June, 2004

Previous Issues: May, 2004, April, 2004, March 2004, January, 2004, December, 2003, November, 2003 October 2003 September 2003, August 2003, July 2003, June 2003, March 15, 2003, October, 2002 , August, 2002, May, 2002


 
FOA Working WIth TIA on 568 Standard Revision
Jim Hayes, President of The FOA, made a presentation to the TIA TR-42.8 committee at the June 8, 2004 meeting in Providence, RI, covering the recommendations of the FOA for revisions in the "C" version of TIA-568 standard for structured cabling. 568 is currently in the "B" revision but work should begin soon on the "C" version.
Until 568B, fiber optics was an afterthought. 568B added a separate section to cover the unique aspects of fiber, enhancing the attractiveness of fiber to many users. However, there are still issues with 568B, including test requirements, that make fiber optics confusing to many potential users.
The FOA board, members of which have over 20 years experience in fiber optics on the average, reviewed the 568B standard and discussed these issues at length, then produced a document with our recommendations. You can read the whole PDF document here.
Jim will continue attending TR-42.8 meetings to work with the committee in developing 568C and representing the interests of our organization and our CFOTs.
 

Training For Advanced Certification?

Once you have your CFOT, what is the next level of certification? The FOA offers four advanced certifications, called CFOS (Certified Fiber Optic Specialist) in specialties of connectorization, splicing, testing and instructing. In our experience, CFOTs are not sure how to get there. The explanation on our website provides the requirements, but how do you qualify? Consider it to be three steps: 1) Get your CFOT, 2) Get field experience and 3) Get more advanced training.

Where is advanced training available? Ask the school where you got your CFOT training what they recommend. Check the school listing on the FOA website for schools offering advanced courses.

And don't forget manufacturers - they offer specialized training in their products, exactly the kinds of specific training you need for unique products that we expect you to have when you take the CFOS exams. the FOA is developing a list of manufacturer training we recommend for our CFOTs and will have it posted in the near future.

If you think you will aspiire to CFOS, download and print yourself a FOA Logbook to keep track of your experience and training. It will help you qualify for the CFOS certifications.


Ohio Installs America's Most Advanced Fiber Optic Network
A clipping from the CIncinnati Enquirer on April 27, 2004 says that Ohio has installed a 1,600 mile fiber network to link Ohio's colleges and universities, their business partners, hospitals and K-12 schools. The goal is more than just the sharing of information, it involves the sharing of equipment among institutions, reducing costs for capital equipment like MRI machines. The "Ohio Academic Resources Network" has been founded to install and support the network.
 

"Holey Fibers" Advance Toward Practicality
The so-called "holey fibers," more precisely "photonic bandgap" fibers we have mentioned several times before (Dec '03, Nov '03) are being developed by R&D labs into what appears to be practical devices. The Univ of Bath in the UK has gotten attenuation down to 1.7 dB/km at conventional wavelengths but is working on longer wavelengths - perhaps around 2 microns (2000 nm) where they expect to be able to take advantage of the fiber's lack of rayleigh scattering.
 

 
Tech Puzzler
Prepolished/splice connectors have higher losses than epoxy/polish connectors even though they have a factory polished ferrule. Why?
 
Answer below
 
 

New Tech Topics

New PowerPoint Presentation Introduces Fiber Optics
The FOA has created a short PowerPoint presentation that introduces you to fiber optics and talks about job opportunities in the field. It was intended for instructors to introdcue studnets to the field, but it's a good introduction for anyone. It's about 3 meg file so it takes a while to download and you need PowerPoint to view it. See http://www.thefoa.org/ppt/

Singlemode Fiber Nomenclature

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.


 

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.


To Contact The FOA:
 
The Fiber Optic Association
1119 S Mission Road, # 355
Fallbrook, CA 92028
 
Office Hours 10AM-5 PM Pacific Time
Telephone: 760-451-3655
Fax: 781-207-2421
info@thefoa.org
info@thefoa.org



Officers and
Board of Directors
Jim Hayes, President, Treasurer
Eric Pearson, Director of Certification
Tom Collins, Gateway Comm. College
Van Ewert, AESA
Bill Graham
Karen Hayes
 
FOA Staff:
Jim Hayes, newsletter, website editor
Karen Hayes, Administration

Administration:
The FOA is managed under contract by:
VDV Works LLC
1119 S Mission Road, # 355
Fallbrook, CA 92028
Telephone: 760-451-3655
Fax: 781-207-2421
email: info@vdvworks.com
FOA Board of Advisors
Elias Awad, Clerk, Director of Education
Tony Beam
Dave Chaney
F. Douglas Elliot, Past President
William H. Graham
Jim Hayes, President, Treasurer
John Highhouse, Past President
Danny S. Lyall
Eric Y. Loytty
Bob Mason
Eric Pearson
Paul Rosenberg, Past President
Dan Silver
Richard James Smith
Dominick Tamone
Tom Collins
Van Ewert
Elias Awad



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(C)1999-2004, The Fiber Optic Association, Inc.

 

Tech Puzzler: They have an internal splice, so the total loss is a combination of the connector loss and the splice loss.