Flex 6300 and Ethernet Cable?

David McDonald

I am thinking about getting the Flex 6300 and wanted to know what Cat Ethernet Cable I should be using. I am trying to run internet connection from my house to my garage which is about 75 Feet?

Clay N9IO

Hi David, Of course wired is the best route to go. Cat 6 is reliable to a limit of about 300 feet. Make a run 75 foot run to the shack from your current switch and throw another network switch in the shack. Metal box switch is my preference. Maybe put some snap-on toroids on each end for the heck of it particularly if you run power. I started with a 6300, Excellent radio I promise you will be blown away by that rig! DX!!!

David McDonald

What do you mean by a network switch? I was looking at those boxes that you plug into the outlet?

David McDonald

Ok I just googled it and figured out what you were talking about. I would still need to run the Cat6 cable the 75' run to the garage?

K5CG

CAT5 is perfectly fine for 100'. I have some of these pre-made cables in my box of parts. You don't need Gigabit for any Flex.

Clay N9IO

I don't have any experience with the plug in rf over ac units s so won't comment on them but if you can get a cat6 run out there you will be set.

Clay N9IO

I agree with Danny, 10/100 switch is all you need.

David McDonald

Ok Thanks

Kevin Conde

The standard is 90 m, with 10 m for termination. The various categories, 3, 5e, 6, speak to data speed. Cat 3 is usually limited to 100mb, cat 5e and 6 for 1000mb or GB speed. The length standard has to do with timing. Everything on a network is controlled by timing. If you’ve ever Run a “ping” command from the command line, you’ll see the letters TTL. Stands for Time To Live. Theoretically, if a packet is older than a certain value, it gets discarded by the next host to receive it. . What screws up us professional network administrator types, is ipeople routinely run cables 2, 3, and 4 times the standard, and it will still work, sometimes. Very often working, until it doesn’t. Then you get the “That should have never worked.” Treatment.

K5CG

I'd still recommend a GigE switch if a switch is needed. CAT5 will go faster than 100Mb/s.

You might not need that for the Flex, but you'll find other things to colocate eventually and those devices might be able to take advantage of the higher speed.

David McDonald

Ok should I go the cat5 or 6 then for a 75’ run?

Kevin Conde

As a minimum you’re gonna have two hosts, the 6300, and the computer. Then you’ll decide to put a wireless access point in the garage for your phone and tablet. Then you’ll add a tv that supports Netflix and Amazon, etc., etc., etc.

David McDonald

Actually the garage will never have a phone or tv

Kevin Conde

I use 5e and 6 interchangeably. For 75 feet either is fine. Just make sure you have 10/100/1000 aka Gigabit switches at each end if you’re going to,eventually have multiple hosts in the garage.

K5CG

It all comes down to cost. If you can get CAT6 for less than CAT5e then go for it.

David McDonald

Ok thanks much

Bill English

You'll be surprised at the things you will add as time goes on, trust me on that. 

Neal - K3NC

Personally, I would go with a fiber optic run.  I am not making any money from this referral here is what I would use:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M7TFP02/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://bit.ly/2Krgrld

There are 2 reasons I would go this way:
1. Optic cable is very small and hard as it can be so no critter will chew thru it so its easy to route it where you want it to go.
2. It is electrically isolated from both ends so you do not have to worry about static charges coming from the radio antenna going thru the house destroying everything it touches (happened to me last year).
I now have it all over the place and cannot sing its praises highly enough!

George KF2T

Absolutely do not use ethernet over power lines. Noise City. Also, if your cable has to go outside, make sure it is jacketed to handle the elements.

Ted VE3TRQ

Fiber optic cable and SFP's are both getting cheaper and cheaper. For less than $200 (in Canada, no less), I purchased 50 ft of twin multimode fiber with SC connectors, 2 SFPs (one for my existing main Ethernet switch with gigabit SFP ports), and an 8-port copper Ethernet switch with an SFP port. The 8-port switch is powered from my shack power supply with a 12v to 48v DC-DC converter. This completely isolates my shack and its computers from not only my house electrical system, but also from my communications systems. Hopefully my Flex and computers can survive some static charges coming my way. Time will tell.

Ned K1NJ

Neal,

              I need to get a 100 foot length of fiber cable.  I'm not yet familiar

  with the fiber vocabulary.  What type of connector needs to be on the ends

  of the fiber cable for the devices you cited.  I've lost 3 NIC cards and one

  cable modem from lightning induced spikes on the 100' LAN cable. It's

 time to make the change.  I managed to disconnect the rig , amp and a

 few other things just before the big spark.  It's taken a few days and a few

 bucks to recover.  This is the second time it happened.  After the first strike

 I told myself it was time to make the change, but Murphy hit me again.

            Ned,  K1NJ

 

Kevin Conde

Ned:

Fiber takes specialized skills to install.  The cable has to be run, then a special tool set is used to polish and bond the cut ends to the fiber connector.  You then have to have the appropriate patch cord to go from the end of the fiber to a transceiver that converts from fiber Ethernet to copper Ethernet. Then a normal copper patch cord from the transceiver to your switch.  Some switches have built in fiber transceivers.

https://www.amazon.com/TRENDnet-Switching-Capacity-Protection-TEG-S51SFP/dp/B019IHWSF0/ref=sr_1_4?ie...

You can get pre-terminated cables for reasonable prices.

https://www.lanshack.com/2-Strand-Custom-Indoor-Plenum-Multimode-Fiber-Whips-Assembly-P6468C50.aspx?...

I would call the supplier and have them spec the cable,  there are all different kinda of terminators for fiber, and you need to make sure the terminations will connect to what ever you are going to use to convert from copper to fiber, and then back from fiber to copper.

Most of the time I used SC type transceivers like this:
https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Ethernet-Converter-Multi-Mode-MC200CM/dp/B003AVRLZI/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF...

and SC to SC fiber terminations.  So we are clear, you need two transceivers, one at each end of the fiber.

Make sure your fiber cable is armored and rated for UV protection if it is exposed.  

Finally, rats love fiber.  Don't know why, there's no nutritional value in fiber, but the furry little vermin love to eat it like candy cane.

Kevin

Al_NN4ZZ

Hi David, Here is an easy and inexpensive way to add a short fiber link to get the benefits without needing any special tools. It uses premade cables and adapters you can get from Amazon and only takes a few minutes to install. http://nn4zz.com/FLEX6700.htm#Ethernet_Lightning_Protection It is also a solution to consider if you want to leverage your existing copper CAT CABLES instead of replacing them. Regards, Al / NN4ZZ

Duane N9DG

I'd personally go for the LC connectors instead of SCs on the fiber cables. They are smaller and can be easily pulled through 1.25" or 1.5" conduit. And seem to be becoming the more common configuration.

And instead of armored cables, I'd go with non armored outdoor rated fiber cables pulled through a PVC conduit if the conduit is run underground or otherwise wet area. The metal armor in the armored cables defeats one of the key reasons to do fiber in the first place. No metal.
Also if you buy the right switch it may already have a SFP port on it. So may only need one RJ45 to fiber converter, or possible none if there are SFP port on both ends. Just some SFPs matched to the fiber type you are going to run.

And I agree with the others who say just buying prefabbed fiber cables is the way to go. The tooling etc. needed to do a handful of fiber terminations isn't worth the cost and hassle.

As others have already noted, the cost of doing things with fiber is very reasonable cost. And it is the only way I'd go for long-ish network cable runs, especially between buildings.

David McDonald

Ok thanks that’s neat. Well our house sold today and we are building house on our farm now so I’m starting my ham shack building next week. 26x26 building with shack office in there hvac controlled. My modem will be installed in that building so I won’t need any long runs now. 73

Ted VE3TRQ

Was in a hurry writing my comment while at Dayton - the cable has LC, not SC connectors on the paired cable - link together nicely for a full duplex pair of cables as required by an LC SFP.

Wayne

Gigabit switches are available at home depot for less than $20 you cant go wrong at that price!

Bill Roberts

Are you talking about Ethernet over Power Line?  I used that technology to extend WiFi through out 65 foot long house.  It didn't bother the big vertical about 110 feet away but it tore up 40 meters and up on the OCF dipole running over the house.  I just replaced it with a mesh network.  I'd stay away from Ethernet over Power Line.