Sneaky Cable Wire Problems

[t1d]

A while back, I was having cable problems. The tec discovered that inside the old coax wire terminals, the internal plastic insulator had shrunk and some cross over to the wire shield had developed. He replaced all the terminals and the issue was resolved. I thought a shrinking plastic insulator was odd.

Now, I had new problems. The tec found that the plastic insulator within the outdoor transitional coupling, between the pole supply cable and the internal house feed, had split, longitudinally. He replaced the coupling and the issue was resolved, again.

In both of these situations, the causes and solutions were verified with their electronic meters. I saw the readouts, myself, and proper service was restored. Both were related to the plastic insulator, which I suspect are both made of the same type of nylon.

Maybe there was some cross over leakage? Maybe there was some added capacitance? In either case, the problems seem to be rather minor. I am wondering if they were of greater importance, because modem speeds have become so fast; for me, 65Mbps...

I'm sharing for two reasons... Because I find the problems sneaky and hard to find (non-electronic-equipment.) And, I find it interesting, on an electronic level.

[Armadillo]

I suppose, must be a known common fault, prior case studied failure of the material [uv, chlorine attack etc], regularly serviced by the tec.
This could be similar to a case before, a known brand of electrolytic capacitor would leak because of wrong dielectric material was used.
If that is RF, I think SWR meter with prior experience, would have been an easy cake for the tec.

[Gregg]

A TDR (time domain reflectometer) will show the distance to an anomaly and all the tech needs to do is follow the wire and if a connector is found at the approximate distance, it would certainly be the easiest place to start looking for a problem.

[cdev]

Depending on the dielectric, coax connectors and dielectric material may be relatively resistant to or fairly susceptible to degradation due to compression or sharp bending. Different rules apply for different grades of coax.

They have different kinds of connectors now that are less susceptible to signals degradation.

Yes, speed upgrades are more demanding of coax cable runs.

A TDR is the best way to find a short or open or serious problem with coax but they are an expensive piece of gear that most people cant afford.

[Armadillo]

For that expenses, better use a FDR, basically a auto SWR meter.