50 pair Cat 5e Outdoor line

Joe Perkowski wrote [reformatted]:

If you put proper protection on the ethernet (Cat5 protectors, tied very near both buildings groundstakes), you may be OK. If you can find Cat5 protectors. Still riskier than fiber.

-- Robert

Your network is going to die!

Thanks your input....

LOL

(snip)

Cat 5 cable depends on each pair having sufficiently different twist pitch (twist rate) such that capacitive coupling cancels out over the short or long run. For a 50 pair cable, you probably can't generate enough different twist pitches, so you have to do other things to keep pairs with a similar twist apart. (Capacitive coupling is fairly short range.) One way is to put multiple four pair cables inside one sheath. While not perfect, that usually keeps them far enough apart.

It might also be possible to arrange the pairs in the cable such that no two pairs were adjacent over a long distance. I don't know that any cable is made that way, but it should work.

My favorite UTP cables have the two wires in a pair bonded, think of a miniature version of ordinary lamp cord. This keeps the pair from untwisting until it is specifically pulled apart. Otherwise, it is difficult to keep the twist over a long distance outside the sheath.

In any case, 100baseTX isn't as sensitive as the Cat 5 standard makes it seem. For gigabit, though, you should meet the standard.

-- glen