Looking for a source of BT dropwire (or similar) to extend a telephone line overhead to an outbuilding, I need approx 25-30 metres and the mounting hardware. Short of hijacking a BT van and plying the occupants with bacon butties, tea, coffee and choccy hobnobs can anyone suggest a source?
Your "Plan A" is favourite. Other than that use a good quality low loss cable and suspend from a simple "Catenary" wire to your desired location with eye bolts for anchors. EBay is your friend for the other supplies....
In message , Clint Sharp writes
These guys are good, just tell them what you are doing and they will work out what you need. They also take credit card orders and despatch the same day. I have had a number of small orders from them with no problems.
CTS Warehouse Stevern Way Fengate Peterborough Cambridgeshire, UK PE1 5EL
+44 (0) 1733 311592 (6 Lines)
Google the UK for "dropwire" and you'll find many sources... Of course y= ou may have to pay for it that way but it's not expensive, around =A325 for=
100m of 2 pair. Bung what you don't use on eBay and I wouldn't be at all= surprised if you made a profit... The same suppliers to have the fixing= hardware as well.
The trouble is that PVC insulated/sheathed cable isn't all that good for long-term exposure to UV and rain. Unless this is just a relatively temporary measure you'd be better off using PE insulated stuff - such as dropwire! Now I know that many people happily use T+E mains cable externally for power, but telecomms really needs much higher standards of insulation to work properly... Besides, T+E normally has thicker insulation so takes longer to deteriorate than telephone/data type cable.
First of all, let's put this myth to bed once and for all - PVC cable does
*not* deteriorate in sunlight/UV/rain - or at least, not for a *long* time. I have a run of 1.0mm T&E along the back wall of my house, feeding an outside light.I installed it on this wall - a south-facing wall that gets the sun almost all day - about 18 years ago and last year I had to unclip it to let it down whilst I did some other work. It was not brittle, it did not break, it was still flexible and, after re-clipping it back in position, it still works. Conclusion: it may well deteriorate at some point in time but I consider 18 years to be a bit more than "relatively temporary".
Now, to the OP - I'm a cable jointer on BT and my linesmen colleagues often throw away "end of drum" lengths of dropwire because it's too time consuming and they get in trouble with their bosses if they run a dropwire and then find it just a bit too short to do the job, so they make a guesstimate on how much is left on a drum and if they think it's not enough, out it goes, so that may be enough for your purposes.
On the other hand, we do like our bacon butties and choccie biccies so almost any of us can be bribed :o)
Bill
If you do use standard flex, a coat of dark gloss paint will uvproof it.
If you can get more cores for little extra cost, do, extra lines can be put to all sorts of uses later.
NT
Ask any BT linesman.
Hes generally got a scrap piece in is van.
I've got as scrap bit in my loft I think.
Hear hear. But it does eventually deteriorate if not painted, so may fail to last as long as the rest of the install in some cases.
NT
I'd expect proper BT external cable is designed to be exposed to the elements. ;-) It's a very different beast from the indoors stuff.
Well, I should take my own advice and JFGI, exactly what I want at Rocom.co.uk, I tried two local places and they both wanted to charge me for 250m reels at around four times the per metre price so I assumed it'd be bloody expensive everywhere.
Don't suppose you know if there's a name for them?
But dropwire is a fairly specialised cable unlike internal stuff or good ole T&E. It's tough stuff, don't expect to strip the outer jacket off easily and messy as it's gel filled. You can get little boots to slip over the wires and onto the end of the cable to help stop the gel oozing out everywhere.
Naw but you've found rocom just browse the catalog and I expect you'll find em.
BT Dropwire is *not* grease-filled - underground local cables are (and just for interest, underground trunk cables are pumped full of compressed air at about 9psi), but not dropwire - although you are correct in saying that it's very tough and a complete b*stard to strip back :o)
Can't remember the number of the dropwire (it's been about 10 years since I worked on BT) No.10 maybe? Anyway, the outer sheath is very difficult to strip back when it's cold. Inside, you'll find two pairs of conductors, orange/white being pair 1 and green/black pair 2, and there's also three steel catenary wires (sheathed either yellow or red). Try cutting in from the end and then gripping the catenary wire with pliers and pull backwards to rip the outer sheath as far back as you want.
As to the hardware, we called the curly anchors that you see at the pole-head "pigtails" but what an outside supplier such as Rocom call them, I've no idea.
John
Whats the name of the old stuff, 2 cores with copper steel conductors, single insulation figure of 8?
NT
That's not what they've used at my place. It just has a tough covering of black plastic.
Dropwire No.3 IIRC
John
I sit corrected, brain getting confused with CW1128.
Dropwire No.10 for 2 pair, Dropwire No.11 for 3 pair now CW1378.
Bracket 22 is a ring on a triangular flat plate with three countersunk fixing screw holes. Bracket 32 has a cranked arm with ring at one end square plate at the other. Curly wurly is another name for the pigtail or Dropwire Clamp 10A.
In message , Dave Liquorice writes
And that completes the jigsaw, quick google for Bracket 22 and I've got a supplier who has all the required bits in stock, thank you very much to everyone who chipped in with bits of information, I've learned things.
Ah, well done Dave - brings back happy memories :o)
John
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