Underground Cabling

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 Question by Anthony D posted 08 Sep 2005
 Underground Cabling
Hi,

Thanks for the help in advance.
Please could you advise me of a way to go about creating a trench for a conduit to go between to buildings on 1 private property. I know that i should look into Thin-net or Thick net (both RG grade Coax)(looking to go over 300 feet).
Could you also tell me if this scenario would work for connecting 2 switches with BNC connections and the coax cable in the middle of the 2 switches - Primary use if for internet access - fiber too expensive and cat5 is too short distance wise. Also looked at Wireless solution - I did site survey and does not look good trees in the way and signal would be degraded in Winter time.

Please help !!!

Please help.
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 Answer by Joseph Golan posted 09 Sep 2005
Dear Anthony,

This article from Intel has the descriptions and distance limitations for 10Base2 (Thinnet) and 10Base5 (Thicknet) You can also usse their seach engine to find additional articles.

First of all both these systems will limit you to only 10 Mbit transmission which might be considered a little slow by today's standards. Also you will have to have a NIC card in the remote PC that will accept a coax.

Also take alook at this article for additional information
http://certiguide.com/netplus/cg_np_10Base2Coax.htm

Ok now for your trench, depending on your local is the required minimum depth. Check with your local electrical inspector or the AHJ (Authority having Jurisdiction for this information.
I would hihnly recommend that you place the cable in a conduit for protection as well as easy replacement in the future. A minimum size for this conduit would be 1" for the Thinnet and 1-1/2" for the Thicknet. It can be either stell of PVC (PVC being cheaper and easier to handle. All bends in the conduit (use pre-manufactured if you do not have the proper tools) should be with a radius of noty less then 10 time the diameter of the conduit to allow for an easier installation and prevention of damage to the cable during pulling.
The cable (even if they are in the conduit) must be suited for burial use and contain water blocking construction or you will be replacing this cable very often.

As the use of coax in network is being phased out (it is not enen part of the standards anymore) this choice should be only as of last resort. I really would recommend fiber for your solution. I have found fiber media convertors available for about $175 each (you will need 2), even less on ebay about $60 and the cable is actually less expensive then the coax in the outside type.

Sincerely,
Joseph Golan, RCDD

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