October 2023

Links To Sections

Newsletter Sections

FOA Certified Techs: 

See FOA Jobs Web Page and FOA on 

The FOA Jobs Web Page has been updated and a new page added on Using your FOA Training/Certification to Find the Right Job in Fiber Optics

 

  

Fiber Optic Safety Poster to download and print

FOA Videos on

• Last Gasp For Multimode Fiber?  
• Who Lost Lucent? The Decline of America's Telecom Industry.
  
• How Many Fibers? Optimal cable Size. 
• Women Installers In Alaska. 
• FOA OJT To Cert Program. 
• Building Rural FTTH - Learning From The History Of Rural Electrification. 
• Warning For Techs Doing Restoration (Fiber Amplification). 
• Timeline Of Fiber Optics - History Of Fiber Optic Technology - See below

The Archives: Past Issues.

Use these links to read past issues or use FOA's  Custom Search to look for specific topics on our website.

Highlights from the FOA Newsletter in 2022  

New Fiber U Self Study Programs

Time To Renew Your FOA Certifications?

Renew online with a credit card or PayPal

 

   

 

The New BLS "Telecommunications Technicians" Web Page

And Its Meaning For The Telecom/Fiber Workforce

Jim Hayes, President of the FOA, has been working with the US Department of Labor (DoL) Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for about 20 years to define the jobs of fiber optic technicians. When fiber optics was first added by the BLS, fiber optic techs were placed in a category of "electrical linemen," an age old category for workers who install cables. This year, in part due to the federal focus on broadband, FOA was contacted by a BLS analyst who said there was interest in creating a new category.

FOA worked with BLS for months drafting new job descriptions, brought in some contacts from the Communications Workers of America (CWA), suggested adding wireless techs who were also buried elsewhere in the BLS job definitions to create a new category at BLS for "Telecommunications Technicians."

The BLS Telecommunications Technicians website is live now and is very interesting reading.

The Summary page provides an index of the information on Telecom Techs and links to the relevant pages. By using their enormous database of job statistics, they came up with what is probably the most reasonable estimates of the telecom workforce.

A Realistic Workforce Assessment

13,000 Jobs/Year Created In Broadband And Most Jobs Do Not Require College Degrees

Workforce Development Solutions

A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking about real money.

Whenever you hear someone familiar with politics talk about money, this classic comment attributed to Sen. Everett Dirksen from the 1960s seems to get quoted. To put it into context, the Federal budget is now ~20 times what it as in the 1960s when he said it, but the meaning is still relevant.

What does this have to do with fiber optics?

The fiber optic industry has been focused on the BEAD program's ~$43 billion allocation for expanding broadband to unserved and underserved areas. But as we wrote in our analysis of the NTIA documentation of the BEAD allocations by state in the July 2023 FOA Newsletter, this only represents about 10.3 million new broadband connections. As is usual with government programs, the cost is higher than comparable commercial projects, in this case partly because the money is aimed at rural and unserved urban areas where costs are higher but also because the money is being funneled through state agencies which will make the awards.

A trade association reported that last year was a banner year for FTTH in America with almost 8 million new subscribers connected on fiber.Let's assume these were in urban/suburban areas preferred by incumbent service providers, so the cost per connected user was probably around $1,000, but maybe more due to inflation. Multiply $1,000 by 8 million and you have $8 billion. Now you are "talking about real money."

So the current fiber to the home market is currently around $8 billion, about what the annual market for BEAD spending will be (figuring $43 billion over 5+ years.)

But because the BEAD FTTH installations will be in unserved and underserved areas, the costs are expected to be higher and the number of installations per year should be ~2-2.5 million per year. That's only about 25% increase in the current rate of FTTH installations.

From the new BLS Telecom Tech website noted above, there are ~112,000 "line installer" fiber techs in the US. Those techs stayed busy building long haul and middle mile networks, 5G fronthaul/RAN networks, millions of connections in data centers, and those 8 million FTTH connections. The BEAD program is only going to add an incremental amount to the workload so the idea of needing 850,000 or 200,000 more techs is obviously an exaggeration.

We Do Need To Train More Fiber Optic Techs

There is no question we need more fiber techs but it's not because of BEAD. Like all trades, the workforce is aging and older workers retiring outnumber new recruits. Some surveys have shown that recruits to some trades are only about 20% as many as are needed to replace those leaving.

During the late 1980s and 1990s, the fiber optic workforce grew by the entry of experienced techs taking early retirement or being laid off from the larger service providers where they had learned their trade and received good training. With the changeover to a contract worker workforce, that source of workers started drying up.

Recruiting requires work and changing attitudes in high schools where counselors have been telling everybody they need a college degree no matter what it costs. In recent years, that attitude has been shown to be detrimental to the future of many students. If we want to have enough fiber optic techs or electricians, plumbers, auto mechanics, or any other trade, we have to change the attitude of these counselors. And students need to realize that there is tech work other than working on software for games or computer graphics.

The other training that needs to be done is cross-training techs who install communications hardware. When the state of Maine did a survey about training techs for broadband, a respondent said that everybody needs to understand fiber optics because it was the backbone of all communications and tech applications. While they might not become installers, their work depends on fiber and they need to know how to use it and even fix it when necessary.

FOA has teaching modules for introducing students to fiber optics at any grade level, including some exciting demonstrations to get their interest. FOA has also been working with education systems in some states to help recruit students for their community and technical college training courses. But this needs to be done more widely if we expect to grow the fiber optic workforce.

US Dept of Labor Awards $94 Million For Training

US Department of Veterans Affairs Recognizes FOA Certification

There's Nothing Simple About Fiber Splice Closures

When FOA received a number of questions recently on fiber splice closures, we realized the FOA Guide online did not have a dedicated page on closures so we decided to create one. As usual, we reached out to some of our technical advisors around the world to get their help and, also as usual, we learned a lot about splice closures from their personal knowledge and experiences. We also reviewed a number of vendor pages about  closures and their recommendations.

What we learned was that fiber closures are not as simple as you might think. There are hundreds of different products if not thousands with different designs to accommodate various numbers of fibers and cables, types of cables, single fibers, flex ribbons or hard ribbons, installation in different environments and the various manufacturers' ideas of how to make a better product. Closures can be made to concatenate fibers in long haul networks, break out cables at splice points, allow midspan access or connect to plug-and-play cables like those often used in FTTH.

The new page on splice closures in the FOA Guide covers the various types of products to accommodate all these options and includes lots of photos of them, discusses how they are used and even provides some guidelines to choosing one for your application.

As we got input from the FOA tech advisors, we received a photo of a damaged splice closure from FOA instructor Milt Murry in St. Louis with this photo of a closure damaged by a truck because the cable was not high enough off the ground. The customers in the area were without service for several days. That photo should remind those installing aerial cable that the cable must have adequate clearance to prevent damage like this.

We've seen closures damaged by natural disasters, attacked by woodpeckers and used for target practice. There is little an installer can do about that, but this installer should have known that the cable and closure were too close to the road below it.

One of our tech advisors helping us develop the page on closures also told us about a type of closure that is not common but could be useful - a "no slack closure"  used to repair damaged cables. It's particularly useful when a squirrel has chewed into the cable or a gunshot has broken a few fibers.  It requires some careful work to use so if you need it, follow manufacturer's directions carefully.


Corning SLiC no-slack closure.

The FOA Guide web page on closures discusses many different designs of closures and how they are designed for specific applications. At the end, selection criteria for closures are listed to help in the design process.
Here is the new FOA Guide page on Splice Closures.

Latest FOA Book: Fiber Broadband Is A Hit With Broadband Planners

FOA Newsletter Sections

News

Lots more news in Worth Reading below

Quote Of The Month:

Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference today, AT&T’s CEO John Stankey said, “There’s a fallacy to say there’s fixed networks and wireless networks. There are only fiber networks with different access technologies on the end of them. That’s where this is all going.”

Fierce Wireless  

La Nuit de l'Erdre Music Festival Uses Corning's Evolv® Solution

Getting Ready For 2024 Paris Olympics

The Longest Submarine Cable System Is Connecting Europe, Africa and Asia

Fiber Optic Cable Sensor Tracks Sea Ice In Alaska

Eletronet modernizes Internet traffic exchange point in Maranhão, Brazil

FOA Instructors Are Interesting People And Great Teachers

Last month we wrote about the instructor at one of our new schools, Buckeye Hills Career Center in Rio Grande, Ohio, is Tim Henderson. Besides teaching FOA certification courses at Buckeye, Tim is assisting FOA in training new instructors in the Ohio schools being added to the FOA network. And Tim is a collector/restorer of Ford Model A cars.

But let's focus on Tim as a teacher and one of his students. He shared this photo and story with us:

UPDATE: FOA CFOT Course For The Spanish-Speaking Community in Raleigh, NC

From Left ro right:
Adan (Mexico), Giancarlo(Venezuela), Geronimo (Republica Dominicana),Jose (Venezuela) Yamilet (Cuba), Oscar (Cuba)
Sitting down.. Instructor Gilberto Guitarte (Argentina)

UPDATE:
Yamulet and Oscar are now parents as well as trained fiber techs. Baby Isabella was born while the parents were still in training (as fiber techs!) Training as parents will take decades!

It's Finally Illegal To Sell Counterfeit Cables (And Anything Else) Online

Infrastructure Resources Is Now "Excavation Safety Alliance"

Infrastructure Resources has changed its name to Excavation Safety Alliance (ESA) to better reflect their role in the industry. ESA believes that a focus on safe excavation education initiatives helps prevent damage to buried facilities. Focusing on safe excavation spotlights the importance of safety for the people doing the digging, and helping keep people safe is the top priority of both damage prevention and safe excavation efforts.



ESA sponsors the annual Global Excavation Safety Conference which will be held in New Orleans in 2024.

Global Excavation Safety Conference will be held in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, from March 19-21, 2024. This is an opportunity for damage prevention & excavation safety professionals from all over the world to come together and learn, network, and share their knowledge and expertise in this vitally important field.

More info on Global ESC 2024

Technical

Fiber optic technology, standards, equipment, installation, etc.

Cross Reference To FOA Technical Reference Materials

The FOA has almost 1,000 pages of technical information on the FOA Guide, 100+ videos and two dozen online courses at Fiber U, all this can make it difficult to find the right information.

Cross Reference To FOA Tech Materials
To help this, we have created a cross reference guide to the textbooks, Online Guide and Fiber U courses, all the FOA technical information. Besides the textbooks, online Guide and Fiber U, each section of the Guide also includes links to the 100+ FOA videos available.
Cross Reference Guide to Textbooks, Online Guide and Fiber U

Sponsored Content OptConn is a value-add re-seller of optical connectivity products, services and solutions. With over 30 years of experience in the fiber optics industry we are here to serve your requirements from fiber optic training with FOA certification to products, materials and supplies. We have partnerships with industry leading manufacturers to support your installation, splicing and testing needs. Our goal is to guide, support and recognized our client’s requirements. Learn more about OptConn

Interesting Statistic: 

Recycling Fiber Optic Cables - Contact LD4 Recycle  

  VFL Demonstrates Fiber Scattering And Provides Hypnotic Entertainment

Innovative Connector Cleaning Dust Cap

Sumitomo Electric Launches World’s First Mass-produced Ultra-low Loss, Multi-core Fiber

Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. is offering the world’s first mass-production of ultra-low loss, multi-core fiber “2C Z-PLUS Fiber™ ULL,” and will launch its sales in October 2023. To expand the transmission capacities of optical fiber, multi-core fiber (MCF) that has several cores in a single fiber has been actively studied and highly anticipated as a next-generation fiber.

While a conventional fiber has a single core in which optical signals propagate, 2C Z-PLUS Fiber™ ULL has two cores in the same outer dimensions (125 microns) as a conventional fiber. The transmission capacity through the 2C Z-PLUS Fiber™ ULL can be expanded twofold compared to a conventional single-core fiber because the two cores can carry optical signals independently.

Applications of 2C Z-PLUS Fiber™ ULL Include:
・Broad areas of submarine network systems, from regional to transoceanic distances
・Long-haul, high-capacity terrestrial transmission
・Inter datacenter networks
・Ultra-low loss required applications: quantum cryptography communications,sensor networks for seismic and fire detection.

See the Sumitomo Introduction here.

Nokia Introduces Network-in-a-box

Insider Info

Drop Cables For Customer Premises FTTH Installation

Learning Important Information From A Found Cable Scrap

While walking down the street near the FOA office, we found this cable laying in the gutter. What a find! A short length of Corning Rocket Ribbon 864 fiber cable left over from an installation by a contractor.



We brought the cable back to our office with the intention of opening it up and creating a video about the construction of this modern high fiber count cable, but something got our attention first. The cable had a very long line of printing on it with lots of interesting and useful information. So before we started deconstructing it, we decided to photograph the printed information and interpret it. That turned out to be an important part of the information we learned from the cable. Then, as you will see below, we dissected the cable and learned even more.



Click on the photo above for a bigger photo. Or read on.



The text on the cable starts with the Corning product name "Corning Rocket Ribbon (TM) Optical Cable," date of manufacture "01/2022" and a serial or build number. The phone handset graphic denotes this as a telecom cable.

• 864F means the cable contains 864 fibers
• SM means singlemode fiber
• 250 means the fiber has a 250 micron buffer coating
• 0.89IN means the cable has a diameter of 0.89 inches (metric would be in mm)
  
• 206 LB/KFT means the cable weighs 206 pounds per 1000 feet (metric would be kg/km)
  
• MBD 27IN means the minimum bend diameter is 27 inches (metric would be in mm or cm)
• 600LBF means the maximum pulling tension is rated at 600 pounds (metric would be in Newtons)
  

minimum bend diameter is important if the cable is being coiled or pulled over a capstan, sheaves or blocks. And the pulling tension applies if the cable is pulled, not in the case of aerial installation like this one.



The next text is the cable model number and the length.

Note: This is an outside plant cable. Indoor cables should have similar information but also include some note of being tested for flammability such as a UL registration.



Next we continued examining and dissecting this cable.

When you look at the end of the cable, you understand how dense it is. There is no internal strength member; the arrow on the right points to a foam plastic filler that spaces the 6 bundles of ribbons. The arrows on the right point to the strength members - 2 on each side of the cable embedded in the jacket.

The cable is only 0.89 inches (22 mm) diameter but was too large for our cable jacket cutter so we used a knife to split the jacket to expose the 6 color-coded bundles of ribbons on the inside.



The directions on the Corning website said to use a fingernail to strip the coating on the ribbon bundles and it works since the coating was soft plastic. Below you can see the 12 ribbons from the white bundle.



Here is a close-up of the ribbons and you can see each ribbon is marked for identification. That is a feature of these hard ribbons lost when you convert to the flexible ribbons now being widely used.



As we note above (Insider Info) this cable is likely to disappear in favor of flexible ribbons inside regular buffer tubes. And identification will be using some sort of codes marked on one of the fibers.

Problems With Old Cables And New High Fiber Count Cables?

A FOA CFOT reported that they have been doing fiber characterization testing on cable plants that include both old and new fibers, a common result from building out from a legacy cable plant. One surprising result was that some relatively short links are showing CD and PMD problems even when only short segments of the cable plant are older fibers. PMD has become an issue as speeds increase but earlier fibers we not optimized to prevent PMD. This is just another reason to do fiber characterization before trying to upgrade network speeds. (There is more information on Fiber Characterization in the FOA Guide and a fiber characterization course on Fiber U.

Special For High Level Techs And Engineers:

Standards and Testing Photonic ICs  

Point to Multipoint Networks at Infinera  

Optical chip level connects by Lessengers 

Managing Fiber Optic Projects - The Gantt Chart

(With An Excel File To Make Your Own)

The most common way to track projects is the Gantt Chart, a chart of activities that tracks the progress of projects along a timeline. each activity is represented by a bar and the position and length of the bar represents the starting date and duration of the activity. This allows you to see what activities are needed for the project, when the activities start and end so it can be used to track the progress of the project visually. Here is what a Gantt Chart for a fiber project might look like:

More Help On Color Codes (Including Copper Cabling And Fiber Optics)

The FOA has created a print-your-own pocket guide to fiber optic color codes. It has color codes for fibers and buffer tubes, connectors and premises cables inside and on the back, QR codes to take you directly to the FOA Guide and Fiber U. The FOA Guide page on Fiber Optic Color Codes is one of the most read pages on the FOA website and the Fiber Optic Color Codes minicourse on Fiber U very popular also.

Warning For Techs Doing OSP Restoration

Try The FOA's Online Loss Budget Calculator

Worth Reading

Each month we read hundreds of newsletters and online articles. These are the ones we think you will find "worth reading."

FOA  has a web page with resources on fiber broadband networks and the IIJA/BEAD funding programs.

Cross Reference Guide to FOA Textbooks, Online Guide and Fiber U

FOA Timeline of Fiber Optic History  and the new FOA video "The History Of Fiber Optics"

Worth Reading (And Watching):

September 2023

Fiber Fever: Meet the ISPs Driving FTTH Deployment in South Africa, Telegeography.

TIA Fiber Optic Technology Consortium "Standards Explorer"   Covers Ethernet, more coming.

Fiber Fuels Rural Communities Economic Future, by OFS in ISE Magazine

Do you know "The Quilt" - a collaboration of research and educational networks in the US?

The Value of an Education That Never Ends - NY Times

The Need for Optical Fiber in the Modern Electric Grid -  AFL in T&D World

Biden-Harris Administration Announces Over $74.4 Million in Internet for All Grants to Tribal Lands 

Billions to Connect Everyone to High-Speed Internet Could Still Fall Short - NY Times

AFL Introduces Gel-Free Technology to its All-Dielectric Self-Supporting (ADSS) Fiber Optic Cable Family  

August 2023

Content Providers Are Still Hungry For Bandwidth, Telegeography

The Hottest CommsUpdate Stories of 2023 (So Far), Telegeography

Tempo Communications Acquires Kingfisher International, Tempo Press Release

U.S. Department of Labor to recognize Telecommunications Technician job category, Cabling Installation & Maintenance

State of California Five-Year Action Plan (BEAD Program) - good reading if you state has not finished your five-year plan.

NTIA Public Notice Posting of State and Territory BEAD and Digital Equity Plans/Proposals For all States.

Kansas builds middle mile with cost effective program - $63,000/mile.  Governor's office.

Developing a Fiber Workforce Really Does Take A Village - FOA President Jim Hayes' May/June column in ISE magazine looks at the role of manufacturers' training in developing the fiber workforce.

We need more people learning trades. Something is finally being done about it. If you’re able to work with your hands, you’ll never be out of work. Washington Post Editorial. Statistics show that for every five baby boomers retiring, there’s only one person to take their position.

Watch cable installers use a train to place duct underground - CIM Magazine 

July 2023

Bringing FTTH Broadband to Remote and Rugged Areas - Broadband Properties - By Michael A. Solitro, CEO of Sertex Broadband Solutions.

NTIA Says State Muni-Bans Won’t Delay BEAD Funding - ILSR says "Maybe"

AT&T claims satellite-direct-to-phone deal with AST SpaceMobile in FCC waiver filing - Urgentcomm.com

AFL Creates Video Classroom Online The AFL Classroom showcases products, solutions and AFL value propositions

Treasury Department Announces Approval of Federal Funding to Connect 127,000 California Homes and Businesses to Affordable, High-Speed Internet 

US Proposes Designating Portion of Radio Spectrum for 5G in the Americas Nextgov.com If approved, the proposal could enable countries in the Americas to use the band to deploy 5G mobile services.

Significant progress reported on California middle-mile network - CA Dept of Technology

Recent Case of Severe Microwave Syndrome Reveals Problems With 5G - Epoch Health -
One woman's recent illness highlights the issue of only considering radiofrequency radiation's thermal effects

May 2923

Do You Believe In Magic? Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Jim Hayes's column in March/April ISE Magazine.

You can also buy copies - Telegeography




CABL® (cabl.com) serves the business needs of the Broadband industry (including traditional cable TV, fiber, telecom and satellite providers) with employment listings, classified ads, discussion forums, and more. A contractor told us it's where they find lots of opportunities for subcontracting.

Fiber optics take the pulse of the planet It’s like radar, but with light. Distributed acoustic sensing — DAS — picks up tremors from volcanoes, quaking ice and deep-sea faults, as well as traffic rumbles and whale calls. Knowable Magazine++++++

Fiber Optics Installed By The Lowest Bidder  - ISE Magazine - by Jim Hayes, FOA President.

Building Broadband During Component and Worker Shortages - Broadband Communities - Completing broadband builds requires competent fiber optic techs, but training them requires understanding how they learn - by Jim Hayes, FOA President.

Worth Reading - Magazines, Websites and Newsletters

CABL® (cabl.com) serves the business needs of the Broadband industry (including traditional cable TV, fiber, telecom and satellite providers) with employment listings, classified ads, discussion forums, and more. A contractor told us it's where they find lots of opportunities for subcontracting.

New Fiber Optic Magazine In Spanish

Todo Fibra Optic magazine has many years experience in the fiber optic industry so he knows the industry well. FOA will be working with him to share our extensive technical materials in Spanish.

Read their newsletter here. It is now available online in English and Spanish.



 

1995-2020 - FOA's 25th Anniversary!

Worth Reading - News Summary & History - More Past Links Worth Repeating

If you are interested in restoration - aren't we all? - you should also read this article in dpPro magazine by FOA President Jim Hayes: Damage Protection Requies Looking Overhead As Well As Underground - dpPRO Magazine - about the problems with aerial cables. His previous article for the magazine was New Techniques for Fiber Optic Installation.

The Institute for Local Self-Reliance weekly newsletter has lots of interesting articles and links.

Universal access to broadband is a cornerstone to a strong economy, Achieving universal access will require community partnerships. by Alfreda B. Norman, Sr. VP,  Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

FIBER TO THE FARM: The co-ops that electrified Depression-era farms are now building rural internet. Be sure to check out the high-tech equine installation equipment.

Next Century Cities Newsletter - News from cities around the US including Detroit and New York plus small

Infrastructure Get Some Respect, NY TImes "On Tech"   "The magic of the internet requires a lot of very boring stuff behind the scenes. "

The job market is hot. So why are half of U.S. grads missing out?  

VIAVI Books On Fiber Optic Testing (2 volumes) - They're back!

Q&A

When readers ask us questions, we genrally refer them to FOA resources where they can find the answer to their question and many more. We first send them to the FOA Guide which is the table of contents for the FOA technical resources. There they can find pages indexed by topic and a search engine for the FOA website. It also links them to FOA videos and courses on our free online learning site Fiber U.

The FOA Fiber FAQs Page (FAQs = frequently asked questions) gathers up questions readers have asked us (which first ran in this newsletter) and adds tech topics of general interest.

Good Question!

Tech Questions/Comments From FOA Newsletter Readers 

More Q&A in the FOA FAQs Page  

Degraded Underground Fiber Optic Cable
Q: How can you handle a degraded buried underground fiber link, which has degraded due to multiple joints introduced during maintenance?
A: If it has reached a point where the loss or dispersion limits its use, it probably should be replaced.


Teaching Ribbon Splicing In CFOT Class
Q: Does FOA recommend teaching ribbon splicing in CFOT classes?
A: The use of ribbon cables has expanded tremendously in the last few years as fiber counts get higher and cables smaller. We do not recommend a ribbon splicer for a CFOT class for a number of reasons. We do recommend it for a CFOS/S Splicing Specialist class however and include it in the lab recommendations for that class. The first reason is cost - a good ribbon splicer can cost as much as a complete CFOT lab if purchased new and buying used is not too cheap either and risky. In a CFOT class, there is limited time for labs and a ribbon splicing lab can take all day by the time you deal with splicing and dressing a closure.
Then the real conundrum: Do you do hard ribbons or the newer flex ribbons? My fiber/cable manufacturer contacts tell me that hard ribbons are going extinct in the next couple of years. The process for flex ribbons is quite different and much more like single fiber splicing on loose tube cables, so the transition is easier for techs.


OTDR Testing Patch Panel Pigtails
Q: We have had contractors perform OTDR tests on fiber patch panels that we purchased before they were installed. The patch panels had a 100 foot cable tail to be used for splicing. The OTDR test we received seem like the launch cable used was many times longer than the cable being tested so that there was hardly any indication of how the cable performed. Is it not possible to test short cables in this manner?
A: About the only thing you can learn from OTDR tests on a patch panel with 100 foot long fiber pigtails is if the connectors are good and/or clean. A 100 foot length of SM fiber has negligible loss ( @ 0.3dB/km or 0.3dB/3300 ft 100 ft is only ~0.01dB loss) unless the cable has been kinked and fibers are pinched or broken which should be noticeable on visual inspection. A high resolution OTDr can see a 100 ft fiber with a short launch cable - but most OTDRs are not really aimed at this short a cable. You would need a long launch cable and the shortest/lowest power test pulse to get a usable trace. If the patch panel was from a reliable manufacturer, I’d think the testing would be done as the fiber pigtais are being spliced to the cable it connects to.

• Single fiber or ribbon splicing?
• Type of splice closure
• Type of cable (loose tube, ribbon, flexible ribbon, high density, armored, ADSS, etc.)
• Installation: aerial or underground
• Location: urban or rural
• Set up time (same for low fiber count cable as high fiber count cable)

More Q&A in the FOA FAQs Page  

ANSI/NECA/FOA-301 is available free from FOA.



Download your free copy of

The Types of Work Done By Fiber Techs And How It Affects Training

FOA School News

Need A Fiber Optic Course Onsite? Invite an FOA School To Come To You

Fiber U On-The-Job Training (OJT) Program

Like other FOA programs, the OJT-To-Cert program is free. If you and/or your company is interested in the FOA OJT-To-Cert program, contact FOA.

To explain how OJT works and FOA's OJT-To-Cert program, FOA created a short video: Lecture 62: On The Job Training For Fiber Optics Using Fiber U     

FOA Direct Certification Program For Experienced Fiber Optic Techs

Experience Plus Online Study At Fiber U = FOA Certification

Fiber U "Basic Fiber Optics" Online Self-Study Course Now In Spanish

El curso de autoaprendizaje en línea "Fibra óptica básica" de Fiber U ahora en español

El sitio de aprendizaje en línea de FOA, Fiber U, tiene más de dos docenas de cursos de autoaprendizaje gratuitos sobre fibra óptica y cableado de instalaciones. Como era de esperar, el tema más popular es el curso "Fibra óptica básica", que se utiliza para iniciarse en la fibra óptica y como curso de preparación para realizar el examen de certificación FOA CFOT.

Ahora el curso básico de fibra óptica está disponible en español, utilizando el libro de texto FOA en español, la sección de la Guía en línea en español y la capacidad de YouTube para traducir subtítulos de video al español. El curso funciona exactamente como la versión en inglés con 10 lecciones, cada una con cuestionarios y una opción para tomar un examen de Certificado de finalización.

Para presentar el nuevo curso de español Fiber U, el examen Certificate of Completion es gratuito, así que dígaselo a sus contactos.

Curso Básico de Fibra Óptica de Fibra U en español.

New Fiber U Course: Fiber Characterization 
FOA has added a new course at Fiber U on Fiber Characterization. Fiber characterization is the process for testing long fiber cable plants for its ability for carrying high speed communications. With so many networks now operating at 100, 200, 400 or even 800 Gb/s, fiber characterization is important, especially on older fiber optic cable plants.The free Fiber U Fiber Characterization course is available in two forms, as a standalone Fiber U fiber Characterization Course with its own Fiber U Certificate of Completion and as a separate Lesson in the Fiber U Fiber Optic Testing course. This course is recommended for those studying for the FOA CFOS/FC Fiber Characterization certification.

Fiber U MiniCourses: Got An Hour Or Less? Learn Something New About Fiber Optics.

What Fiber Techs Don't Know -

What We Learn From FOA Certification Tests

FOA Guide "Basics Of Fiber Optics" Now Available Online in Portuguese (6/2020)

Here is the FOA Guide in Portuguese, Spanish and French translations.

Time To Learn - Online

And Fiber U has the new Fiber U DIY Basic Skills Lab lesson with directions on how to purchase inexpensive tools online and use them to learn basic fiber optic skills. Videoconferencing allows the instructor to remotely monitor their work and provide help as needed. Contact the FOA for more information.


FOA Zoom Exam Proctoring

FOA offers free online self-study programs at Fiber U. Many users are preparing for FOA certification programs - taking courses at our schools or using the "Work-to-Cert" program. Some of our schools are requiring Fiber U programs as prerequisites for their classroom courses so they can spend more time on hands-on activities.

FOA School Offers Toolkit With Online Training

Slayton Solutions (FOA Approved School #156) is offering a simple fiber optic tool kit that includes a 29-piece set of fiber optic tools and a power meter along with training videos and online instruction for only $499. 29 Piece Kit includes all tools and devices a technician needs to install fiber optic connectors and test optical power. You can contact them for more information at  slaytonsolutions@sbcglobal.net or https://www.fiberopticsinstitute.com

Cross Reference To FOA Tech Materials
FOA has so much technical reference material, we created a cross reference guide to the textbooks, Online Guide and Fiber U courses, all the FOA technical information. Besides the textbooks, online Guide and Fiber U, each section of the Guide also includes links to the 100+ FOA videos available.

Cross Reference Guide to Textbooks, Online Guide and Fiber U

FOA Guide To Fiber Optic Workforce Development

To help those new to fiber optic workforce development, FOA has created a web page we call  "Fiber Optic Workforce Development."  In this page, we share what we have learned about the fiber optic workforce, who they are and how they learn their trade. We discuss what defines a fiber optic tech and how they should be certified.

Read the FOA Guide To Fiber Optic Workforce Development online.

Latest FOA Book: Fiber Broadband (Paperback and Kindle)

More Translations of FOA Textbooks

FOA is a very international organization and it works hard to accommodate the language needs of everyone. We have been translating our books and website into the languages most requested, and this month, we add two more textbook translations. We also want to thank Jerry Morla, FOA CFOS/I instructor and Director who has been doing the recent translations into Spanish, his native language.

Planning A Fiber Optic Project?

More New FOA Video Lectures On YouTube

Did you know YouTube will close caption videos in many languages? Here are directions.

Did you know YouTube will close caption videos in many languages?


Sign in with Google to get translations for closed captioning. Click on the settings icon (red arrow.) Choose "Subtitles".  English is the default language. Click on the arrow after "English (auto-generated) >". In the new window click on "Auto-translate" and choose the language you want. 

FOA Loss Budget Calculator On A Web Page 5/2020

FOA has written many articles about loss budgets, something everyone involved in fiber optics needs to know and needs to know how to calculate. We recently discovered how to get a spreadsheet ported to a Web page, so we created this web page that calculates loss budgets. We have an iOS loss budget app, but with this web page, you can calculate loss budgets from any device, smart phone, tablet, laptop, or desktop computer that has web browsing capability.

 

Bookmark this page (especially on your smartphone): FOA Loss Budget Calculator Online

We are continually updating the Online Reference Guide to keep up with changes in the industry and adding lots of new pages of technical information. When you go to the FOA Guide Table of Contents to see the latest updates - look for .

Recent updates:

FOA's FTTH Handbook: We've gathered all our information on FTTH from the FOA Guide and past issues of the FOA Newsletter and edited it into a 112 page "FTTH Handbook." We even added a section on planning and managing FTTH Projects.
The Fiber Optic Association Fiber To The Home Handbook is available from Amazon in print and Kindle editions.

Sitio web y manual de FTTH ahora en español

Sitio web y manual de FTTH ahora en español - FTTH Website And Handbook Now In Spanish

     

 
Fiber Optics (4 languages), Premises Cabling, OSP fiber and construction, Network Design, Testing and FTTH

   The FOA has it's own reference books for everyone working in fiber optics - contractors, installers and end users as well as for use as textbooks in classes at educational institutions. They are available as printed books or Kindle at much lower prices than most textbooks since we self-publish and sell online, cutting out the middlemen. Click on the book images for more information. The Reference Guide To Fiber Optics is also available in Spanish, French and Portuguese. The Design book is available in English and Spanish.

Click on any book for more information about it.

  

Fiber Optic Safety Poster to download and print

On Safety

There is a toll-free "call before you dig" number in the USA: Dial 811. See www.call811.com for more information in the US. Here is their map of resources by states.

In Canada, it's "Click Before You Dig.com" They also have a page of resources by US states and Canadian provinces.

The Common Ground Alliance has an excellent "Best Practices Guide" online

The US Department of Transportation has a website called "National Pipeline Mapping System" that allows one to search for buried pipelines.   

Why We Warn You To Be Careful About Fiber Shards

Photo courtesy  Brian Brandstetter,  Mississauga Training Consultantcy

Global Excavation Safety Conference

GlobalExcavationSafetyConference.com:

 


The magazine, dp-Pro, sponsor of the conference, has also published it's latest issue with an article by FOA on "New Construction Techniques in Fiber Optics" and a overview of the FOA. You can read the magazine here.

When You Bury Marker Tape, Bury One That Will Work (July 2021)

Contact Us:  http://www.foa.org or email <info@foa.org>

Contact Us
The Fiber Optic Association Inc.
       

 FOA Logo Merchandise

New FOA Swag! Shirts, Caps, Stickers, Cups, etc.

Your Name, CFOT® - It pays to advertise!

The FOA encourages CFOTs to use the logo on their business cards, letterhead, truck or van, etc. and provides logo files for that purpose. But we are also asked about how to use the CFOT or CFOS certifications. Easy, you can refer to yourself as "Your Name, CFOT" or "Your Name, CFOS/T" for example.

Feel free to use the logo and designations to promote your achievements and professionalism!

Privacy Policy (for the EU GDPR): The FOA does not use cookies or any other web tricks to gather information on visitors to our website, nor do we allow commercial advertising. Our website hosts may gather traffic statistics for the visitors to our website and our online testing service, ClassMarker, maintains statistics of test results. We do not release or misuse any information on any of our members except we will confirm FOA certifications and Fiber U certificates of completion when requested by appropriate persons such as employers or personnel services.
Read the complete FOA Privacy Policy here.