Comment Use of higher-quality TP? (Score 1) 56
I agree that Cat 6 is already superfluous for standard applications such as GigE Ethernet that operate in the 0-100MHz band (though theoretically it may give you somewhat more headroom against sloppy terminations in terms of overall testing qualifications).
I guess higher-quality TP can be useful as a general-purpose wireline carrier for a wide range of analog/digital signalling (through the use of baluns and media converters). If I remember correctly, Belden had some nice info on this. With a good active balun you can carry up to 4 channels of baseband (and limited broadband A/V), USB, Firewire, whatever. Including home run distribution.
When my house was built 2-3 yrs ago, Siemon's TERA System 7 (impressive 1GHz non-RJ termination system) was already being prototyped. Unfortunately, Alcatel's "draft Cat 7"-level cable (600MHz fully pair-shielded TP) wasn't available yet and I couldn't find anything else. So I went with Mohawk's 2nd-gen GigaLAN "Cat 6 plus" UTP (though Berk-Tek and others were close competitors) along with some Commscope 2+2 bundled cables. And mostly Siemon System 6 and Leviton for the termination (again, Hubbell, Panduit, etc, were all very similar). Note that back then Cat 6 hadn't officially been ratified yet.
Tip #1: Terminating the 22AWG Mohawk UTP with its thick jacket and crossweb can be a pain on those closely-packed plates/panels.
Tip #2: Try your local supply distributor (Anixter, Anicom, Graybar, etc) to see if they'll sell you these bulk spools for much, much cheaper than retail Cat 5 equipment. Places like DataComm Warehouse is also good, but they don't usually stock the more esoteric structured cabling parts.
I guess higher-quality TP can be useful as a general-purpose wireline carrier for a wide range of analog/digital signalling (through the use of baluns and media converters). If I remember correctly, Belden had some nice info on this. With a good active balun you can carry up to 4 channels of baseband (and limited broadband A/V), USB, Firewire, whatever. Including home run distribution.
When my house was built 2-3 yrs ago, Siemon's TERA System 7 (impressive 1GHz non-RJ termination system) was already being prototyped. Unfortunately, Alcatel's "draft Cat 7"-level cable (600MHz fully pair-shielded TP) wasn't available yet and I couldn't find anything else. So I went with Mohawk's 2nd-gen GigaLAN "Cat 6 plus" UTP (though Berk-Tek and others were close competitors) along with some Commscope 2+2 bundled cables. And mostly Siemon System 6 and Leviton for the termination (again, Hubbell, Panduit, etc, were all very similar). Note that back then Cat 6 hadn't officially been ratified yet.
Tip #1: Terminating the 22AWG Mohawk UTP with its thick jacket and crossweb can be a pain on those closely-packed plates/panels.
Tip #2: Try your local supply distributor (Anixter, Anicom, Graybar, etc) to see if they'll sell you these bulk spools for much, much cheaper than retail Cat 5 equipment. Places like DataComm Warehouse is also good, but they don't usually stock the more esoteric structured cabling parts.
