What Is The FOA Doing For You?
When you join the FOA or renew your certification, do you ever think about what the FOA is doing to help you? We get that question here at the office occasionally, especially when some of our early CFOTs ask what happened to the newsletter we used to mail. So we thought this newsletter was a good way to let you know what we're doing here at the FOA.
What is the FOA up to?
We're here to promote
professionalism in fiber optics by training and certification
and to promote the use of fiber optics in general. That means
we're helping schools train their instructors and offering certifications.
We're also working with TIA and NECA on standards that help others
use fiber optics successfully. We co-sponsor tradeshows and seminars
like the VDV Expo. We write about fiber optics to increase the
awareness among potential users. We even developed a science fair
project which is posted in Tech Topics
on the FOA Website.
Perhaps most importantly to our members, we keep a database of
CFOTs and provide ID cards to our members so they can assure their
customers that they have been certified by the FOA. With over
12,000 CFOTs, the FOA CFOT represents the world's largest pool
of qualified technicians in fiber optics.
And for all you who have your CFOT, we're scouting the news and
industry for interesting and useful information that will help
you keep up to date on the technology and hopefully find more
jobs. Some of that information is on the Tech Topics page of our
website. Some is linked from our Links page. And every month,
our newsletter is updated with the latest technology, rumors,
jobs, etc.
Where do your annual renewal
fees go?
You renewal pays for the
FOA to maintain a database of CFOTs so if you need verification
of your certification, a quick call, email or fax to our office
is all that's needed. We also process ID card replacements at
no charge for our CFOTs.
You also support our staff to produce the monthly newsletter,
work on standards, provide seminars or sessions at trade shows,
etc., all of which enhances the stature of the FOA and thereby
the value of your certification.
In recent uncertain economic times, the FOA decided to change
from a mailed newsletter to an online version to keep costs low
and renewal fees low. This saved a lot of money and allowed us
to change its frequency from quarterly to monthly. We suggest
you note on your calendar to check it once a month. We think you
will find it very useful.
Description | SMF Type | ITU Spec. |
Standard Singlemode Fiber | B1.1 | G.652 |
Cutoff Shifted Fiber | B1.2 | G.654 |
Low Water Peak Fiber | B1.3 | G.652 |
Dispersion Shifted Fiber | B2 | G.653 |
Non-Zero Dispersion Shifted Fiber | B4 | G.655 |
POF World
Plastic optical fiber (POF) is finally making inroads into the fiber optic industry, riding on the rapid adoption of automotive networks like MOST and Flexray and consumer electronics applications like 1394. This summer, IGI will offer a POF conference, POF World (http://www.pofworld.com/) and the FOA will be presenting a half-day seminar on POF technology and installation. Check out the program and come see how POF is impacting the fiber optic market.
Plastic Optical Fibers (POF)
Wavelength-Division Multiplexing
Fiber Amplifiers
Eric Pearson's Newsletters - with some tests on connectors.
New sections of "Lennie Lightwave's Guide To Fiber Optics" covers loss testing of fiber optic cables and OTDRs.
Interested In Advanced Certification?
If you think you might, download and print yourself a FOA Logbook to keep track of your experience and traning. It will help you qualify for the CFOS certifications.
Your Name, CFOT - It pays to advertise!
The FOA encourages CFOTs to use the logo on their business cards, letterhead, truck or van, etc. and provides logo files on this site for that purpose. But we are also asked about how to use the CFOT or CFOS certifications. Easy, you can refer to yourself as "Your Name, CFOT" or "Your Name, CFOS/T" for example.
Feel free to use the logo and designations to promote your achievements and professionalism!
Remember To Renew Your Certification !
Remember to renew your FOA certification. All current CFOTs have a ID Card with their certification data and we keep a database of current CFOTs to answer inquiries regarding your qualifications if needed. If you forgot to renew, use the online application form or the FOA online store to renew NOW!
Want To Get FOA Email?
We have been asked if we could send the FOA newsletter by email
or post it on the website. We are looking into that and will definitely
get one started soon. When you renew your certification, you will
be asked if you are interested in email newsletters and if so,
you will be asked to give your email address for us to use in
a mailing list. If you want to get started now, send an email
to info@thefoa.org with the
subject "eMail List"
Note that The FOA never releases its mailing lists for any
use! Your data is always safe with us.
|
|
Want to write for the FOA
Newsletter? Send us articles,
news, anything you think might be interesting to the rest of the
membership!