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Cable selection for Overland Ringdown System [Telecom]

I'm looking to put phones between two households with a ringdown box; the houses are approximately 700 feet apart. (We already have radio links for voice and data; but I also want a hard-wired back up.)

Looking for practical advice on cable selection. This wire will go overland, though it is feasible to put it under 3-6" of soil in a quick little trench most of the way, but parts perhaps could be exposed, if I found suitable cable.

I was thinking of some sort of armored CAT5; then I'd have four pairs. But perhaps there's a better 2 pair cable for this application. (I do want at least two pair; with one pair as a spare. The cat5 was interesting because I'd have two additionl pairs for some other future use.) In those exposed sections we'd need something that the chipmunks, squirrels, rabbits, and other critters would not find tasty.

Cable suggestions welcome,

Thanks in advance, Frank

Reply to
Frank Stearns
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Hi Frank,

Friendly advice: fiber, for electrical safety between different outdoor structures/homes. There may be local codes in your area requiring fiber as there are here (Silicon Valley). I recall when HP was establishing data paths between its buildings along Page Mill Road in Palo Alto that fiber was the only correct and legal solution.

This article seems to be a good starting point especially for the types of gear at each end of the fiber:

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Googling "fiber endpoint equipment" [without the quotes] will also list the manufacturers and types of gear for fiber endpoints that "should" be suitable for your application.

Safety is the operative word here. One of my hobbies is astronomy and many friends have attempted to run CAT5/CAT6 between their homes and their outdoor observatories and the horror stories are legion with ground loops, lightning strikes, and more.

Thad

Reply to
Thad Floryan

One thing we've done in the past is to plant a PVC conduit about 18-24" under the ground. Fish enough wire for your needs but drop a few strings in there to pull cable through for additional needs.

Tony

Reply to
tonypo

Thanks, Thad.

I was planning on putting some sort of lightening arrestor on both ends; the grounding subject is interesting. Assuming there's conductive armor on the cable, should that be tied to ground stakes at both ends just prior to entering the buildings? What if there is no conductive shielding?

In terms of the lightening issue, what's the main risk? Cable is on the ground (or just below the surface), and there are trees and other (hopefully better) "targets" elsewhere nearby, including a 115KV transmission line about 150' from one of the houses. Those lines are a good 30-40 feet off the ground.

Fiber is an interesting idea, but the concept here is to keep this whole thing as super simple as possible (and hopefully less prone to failure) -- the whole install would consist of the ringdown box, cable, and an old 500 series desk set on each end.

Once again, thanks in advance for all the sage advice. And if it were feasible, I'd love to run buried conduit but that's not possible for a number of reasons...

Frank

[moderator pro tem's note: An old rule of thumb for copper wiring is that any loop that leaves the building needs lightning protection. If it is entirely underground, cheap carbon protectors will do. If it goes above ground, stick to the better gas tubes. Protectors need proper grounding.]
Reply to
Frank Stearns

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