Copper cable thieves suspected in electrocution death of six-month-old foal

A story in The Daily Mail describes the guresome discovery of an electrocuted six-month-old foal following a copper-cable theft near Sittingbourne, Kent, UK. The story's author, Stephanie Darrall, speculates that, after removing a pylon and exposing live wires, thieves may have used the foal to test whether or not electricity was still moving through the wires.

The theft left approximately 3,000 homes without power. The story quotes a resident who lives close to the crime scene as saying, "Most of us believe the people responsible used the foal to test whether the wires were still live, either by putting it on the cable or tempting it over with food."

You can read the Daily Mail story here. Mercifully, it contains no photos of the deceased foal.

Copper prices fall, but what about cable prices?

Are you familiar with our LinkedIn group? If you are not, please join. Approximately 1,700 cabling industry professionals from around the world are members.

For those of you who are members, you may be interested in one of the group's newest discussions. Alan Bullen, managing director of Lynx Networks plc in Milton Keynes, UK and a director of the FibreOptic Industry Association, wants to know: "Now that the price of copper has dropped 35 percent and is at its lowest price for two years, when will we see a corresponding drop in cable prices?" The price chart below is taken from metalprices.com and covers copper pricing over the past six months.



The price of copper has been pointed to frequently as one head of the three-headed monster that has sent the price of copper cable up over the past year-plus. The other two heads on that monster are the price of petroleum (a copper cable's jacket is petroleum-based) and, for plenum-rated cable at least, the price of fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP), which insulates the copper conductors of plenum-rated cables. But Alan Bullen is from the U.K., where they do not use plenum cable per se but rather use low-smoke zero-halogen cables. Still, the pricing of those cable types are subject to the costs of the materials used in their manufacture.

So what do you think? Is the price of copper cable on the way down? Is it just wishful thinking? Perhaps a criticism of copper technology from a prominent member of the FibreOptic Industry Association? Check out our LinkedIn group or comment here on The Cabling Blog to weigh in.

In 'Operation Alloy,' police raid scrapyards looking for copper-cable thieves

Police in Stockport, UK, which is near Manchester (map), conducted raids at several scrap-metal yards aiming to catch thieves in the act of cashing in on their crimes. As Bethany English of the Manchester Evening News reports, "Operation Alloy" as it is called, comprised four teams of officers. English reported the officers "were particularly searching for stolen phone cabling and grids" and also were making spot-checks of vans on roads near the scrap yards.

She quoted Sergeant Carl Needham as saying that Operation Alloy will continue through the end of the year at least. In addition to local police officers, the operation includes the efforts of trading-standards and environmental officers, who ensure vehicles are licensed for waste transfer, English explained.

You can read the full report from the Manchester Evening News here.

Below is a video of one of the officers involved, who briefly explains the operation. (If you can understand what he's saying, please let me know. Being from New Hampshire rather than Hampshire, I couldn't even make out his name.)

2012 London Olympics: Is DAS calling? (Is anyone calling? Hello?)

Jacquelin Magnay, covering the 2012 London Olympics for The Telegraph, recently reported that Mayor Boris Johnson admitted mobile-phone users in the city may be out of luck when the games are going on because of a capacity crunch.

"Johnson said he had been concerned about mobile phone capacity for more than two years but the increasing reliance on smartphones ... and the booming sales of tablets ... was making the task [of shifting mobile capacity to the Olympic Park from other parts of the city] increasingly difficult." The mayor is also quoted as saying, "We are looking to install enough masts and have enough physical infrastructure and coverage for the huge demands."

Magnay explained some recent challenges the city has faced concerning mobile-coverage during the games, including the implications of potential mobile blackouts, then added, "the latest problem simply relates to the expectation many of the spectators in the Olympic Park's nine venues will want to tweet, send pictures and text at rates not seen before."

I bet the DAS Forum would enjoy the opportunity to explain to organizers of the London games, the merits of using distributed antenna systems in venues such as theirs.

Researchers use nanotubes to create copper-cable replacement

Researchers from Rice University have published results of their efforts to produce cables made of carbon nanotubes that can conduct electricity. The research's ultimate aim is to develop nanocables that can replace copper cables for conductivity.

In a media release, the university explained, "A Rice lab made such a cable from double-walled carbon nanotubes and powered a fluorescent light bulb at standard line voltage - a true test of the novel material's ability to stake a claim in energy systems of the future."

An abstract of the research has been published on Nature.com.

Enrique Barrera, a professor of mechanical engineering and mateials science at Rice, said that highly conductive nanotube-based cables could be just as efficient as traditional metals at one-sixth of the weight. He added that such cables may initially find use in applications where weight is a critical consideration, such as in airplanes and automobiles. In the future, he said, it could replace traditional wiring in homes.

The university's release continued, "The cables developed in the study are spun from pristine nanotubes and can be tied together without losing their conductivity. To increase conductivity of the cables, the team doped them with iodine and the cables remained stable. The conductivity-to-weight ratio beats metals, including copper and silver, and is second only to the metal with the highest specific conductivity, sodium."

Yao Zhao, one of the nanocables' developers, recently defended his dissertation toward his doctorate at the university and his the lead author of the new paper. He built the demonstration rig that allowed him to toggle through the nanocable and replace the conventional copper wire in the circuit.

This initial study used a few centimeters of cable; in that regard Barrera remarked that spinning billions of nanotubes into a cable at all is quite a feat. "The chemical processes used to grow and then align nanotubes will ultimately be part of a larger process that begins with raw materials and ends with a steady stream of nanocables," he said. The project's planned next stage will be to make longer, thicker cables taht carry higher current and still keep the cable lightweight. "We really want to go better than what copper or other metals can offer overall," Barrera said.

Tsinghua University partnered with Rice on the research and supplied the nanotubes for it.

Rice researchers Barrera and Zhao discuss their efforts in the video below.

Fluke Networks: Yes, preterminated systems do need testing

Fluke Networks has launched a series of reports it has titled "Truths About Installing and Testing Preterminated Fiber." It will be an 8-part series, the company says, and Part 1 is currently available.

Entitled "What Factory Cable Testing Cannot Tell an Installer," Part 1 of the Truth series includes the following statements about preterminated fiber systems: "Once delivered to the end user, the installation process exposes the cable to stress and potential damage that is beyond the scope of any factory test. If installers and network owners take a few simple steps, they can avoid performance problems and ensure that the manufacturer's warranties are upheld."

The report points out three real-world factors that, as Fluke Networks describes it, "will intercede to turn a cable assembly that 'worked when we shipped it to you' into a weak link in the transmission chain."

Those three real-world factors are:
1. Pulling cable through a rack or down a tray can break the fiber. Says Fluke Networks, "When the maximum pulling force on a fiber can be as little as 100 pounds, it is quite possible for an average installer to exceed that maximum and shear one or more fibers in a preterminated trunk."

2. The installation process creates a risk to the cable through microbending and macrobending.

3. There is a high likelihood of connector contamination or damage. "It is very common for the fiber endfaces to become contaminated in the course of installation," the report states.

The report lists inspection, cleaning and testing procedures that are considered best practices for dealing with preterminated fiber systems.

You can view or download Part 1 of Fluke Networks' series "Truths About Installing and Testing Preterminated Fiber" here.

Fluke Networks also posted a 30-second YouTube video summarizing the rationale behind its "Truths Part 1" report. You can see the video below.

Just what's in that cabinet?

As a professional in the cabling industry who has spent countless hours in telecommunications rooms and the enclosures/cabinets within those rooms, you may very well believe that you have seen it all.

The clever marketing folks at Automated Outlet are betting you have not seen it all. They have posted on YouTube a video showing a cabinet for structured wiring that houses ... no, not cabling. Liquor. The "Cool Home Automation Liquor Cabinet Using Structured Wiring" is made up of parts available from Automated Outlet. Although I bet the liquor is sold separately.

It's a simple concept and the video tour is only 30 seconds in duration. You can check it out below.