[Gb-ccb] Information and advice on optic-fibre ethernet

[Martin Shepherd]

On Wed, 13 Aug 2003, John Ford wrote:
>...
> It's a custom thing.  A metal tube 7 times as long as it is wide, with
> no metallic cables running through it.

I'm having difficulty visualizing this. I am assuming that you have a
standard bulkhead optic-fiber ST coupler and a standard ST plug that
plugs into this. Does the metal tube somehow fit around and attach to
both the plug and the socket (and if so, how on earth does one unplug
the cable), or do I have completely the wrong idea?

>...
>  >    Alternatively I could use 4 individual coax cables for the 4
>  >    control signals, as Tim has suggested, but I would prefer to have
>  >    as few cables as possible.
>
> I don't really have an opinion on this.  One reason that this might be
> nice is the ability to pull off one cable for tests without disrupting
> the other 3 control signals.

I guess that they would actually have to be triax cables rather than
coax, in order to isolate the digital ground from the case grounds.

>...
> We buy from many places.  I'm not sure I know of a Web site that's got
> it all.  I like Newark, Digikey, Allied, and Mouser.  I like paper
> catalogs best, though.

I have just ordered catalogs from each of these companies (including
Newark again). Hopefully they won't take until the end of the project
to actually arrive :-|

> I suggest you use Spectrum Control for RFI filters and filtered connectors
> AMP for regular connectors.

Thanks for the info.

Martin