[Public-list] While on the topic of wiring ....

[Kris Coward]

On Tue, May 15, 2007 at 02:43:32PM -0400, Jack Vanderloo wrote:
> John, Kris and Jim,
> 
> Thanks for the collective advice.  The reason I approached the group for 
> possible practical experience was that Garmin had not replied to an 
> email sent 4 days prior.
> 
> Their response, just received:
> 
> "Yes you can cut and splice the cables for this unit.  I have verified
> this with my supervisor and we have tried it here.  I am unsure why the
> manual tells you otherwise."
> 
> Note there is no advice on shielding, soldering, etc.  Before one assumes I have the first clue about "shielding," or maintaining the integrity thereof - I don't.
> 
> So my question to Kris would be - is there a substantive difference between an "IT" data cable and that which would make up, and affect the treatment of, a "radar" data cable?

Well there are a few different categories of IT cable, depending on how
high frequency a signal you can run over it reasonably reliably (and
therefore how many bits can be shoved across it). Additionally, there
are different ratings for how fireproof the cable is (in case you decide
that it's so much more convenient to run your data cables through your
ducts that you're willing to pay ~3x as much for them). The coax cable
tends to be either pretty thin (and pretty rare these days) or quite
thick (and even rarer). Twisted pair cable tends to contain 24 gauge
wires, though it can be as thick as 22 gauge.

Depending on what sort of signal is passing over the radar cable, where
it can be safely run, and how "marine" it's expected to be, you may find
that computer data cabling might not cut it, or more likely that it's
serious overkill.

Cheers,
Kris
#583 Candy Cane

-- 
Kris Coward					http://unripe.melon.org/
GPG Fingerprint: 2BF3 957D 310A FEEC 4733  830E 21A4 05C7 1FEB 12B3

 1179464479.0