more ethernet cable words to the wise ?

[Robert Coggeshall]

We recently paid about $0.90 per foot for 500 feet of Belden 
9880 Ethernet cable. We got it from a "large distributor in
Chicago". Its the non-plenum stuff, which I planned to use under
a machine room floor. This was until the DEC CEs showed up.

It turns out that the cable was TOO BIG to fit in DEC's H4000
ethernet transceivers. The DEC-Direct supplied cable, DAGE/MALCO
Teflon cable did fit (of course).

The diff seemed to be in the thickness of the outermost plastic
layer. I suggested to the DEC guys we remove the plastic on the
section that goes through the trensceivers, but that didn't send 
them. It was their first Ethernet install,
hence the conservatism.

Morale: Unless you have no firecode restrictions, get the Teflon
coated, plenum approved stuff. And If you are dealing with DEC
H4000s, measure the outside diameter of the cable before you buy;
the 10.28mm Belden 9880 is definitely TOO BIG.

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Bob Coggeshall
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