I began working at the new City during COVID, all of their planned fiber upgrades were torpedoed by the pandemic.
I discovered that they stopped using the cable 20-30 years ago, but almost all of it managed to survive all these years.
I've already been able to get more than half the signals online, add CCTV and got the entire downtown online.

I have a question, who's idea was it to NOT stripe the other wire in these pairs? I don't know if we use a different cable scheme than telecoms did, but at both agencies I work(ed) for, our comm cable has a color coded "tip" wire, and a solid, unidentified "ring" wire (I probably have tip/ring wrong, I don't have actual telecom background, this stuff just fell on me one day years ago) the ring wire color does correspond to the group, but first 6 pairs all have a white ring wire. So many times I find cross-swaps on the ring wire and I wonder why the ring wire wasn't striped to match the corresponding tip color?

 

[Caveman Jim]

The largest cable I ever need to deal with is 100 pair.
I used to install ethernet over copper in Seattle for the traffic signal system.
I now work for a different City, we have 177 traffic signals that almost all have telecom interconnect cables run to, anywhere between 6-25 pair for the majority.
When I began working at the new City during COVID, all of their planned fiber upgrades were torpedoed by the pandemic.
I discovered that they stopped using the cable 20-30 years ago, but almost all of it managed to survive all these years.
I've already been able to get more than half the signals online, add CCTV and got the entire downtown online.

I have a question, who's idea was it to NOT stripe the other wire in these pairs? I don't know if we use a different cable scheme than telecoms did, but at both agencies I work(ed) for, our comm cable has a color coded "tip" wire, and a solid, unidentified "ring" wire (I probably have tip/ring wrong, I don't have actual telecom background, this stuff just fell on me one day years ago) the ring wire color does correspond to the group, but first 6 pairs all have a white ring wire. So many times I find cross-swaps on the ring wire and I wonder why the ring wire wasn't striped to match the corresponding tip color?

I've spliced cables up to 3,600 pair.

That's not the telephone cables I've been associated with because there are only five tip colors and five ring colors and none had stripes on them.

I've seen smaller aerial and buried service cables like 6 pair (drops), used from the terminals to the NID on dwellings. They do utilize the striped wires.

I do know that fiber optic has a different color code scheme.

 

[bcp]

Avoids arguing over how to spell gray, or grey.

Gray is a color. Grey is a colour.



Bruce

 

[made in china]

I've spliced cables up to 3,600 pair.

That's not the telephone cables I've been associated with because there are only five tip colors and five ring colors and none had stripes on them.

I've seen smaller aerial and buried service cables like 6 pair (drops), used from the terminals to the NID on dwellings. They do utilize the striped wires.

I do know that fiber optic has a different color code scheme.

It's 5 colors on the cable, blue, orange, green, brown, slate, repeat. I misspoke.

 

[albin25]

OK, OK…. I shouldn't expect any of my beneficiaries to dispose of my long-winded, irrelevant, "cable splicing tales" for me…. gotcha

But, can I leave my kids the, "mom and me had to live on soda crackers and water for a month to pay our rent tale"??

 

[Stomper]

Today was the final "estate sale" at my mom's & dad's.... there's STILL a pile o' useless shiete left (glassware, porcelain statues, big honkin' speaker systems, etc) that we couldn't even give away. Tuesday we have a local thrift store coming to picked up all the left-overs.

To all of you hoarders.... your legacy after you're gone will be perfect strangers picking through all your precious "stuff" and leaving behind the garbage you thought was treasure.... then into the dumpster it goes.


Never again!

 

[Bobbygun]

your legacy after you're gone will be perfect strangers picking through all your precious "stuff" and leaving behind the garbage you thought was treasure.... then into the dumpster it goes.

You make that sound like it is a bad thing. I'll occasionally heckle my older hunting buddy with where I'll be spreading his ashes someday - in some truly unsavory places. His reaction, "At that point, I don't suppose I'll really care." Tough old bird. He'll probably be spreading my ashes.

 

[Member 94692]

View: https://youtu.be/9C_zq4DGSP0?si=_x93qxJREIcIy1iY

So, I should de-clutter my workshop to make space for my new self, a nice fiddleback wood casket?

 

[OnWalkAbout]

After dealing with my childhood home (2000sq ft plus full basement).

I reduced my cardboard footprint.

 

[Provincial]

It's 5 colors on the cable, blue, orange, green, brown, slate, repeat. I misspoke.

For a couple of years, I flew telephone crews all over Alaska to install phone systems in native villages. I used to tease the splicers that if I called grey "slate," I could be a phone man too!

the usual answer was "what are the colors of the 526th pair?"

 

[OnWalkAbout]

For a couple of years, I flew telephone crews all over Alaska to install phone systems in native villages. I used to tease the splicers that if I called grey "slate," I could be a phone man too!

the usual answer was "what are the colors of the 526th pair?"

yuppers.
In 2026 a 288 count fiber throws crews for a loop.
The amount of crossed or roll pairs by splicers these days...
Folks do not know 1/100th of the magic that happens when they hit the 'OnDemand' button or press play on YouTube.

 

[VinnieBoomBah]

After dealing with my childhood home (2000sq ft plus full basement).

I reduced my cardboard footprint.

Right? I mean as long as you can show up and represent, how much more do you need?

 

[Provincial]

yuppers.
In 2026 a 288 count fiber throws crews for a loop.
The amount of crossed or roll pairs by splicers these days...
Folks do not know 1/100th of the magic that happens when they hit the 'OnDemand' button or press play on YouTube.

When the splicers would ask me to name the color of the 526th pair, I learned to respond: "The official color, or the random one the splicer picked?"