Had my first "oops" this weekend.

[dieselfuelonly]

No, I didn't roll my tractor or get stuck to the point that 4WD could get me out...

BUT:

I was digging out a trench with the dirt scoop to fill with good dirt to make a little garden in. Dirt scoop worked EXCELLENT for that by the way, as soon as I get the "problem" fixed I will post pictures:

On my first scoop, I look behind me only to find a nice piece of cable sticking out from the ground. I shut off the tractor and run inside and pick up the phone. Nothing. Try the TV. Nothing. Try the internet. NOTHING. Out out 6 acres, on my very first scoop, I managed to take out the one cable that was buried about 1" in the ground that runs our cable TV, internet, and phone.

And to top it all off, Road Runner is saying that they can't come out here until Wednesday to fix it.

If I knew how to fix it myself I would, anyone know of a good site on how to patch coax cable?

Oops.

 

[scott_vt]

Mornin Dennis,
Gosh that is bad news ! Around here those cables are supposed to be buried at least 12" ! Im surprised they let them get away with only burying them that shallow ! Good luck to get everything spliced back together soon !

 

[dieselfuelonly]

Yeah, I'm pretty angry, we've had a lot of problems with them before. At our old house, I cut through the phone line no less than 4 times while terracing the yard, until one of the guys FINALLY took the time to route a temporary cable around the house!

With the amount of money that you pay for a connection that drops at least 5 times per day on the internet, has sporadic slow-downs, it would at least be nice if they would take the time to bury it more than 1" deep in the ground!!!!

 

[shaley]

Get some RG6 coax from Lowes and a barrel connector and replace the cut section. It's just one conductor and a shield ground on the outside. They might have used RG11 which is about 1/2 inch in dia. but a short patch section of RG6 will work.

 

[rgood]

Dennis - Radio Shack will have everything you need to do the job - It's not a big problem to fix

 

[jsborn]

Call BEFORE you dig.

That could have been electric or gas just as easy and it doesn't matter who is to blame when you and or your tractor is on fire and burning in your yard.

I don't know but in defence of the utilities they usually bury the lines deeper but sometimes after they dig them in the grade changes with out them knowing then the homeowner comes in and finds them 1" underground.

NEVER ASSUME it is clear Call BEFORE you Dig its free..

 

[shaley]

Once you get it fixed you can look at the system performance by typing the following address into your browser which is "192.168.100.1" it will bring up the cable modem status page. Take alook at the signal page and you can see what's going on with the power level on the upstream and down stream when the network goes down vs when it is up.
Here is a screen shot of mine

 

[JC-jetro]

No, I didn't roll my tractor or get stuck to the point that 4WD could get me out...

BUT:

I was digging out a trench with the dirt scoop to fill with good dirt to make a little garden in. Dirt scoop worked EXCELLENT for that by the way, as soon as I get the "problem" fixed I will post pictures:

On my first scoop, I look behind me only to find a nice piece of cable sticking out from the ground. I shut off the tractor and run inside and pick up the phone. Nothing. Try the TV. Nothing. Try the internet. NOTHING. Out out 6 acres, on my very first scoop, I managed to take out the one cable that was buried about 1" in the ground that runs our cable TV, internet, and phone.

And to top it all off, Road Runner is saying that they can't come out here until Wednesday to fix it.

If I knew how to fix it myself I would, anyone know of a good site on how to patch coax cable?

Oops.

For real temporary solution get couple of short wires with alligator clips. can pick them up from Radio Shack about $3. Expose the the coax conductor with a pocket knife connect center copper wires on both end with one alligator clip. do the same with the outer wire that is woven. In between the outer wire and inner you have insulating layer and another insulating jacket on the outside. you'll have losses with this connection but you'll get enough juice transmitted to be back in business till the real fix. I get some plastic bag and cover the temp fix and tape it up to have some temporary shield from the element and rain. You can also get the right crimper and a splice fix, follow the instruction in the package which includes filling the splice tube with %100 Silicon for moisture protection. I do that if cable company wants to charge me and arm and a leg for a $10 fix.


JC,

 

[dieselfuelonly]

Get some RG6 coax from Lowes and a barrel connector and replace the cut section. It's just one conductor and a shield ground on the outside. They might have used RG11 which is about 1/2 inch in dia. but a short patch section of RG6 will work.

I was looking at the cable, and now I understand, it looks pretty easy to fix. Do you need any special tools?

 

[JC-jetro]

I was looking at the cable, and now I understand, it looks pretty easy to fix. Do you need any special tools?

at the least a coax crimper and a splice kit from Radio shack. It'll have everything but the crimper.

JC