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September 2022


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Features

Does The IIJA Benefit People?
Workforce Development Requires Cooperation
More Translations Of FOA Textbooks
More FOA Guides For Color Codes
Fiber Optic History - The Video
Cross Reference To FOA Tech Materials

Newsletter Sections

Click on any link to jump to that section

News 
FOA School in KY Needs Help After Floods
Google Fiber Is Back!
Starlink And WIreless Provider Lose Funding
Fiber Optic Cable Shortage Threatens Projects


Technical 
OPGW Installation
Manufacturing 50km cables
PAM4 Ups Transceiver Bandwidth
FOA Online Loss Budget Calculator

Worth Reading  Lots of interesting articles

Q&A    Questions from our readers

Training/FiberU New FOA-Approved Schools, Fiber U MiniCourses, more
 
Resources New FOA YouTube Videos. 

Safety  

About the FOA





FOA Certified Techs

CFOT Total


Time To Renew Your FOA Certifications?
Special offer - 1/3 Off Renewal

Jobs
See FOA Jobs Web Page and FOA on FOA on LinkedIn
The FOA Jobs Web Page has been updated and a new page added on Using your FOA Training/Certification to Find the Right Job in Fiber Optics

Where Are The Jobs In Fiber Optics? FOA talks about all the applications for fiber optics, what jobs involve and the qualifications for the workers in the field in this YouTube video.

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Trademarks: The FOA CFOT® (Certified Fiber Optic Technician) and Fiber U® (the FOA online learning site) are registered trademarks of the FOA.
FOA Guide
Want to know more about fiber optics? Looking for specific information? Here's the largest technical reference on the web: The FOA Online Fiber Optic Reference Guide.

fiberu.org

Free online self-study programs on many fiber optics and cabling topics are available at Fiber U, FOA's online web-based training website.


 FOA Reference Books
Available Printed or eBooks
The fiber book is available in Spanish and French

FOA Reference
                          Guide to Fiber Optics book FOA
                          Reference Guide to Premises Cablng book FOA
                          Reference Guide to OSP Fiber Optics book FOA
                          Reference Guide to Fiber Optics book
FOA Reference
                          Guide to Fiber Optic Network Design book FOA Book
                        on Fiber Optic Testing FOA
                            Outside Plant Fiber Optics Construction
                            Guide  Lennie Lightwave

Lennie and Uncle Ted's Guides are now also available as free iBooks on iTunes.
Lennie
                        Lightwave's Guide To Fiber Optics   Uncle
                        Ted's Guide to Premises Cablling
Click on any of the books to learn more.
Fiber Optic Safety Poster to download and print


FOA Videos on videos

FOA is a member of:

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FTTH Council

The FOA Newsletter is edited by Jim Hayes - send your stories, leads, ideas, comments to <jim @ foa.org>
Jim Hayes


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Current Issue of FOA Newsletter


Time To Renew Your FOA Certifications?

To keep your FOA certifications active, you need to renew them when they expire. Now we have a new more convenient way to renew - an online store at Paypal - where you can quickly and conveniently use your PayPal account or your credit card to renew your certifications.

You can now renew with PayPal or a credit card
 
PayPal is available worldwide



Join FOA On  Social Media




FOA on LinkedIn


FOA has 3 LinkedIn Groups

FOA - official page on LinkedIn - covers FOA, technology and jobs in the fiber optic marketplace

FOA Fiber Optic Training - open to all, covers fiber optic technology and training topics

Grupo de La Asociación de Fibra Óptica FOA (Español)




The FOA Newsletter has covered a number of issues about rural broadband recently, so we thought our readers might like a first hand account of what it's like to live in rural America without decent broadband, how a community can get together to create a fiber broadband system, and what's FTTH is like once you get it. Here is a first-person report from Jim Simpson, the fiber guy at the IBEW/NECA electrical training Alliance.

Does the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) truly benefit people in rural America?

Jim Simpson

Director of Installer-Technician and Residential

electrical training Alliance
Electrical Training Alliance logo

The answer to this question is a resounding YES! The IIJA provides $65 Billion dollars for 5G and broadband access to unserved and underserved broadband areas, mostly in rural America. The largest appropriation is the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. So, why exactly is this a big deal? Let me answer that by telling my personal story.

In 2011 my wife and I moved to northern Minnesota. We were about to be empty nesters and had a lake home that we thoroughly enjoyed visiting. I had worked from home since 2005 and as long as I had access to the internet, my location didn’t matter. Internet service was available, however, little did I know just how bad the service actually was.

There is a large number of full-time residents that live in this community and also a large number of part time residents that visit the area year round. In discussions that I have had with part time residents, almost all of them have expressed that they would spend more time here working remotely if they could have access to a reliable internet service.

My internet speed was barely fast enough to be able to perform the work that is required of me. In fact, I regularly joked with my co-workers that I have to wait for a snapping turtle to pick up my internet packets and deliver them to the nearest router before they will receive an email from me. To be truthful, it’s not really funny, it’s pathetic that in todays’ technological era we cannot receive high speed internet. This is primarily due to the fact that the internet service provider wouldn’t invest in upgrading their infrastructure.

The internet services provided from my internet service provider was DSL. DSL is limited to a maximum distance of 18,000 feet and doesn’t provide adequate speeds for people near the far end of the network for internet of the 21st century. Most people in the area could only access speeds between 4 Mbps and 5 Mbps download and 0.5 Mbps upload if they were within the 18,000 feet from the service. Everyone beyond the 18,000 feet could access the internet with speeds of 1 Mbps download and .2 Mbps upload when it actually worked. By FCC definition, these speeds classified our area as an unserved area.

Everything changed in July 2019 when a local telephone cooperative mailed a post card advertising the possibility of high speed internet coming to the area. I happened to be out of town for work, so I asked my wife to put it on my desk. I didn’t really have high hopes about the internet because we regularly received advertisement for satellite internet services that were extremely expensive and had high latency, which makes it difficult to work effectively.

When I returned from my trip, I reviewed the advertisement and saw that it pointed to a website to sign up if there was interest in high speed internet. I thought that it was a little odd to advertise this way, so I went to the website to retrieve more info. To my surprise, the website indicated that the co-op was considering the possibility of applying for a grant through the state of Minnesota for rural broadband internet. The website was being used as a tool to see if there was enough interest from residents in the area.

I immediately started to ask people in the area if they had received the notice and found that most people knew nothing about it (meaning it went into the garbage). Knowing that we couldn’t let this opportunity slip by, I reached out to the neighborhood gossip group (every neighborhood has them), to spread the word. Then, I found the contact information to the co-op manager. When I contacted the manager, he explained that they would pursue the grant opportunity if we could show that there were enough people in the area that would subscribe to the service once it was installed. When I asked how many people he was looking at, he said approximately 50 to 75. I then suggested that we put together two town hall meetings in mid August 2019 to explain to people how this would benefit the area as well as explain the process. We had 50 people show up to the first meeting and an additional 50 people show up to the second meeting. The common theme during both meetings was the frustration with our current service provider and the lack of commitment to provide a reliable service.

Town meeting
Good turnout for the town meetings

The overwhelming meeting response convinced the telephone co-op to apply for the grant in October 2019. The grant was approved in January 2020 and construction was slated to start in late May 2020. Then along comes Covid and manufacturer delays. Fiber optic cable delivery was delayed until July, which put the project in danger of completion before old man winter reared his ugly head (it’s hard to plow in fiber when the ground is frozen). Ultimately, the project finished up in October 2020 and everyone that wanted high speed internet was connected to the network.

Directional boring for drop
Directional boring a drop

Pedestal for drops
Pedestal for drops - you can see the splitter across from the splice on the tray

home connection drop connecto
Connection at the home was done very neatly

This is when life changed! As promised, the Telephone co-op provided internet speeds of 100 Mbps download and 100 Mbps upload. In addition, they also offered Voice over IP telephone service as well as television service to everyone on the network. All said and done, my internet and TV costs were reduced by $150.00 per month. Oh, did I mention Covid? Around this time, Covid had pretty much everything locked down in MN. People started staying at the lake properties to try to avoid catching the virus. This was made possible because of the access to high speed internet. The economic impact of people staying in the rural parts of the state was incredible. Businesses were experiencing sales that they would only see during holiday weekends throughout the entire winter months.

Fast forward to August 2022. People that still have the opportunity to work remotely have taken full advantage of working from their lake properties. People on the verge of retiring are selling their homes in the cities and moving up north. Businesses continue to see record sales in small towns near us. Restaurants and bars that were typically quiet during the middle of the week are now full with patrons. Speeds of 100 Mbps download and 100 Mbps upload are still available, however, the telephone co-op now offers 250 Mbps and Gigabit packages as well. Nope, Gigabit wasn’t a typo. I experience download speeds of 940 Mbps and upload speeds of around 750 Mbps on WiFi.

So, you’ve heard my story about getting reliable high speed internet, let’s talk about a few benefits of high speed internet in rural areas. Remote learning is undoubtedly one of the major benefits. If one thing positive that came out of Covid, it was the realization that everyone must have the ability to communicate virtually. Meetings are being held virtually through platforms such as Zoom and Teams. This isn’t possible without high speed internet. Streaming television or movies need high speed internet. Video surveillance cameras are commonly connected to the internet for remote viewing. Access control/remote locking unlocking need an internet connection. Control of HVAC remotely needs connectivity with the internet. Smart home technologies of the electrical system as well as small and large appliances need connectivity to allow smart communication to the user as well as other smart devices. The list goes on and on!

Think of it this way, rural America is in the process of going from the Flintstone’s era to the Jetson’s era (for those people old enough to understand the analogy). It’s because of the ability to have high speed internet.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is truly life changing!!!


Workforce Development Requires A Cooperative Effort

Last month we talked about the need for developing a larger, more competent fiber optic workforce and linked you to the new FOA page on fiber optic workforce development. Now we want to talk about something necessary for a successful workforce development project, based on the FOA experience with these programs.

A successful workforce development program requires the cooperation of a number of parties, all of whom have a vested interest in its success. These parties include:

  • The workforce development agency. They know how to create and operate programs and how to access funding from various sources.
  • The customers - network owners and developers. They need the workforce to build their networks while meeting their time and financial goals.
  • Employers - network owners and contractors. The can define the jobs and the qualifications for the workers they need plus where and when they are needed. The also pay the salaries so they define the job benefits.
  • Training organizations. At the local level, they are generally technical high schools and colleges that are experienced in teaching trade skills and offering certifications with degree programs. Professional training organizations that offer bootcamp training sessions can be used when or where schools cannot.
  • The public. Once the program is underway, the public needs to be made aware of the programs and help recruit people for the training, especially the young people who need encouragement to pursue a career in the trades.

FOA looks at this as a basic requirment for developing a fiber optic technician workforce, but coopertion of all these parties are necessary for successful workforce development programs in any of the trades. The example of the FOA Kentucky Wired workforce development project shows how bringing the relevant proties together ensures all those involved understand the needs of everyone involved creates an environment where everyone cooperates to meet their overall goals.


More Translations of FOA Textbooks

FOA is a very international organization and it works hard to accommodate the language needs of everyone. We have been translating our books and website into the languages most requested, and this month, we add two more textbook translations. We also want to thank Jerry Morla, FOA CFOS/I instructor and Director who has been doing the recent translations into Spanish, his native language.

FOA has published Paperback and Kindle versions of two more translations of the FOA series of textbooks, following the recent publications on the FTTH Handbook in Spanish. This month we published the Fiber Optics textbook translated into Portuguese and the FOA Fiber Optic Network Design textbook translated into Spanish. Both books are now available on Amazon or through local booksellers.

Guia de Referência sobre Fibra Óptica da FOA

Guia de Referência sobre Fibra Óptica da FOA : Guia de Estudo para a Certificação da FOA (Portuguese edition).  O Guia de Referência para Fibra Óptica do FOA é o livro de referência geral para comunicações de fibra óptica e é usado no treinamento para o CFOT. Está traduzido para o português e disponível para escolas FOA com currículo de formação para certificação CFOT.  Disponível na Amazon em edições de bolso e Kindle, e em livrarias locais.

FOA Reference Guide To Fiber Optic Network Design

Guía de Referencia de la FOA sobre Diseño de la red de fibra óptica: Guía de Estudio para la Certificación de la FOA (Spanish Edition). La Guía de referencia de FOA para el diseño de redes de fibra óptica es una guía completa para diseñar redes de fibra óptica y administrar el proyecto. Es el libro de texto para la certificación de especialista FOA CFOS/D.
Disponible en Amazon en ediciones de bolsillo y Kindle, y en librerías locales.

Here is a listing of all the FOA textbook Translations

Spanish Editions

Guía de Referencia de la Asociación de Fibra Óptica (FOA) Sobre Fibra Óptica: Guía de estudio para la certificación de la FOA  Amazon

La Referencia de Cableado para Predios de la FOA: Guía para Certificación de la FOA   Amazon

La Asociación de Fibra Óptica Manual de Fibra Hasta el Hogar : Para Planificadores, Gestores, Diseñadores, Instaladores y Operadores De FTTH  Amazon

Guía de Referencia de la FOA sobre Diseño de la red de fibra óptica: Guía de Estudio para la Certificación de la FOA Amazon

And the FOA Reference Guide To Fiber Optics:

French Edition
Le Guide de référence de la FOA pour la fibre optique et et guide d'étude pour la certification FOA: Guide d'étude pour la certification FOA  Amazon

Portuguese Edition
Guia de Referência sobre Fibra Óptica da FOA : Guia de Estudo para a Certificação da FOA  Amazon


The subjects of these books is also included translated in the FOA Guide online.



Sitio web y manual de FTTH ahora en español

FTTH Website And Handbook Now In Spanish

FOA FTTH Handbook has become the best selling FOA book and has a 4.7/5 rating by buyers on Amazon. What do readers say? "

"As an industry veteran with 35 years experience in designing, building, and operating telecom and data networks, this is the best resource I have come across for new managers, project managers, and support staff. This is a great resource that employees will come back to time and again."

"Excellent content on FTTH network design & architecture."

"
With Fiber To The Home becoming a necessity, this book is a very complete text on all the important aspects that the planner and installer must know." That's from Bill Graham, FOA Director. He might be slightly prejudiced....

FOA has noted lots of interest in FTTH from other areas around the world, especially Central and South America, so we translated the FTTH website and FTTH Handbook into Spanish.

Available in paperback from Amazon or ebook on Amazon Kindle.
   

FTTH Handbook  FTTH Handbook in Spanish

Sitio web y manual de FTTH ahora en español

El Manual FOA FTTH se ha convertido en el libro FOA más vendido y tiene una calificación de 4.7/5 por parte de los compradores en Amazon.

FOA ha notado mucho interés en FTTH en otras áreas del mundo, especialmente en América Central y del Sur, por lo que tradujimos el sitio web de FTTH y el Manual de FTTH al español.


Disponible como libro de tapa blanda en Amazon o como libro electrónico en Amazon Kindle.  

El sitio web de FOA FTTH ahora en español.  



 

FOA  has a web page with resources on fiber broadband networks and the IIJA/BEAD funding programs.



Fiber Optic History - The Video

FOA recently created a timeline of fiber optic history to show how the technology and applications of fiber optics has developed in its 50+ year history. That seemed to be a perfect topic for one of the FOA video lectures, so we created Lecture 73 in the FOA series of lectures on fiber optics about the history of fiber optics.

FOA's History of Fiber Optics

FOA Lecture 73, The History of Fiber Optics - A Timeline video is available on YouTube.


Cross Reference To FOA Technical Reference Materials

With 12 textbooks in 4 languages, almost 1,000 pages of technical information on the FOA Guide, 100+ videos and two dozen online courses at Fiber U, all this can make it difficult to find the right information. To help this, we have created a cross reference guide to the textbooks, Online Guide and Fiber U courses, all the FOA technical information. Besides the textbooks, online Guide and Fiber U, each section of the Guide also includes links to the 100+ FOA videos available.
Cross Reference Guide to Textbooks, Online Guide and Fiber U

FOA Videos
We have also rearranged the 100+ FOA videos in similar categories on the Contents Page of the Online Guide, making the videos, especially the lectures, much it much easier to find a video on a particular topic. 
FOA Videos Guide.



FOA Newsletter Sections

News     Technical    Worth Reading    Q&A    Training/FiberU    Resoures    Safety   About




News


Lots more news in Worth Reading below






Support FOA school facility and students, victims of devastating floods in Eastern Kentucky


Flooding in Hazard KY
Photo from Kentucky Today   

The FOA has a number of schools we work with in Kentucky and one is Hazard Community College. Between July 25th and July 30th, 2022,  thunderstorms developed in Eastern Kentucky and brought heavy rain, deadly flash flooding, and devastating river flooding brought upwards of 14-16" of rain during this 5-day period.
Keila Miller, Dean of Community, Workforce and Economic Development  reports that their college was mostly spared but many of their faculty and students have lost everything.  She says: “The devastation is indescribable". 

If anyone would like a donation, they can go to the following link:

https://hazard.kctcs.edu/alumni/alumni-tools/giving/index.aspx

Once in that link, they should select Hazard Community & Technical College, and then select “HCTC Flood Relief Fund”.  All donations go directly to students and they apply for the relief dollars if they were effected by the flood damage.   



Head of Google Fiber Says They're Ready To Start Building New Cities

Google Fiber plans to bring its high-speed internet service to multiple cities in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nebraska and Nevada over the next several years in its first big expansion since it spun out as an independent unit of parent company Alphabet in 2015. In his first media interview since becoming chief executive of Google Fiber in February 2018, Dinni Jain told Reuters that his team was finally prepared to "add a little bit more build velocity" after over four years of sharpening operations.

The anticipated expansion to 22 metro areas across the United States from 17 today includes previously announced projects to launch in Mesa, Arizona and Colorado Springs, Colorado. The choices were based the company's findings of where speeds lag.

"There was an impression 10 years ago that Google Fiber was trying to build the entire country," Jain said. "What we are gesturing here is, 'No, we are not trying to build the entire country.'"

Fiber will continue to pursue wireless service, through its Webpass brand, for multi-unit buildings, Jain added. In some cases, it will lease local fiber networks from other providers.


Read more of the interview on Reuters.


FCC Pulls the Plug on RDOF Funding for SpaceX Starlink and LTD Broadband

The FCC has rejected the long form RDOF applications from SpaceX and LTD Broadband. The long form applications, the FCC found, had not demonstrated that the providers could deliver what was promised. The FCC, therefore, concluded approval would not be a prudent use of the Universal Service Fund (USF) money.

The Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) was established by the FCC to help support the cost of bringing broadband to rural areas. So far, the program has authorized more than $5 billion in funding primarily for fiber gigabit service to more than 3 million locations in 47 states. The initial RDOF awards were released on December 7, 2020. SpaceX Starlink won $885,509,638.40 and LTD Broadband won $1,320,920,718.60.

“After careful legal, technical, and policy review, we are rejecting these applications. Consumers deserve reliable and affordable high-speed broadband,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a press release. “We must put scarce universal service dollars to their best possible use as we move into a digital future that demands ever more powerful and faster networks. We cannot afford to subsidize ventures that are not delivering the promised speeds or are not likely to meet program requirements.”

Space X's Starlink service is provided by thousands of satellites while LTD is primarily fixed wireless.

Separately, the FCC said that it has authorized $21,112,263 in RDOF funding to three companies to deploy gigabit service to almost 15,000 locations in Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.

Read more in Telecompetitor.



Fiber-optic cable shortage threatening global digital connectivity

European are already seeing the effects of a global shortage of fiber-optic cable according to marketing research firm CRU. Prices have doubled in Europe thanks to a scarcity of key components such as helium – compounded by rising delivery costs and the labor market – at a time when broadband demand continues to surge.

Prices of fiber

Prices have more than doubled from record lows in January 2021 in Europe, according to market research firm Cru Group, and this has huge consequences for everyone.

"The biggest impact for consumers is the stretching out of lead times," says Michael Finch, principal analyst at Cru. "Current lead times for optical cable used in our broadband or Fiber to the Home (FTTH) networks can now stretch to one year in many regions. It's becoming harder and harder to source cable now."

"This increased lead time, and network construction projects becoming increasingly delayed, means governmental and private targets for the number of homes passed with FTTH will slip," he says.

"The bigger impact to governments comes with the total cost of deploying the optical cable in the ground. This has nearly doubled in many key telecom nations. It is this which could more meaningfully act to constrain demand over the coming 12-18 months."

Read more in CGTN.


Technical

Fiber optic technology, standards, equipment, installation, etc.


The FOA Update Page covers the new technology and applications we covered in this newsletter recently. Now you can review all that new tech at once.


FOA
                          Guide

Cross Reference To FOA Technical Reference Materials

The FOA has almost 1,000 pages of technical information on the FOA Guide, 100+ videos and two dozen online courses at Fiber U, all this can make it difficult to find the right information.

Cross Reference To FOA Tech Materials
To help this, we have created a cross reference guide to the textbooks, Online Guide and Fiber U courses, all the FOA technical information. Besides the textbooks, online Guide and Fiber U, each section of the Guide also includes links to the 100+ FOA videos available.
Cross Reference Guide to Textbooks, Online Guide and Fiber U

FOA Videos
We have also rearranged the 100+ FOA videos in similar categories on the Contents Page of the Online Guide, making the videos, especially the lectures, much it much easier to find a video on a particular topic. 
FOA Videos Guide.



fiberu.org

Want to know more about fiber optics? Study for FOA certifications? Free Self-Study Programs are on Fiber U®





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OPGW Installation

Photos by FOA Instructor Milt Murry

You don't often see close-up photos of a OPGW drop at a substation but FOA instructor Milt Murry sent us these photos that illustrate how it's done. You can see the OPGW cable coming down the tower to the largee service loop and a regular fiber optic cable going into conduit and into the local facility.

OPGW

Here is a close-up of the service loops and splice closure.

OPGW

Now you can easily see the OPGW metallic cable coming down and the conduit with regular fiber optic cable and ducts (2) going underground to the facility. The long service loops are needed to get the cable to the ground for splicing and the metallic box (1) is where the splice tray is located, Why is the splice closure metal? It's bulletproof! That's always a problem with remote power lines.


The Challenges Of Making A 50km Continuous Fiber Optic Cable

A typical fiber optic cable is limited to about 5-15km length, depending on the type of cable and the number of fibers. But cables used for undersea exploration like the expedition that found the century old ship Endeavor in Antarctic waters (see Fiber Optics Again Helps Find a Famous Shipwreck in the April FOA Newsletter) need to be much longer 25-50km long.

Linden 25km cable
ROV attached with Linden 25km cable

Few companies have the technology and expertise to make such cables, but Linden Photonics does. The August issue of Sea Technology magazine has an interesting article on how they manufacture long continuous cables and the challenges they face in doing it.

Read the article in Sea Technology.


100G On One Fiber With One Laser Lowers Cost

In applications like data centers, users always want higher speeds but cost is an issue. As recently as a year or two ago, 100G in the data center required a transceiver with 4 lasers and WDM for singlemode or 4 lasers and 4 fibers in each direction for multimode. Most big data centers have already transitioned to all singlemode so they will not have to update the fiber infrastructure when moving up to 400/800G or terabit speeds.

In long haul telecom, coherent transceivers dominate at high speeds and long lengths, but coherent transceivers are complicated and costly. Prices have been going down for coherent components, but are still higher than 4 channel WDM.

Another solution has arrived and it promises to be much less costly than either of those two options - a transceiver using PAM4 encoding. PAM4 encoding uses 4 signal levels so that each "bit" represents 2 bits of data. The encoding looks like this:

PAM4 vs binary

In a binary coded link, each bit is on or off so each bit indicates a "0" or a "1" which is what binary means. In a PAM4 encoded signal, the bit has information in the pulse height, which means the bit can carry two bits of information - "0, 1,2 or 3," twice as much information in the same bit, doubling the information carrying capacity of the link.

A PAM4 transceiver needs only one laser to achieve 100Gb/s data rates, making it less expensive than a transceiver that has 4 lasers and a WDM. The same technology can be leveraged for 400G also.

PAM4 is not a fiber innovation. It has been used for years in electrical communication circuits to increase bandwidth. But the implementation requires some signal processing in the receiver which took some time to implement in fiber optic transceivers.

Read more (for real techies!) from the 100GLambda MSA group

Examples of SFP transceivers from Tarluz

Updated FOA Guide pages: Datalinks and Transceivers


More Help On Color Codes (Now Copper Cabling And Fiber Optics)

The FOA has created a pocket guide to fiber optic color codes that we are sending to new and renewed CFOTs. It has color codes for fibers and buffer tubes, connectors and premises cables inside and on the back, QR codes to take you directly to the FOA Guide and Fiber U.

FOA Color Codes Guide card 

The FOA Guide page on Fiber Optic Color Codes is one of the most read pages on the FOA website and the Fiber Optic Color Codes minicourse on Fiber U very popular also.

Here's a do-it-yourself FOA Guide To Fiber Optic Color Codes card. Just download the PDF file, print it on a color printer and fold it up as shown. Then you have your own pocket guide to color codes. Make a bunch for your co-workers too.

Color codes U-print  FOA Color Code Card  color code card UTP

Then we realized that many of your also do structured cabling work, so it was a natural to add a Color Code Guide for UTP copper cabling in printable (below) and electronic (above) versions.

color codes

But we did not stop there. We know how many of you use your mobile devices on the job, so we created a version of the Color Code Guide you could download and use on your smartphone or tablet. It's a PDF file, so you just download it and save it on your device and it will be with you always.

Here are the links to download your own FOA Guides to Fiber Optic Color Codes
FOA Guide to Fiber Optic Color Codes (print your own version) PDF  
FOA Guide to Fiber Optic Color Codes (electronic version for your smartphone, tablet or PC) PDF  

And For UTP Cabling

FOA Guide to UTP Cabling Color Codes (print your own version) PDF  
FOA Guide to UTP Copper Cabling Color Codes (electronic version) PDF

Warning For Techs Doing OSP Restoration

Warning

FOA received an inquiry about whether techs working on restoring OSP links should be concerned about eye safety if the link used fiber amplifiers. To answer this question, we had to do some research on fiber amplifiers. The short answer is YES, you should be concerned. The long answer is more technical and includes details that every OSP tech needs to know.

See "Fiber Amps And Restoration" in the FOA Newsletter Archives..



Try The FOA's Online Loss Budget Calculator

FOA has written many articles about loss budgets, something everyone involved in fiber optics needs to know and needs to know how to calculate. We've created a online Loss Budget Calculator that does the work for you. Just input your cable plant data and it calculates the loss budget. It works on any device, especially smartphones and tablets for field use and even allows printing the results.
 

FOA
                        Loss Budget Calculator


Bookmark this page (especially on your smartphone): FOA Loss Budget Calculator Online

Worth Reading

Each month we read hundreds of newsletters and online articles. These are the ones we think you will find "worth reading."

FOA Timeline of Fiber Optic History  and the new FOA video "The History Of Fiber Optics"

Fiber or copper?  AT&T PR photo from the mid 1970s

The FOA's History




Worth Reading (And Watching):

FOA  has a web page with resources on fiber broadband networks and the IIJA/BEAD funding programs.


September 2022  
Google, Meta cables will be "game changers" for Africa - Lightreading.com

Fiber optic technology powers the internet, and it's a big business  MSN

Fast Fiber Networks Have Quietly Won the Broadband War - CNET

Fiber – Integral Enabler of Smart Water Infrastructure - Graybar Webinar on demand by Corning

Telegeography webinars on transatlantic and transpacific submaring cables. Best practices and market insights.

The Institute for Local Self-Reliance Announces Two Initiatives to Foster Local Broadband Solutions  

Electrical Contractor Magazine Profile of the Electrical Contractor - many, if not most, do fiber and other low voltage work.


August 2022

The First Transcontinental Telephone Line 
began operation on  July 29th in 1915 - 3400 miles between New York and San Francisco - required over 100,000 telephone poles! Wonders of World Engineering

Google Fiber still adding cities - Mesa, Arizona next stop.
Lightwave. Mesa will become the 14th Google Fiber FTTH city.

Using existing coax cable In MDUs for Internet with MOCA.
Ignore the title of this article - that's what it's about. Broadband Communities

FBA Broadband Infrastructure Playbook 
The Fiber Broadband Association, the trade association of fiber optic equipment suppliers and no relation to the FOA, has created a comprehensive guide for organizations wanting to apply for US IIJA/BEAD funding.


July 2022

Vermont not waiting for federal BEAD grants, funding broadband development now. ILSR.

Four Wind Farms Constructed at once. T&D World.
Wind power needs lots of fiber optics - OPGW.

Lightwave Magazine Summer 2022



Lightwave's Summer Issue
focuses on fiber in the CATV industry and more.





Worth Watching: Conocimiento Esencial: ¿Por qué la fibra óptica? 
creado por FiberWizards 


From Earlier Issues

Recruiting And Training Today's Fiber Optic Workforce - Learn the fundamentals to recruit and train new fiber optics - by FOA's Jim Hayes in ISE Magazine.

Explosive Fiber Broadband Expansion Drives Need for Fiber Technician Training Programs - Telecompetitor - As fiber sees record-setting deployment levels, the demand for fiber optic technicians is stronger than ever.

NTIA Notice of Funding Opportunity   Information from the funding source on applying for US broadband funding

Google Video On Their Undersea Cables YouTube Slick but interesting video on how undersea cables are designed, built and used.

2022 Submarine Cable Map depicts 486 cable systems and 1,306 landings that are currently active or under construction. Telegeography.

Construction Without Disruption - FOA President Jim Hayes' column in ISE Magazine

Fiber Optics Installed By The Lowest Bidder  - ISE Magazine - by Jim Hayes, FOA President.

Building Broadband During Component and Worker Shortages - Broadband Communities - Completing broadband builds requires competent fiber optic techs, but training them requires understanding how they learn - by Jim Hayes, FOA President.



Worth Reading - Magazines, Websites and Newsletters

  dpPro Magazine



The latest Issue of dP-PRO, the "call before you dig" magazine, is online. It's the Summer 2022 issue. 






 
dpPro sponsors the annual digging safety conference each year - next year in Tampa.


Safety conference 2023




New Fiber Optic Magazine In Spanish

Todo Fibra Optica is a new digital magazine in Spanish for fiber optics in Latin America. Jose Enriquez, editor of  Todo Fibra Optic magazine has many years experience in the fiber optic industry so he knows the industry well. FOA will be working with him to share our extensive technical materials in Spanish.

Read their newsletter here. It is now available online in English and Spanish.

magazine

 
All issues and subscriptions.

Contact:
José Manuel Enriquez Mora, Editor
Todo Fibra Optica LLC
https://todofibraoptica.com/revista-ediciones/
+52 222 302 8224
jose.enriquez@todofibraoptica.com




RTI Telecom Magazine from  Brazil, in Portuguese
. A revista RTI do mês de abril já está disponível online e recomendo a leitura de alguns artigos: 






1995-2020 - FOA's 25th Anniversary!

As part of celebrating 25 years of serving the fiber optic industry as its primary source of technical information and independent certifying body, FOA thought it appropriate to create a short history of the organization and how it has developed  to help the fiber optic industry. We also wanted to recognize the contributions many people have made to the organization over the years that made FOA what it is today.

The FOA history is now archived on the FOA website where you can read it anytime or link to it.
  
Updated info - dB, total internal reflection and science projects,




Worth Reading - News Summary - Past Links Worth Repeating

1983 Video of AT&T's First Test Of A Submarine Cable System From the AT&T Tech Channel archives (worth exploring!)

Richard Epworth's Optical Fiber History from his work at STL from 1966 with Charles Kao.

Communications Systems Grounding Rules: Article 800 provides specific requirements  by Michael Johnston,  NECA Executive Director of Standards and Safety in EC Magazine

US Broadband Coverage By Service Provider from the FCC


How To Build Rural Broadband, Learning From History

In the August 2021 FOA Newsletter, we published a lengthy article on rural broadband and compared it to rural electrification in America in the last century. Much of the comparison was based on an article written in 1940 by a USDA economist, Robert Beall, called "Rural Electrification." 

If you are interested in or involved in rural broadband, we recommend you read the article "How To Build Rural Broadband, Learning From History" in the August 2021 FOA Newsletter and read the Beall article also.


Recycling Fiber Optic Cable -
Contact:
Steve Maginnis
LD4Recycle/ CommuniCom Recycling
(Visit website)
sm@LD4Recycle.com
803.371.5436


Sumitomo's Ribbon Splicing Guide - download from one of the leaders in splicing.

"Who Lost Lucent?: The Decline of America's Telecom Equipment Industry"
This is a MUST READ for managers in telecom or any industry!

This long and well-researched and annotated article in American Affairs Journal should be mandatory reading for every high level manager in a telecom company - or any other company for that matter. To summarize the article, today, America has no major telecom equipment company and fears the major suppliers of equipment who are all foreign, especially the Huawei from China. This article explains how America got into this deplorable state.

OFS also has an excellent website and blog of tech articles worth browsing.

IEC 60050 - International Electrotechnical Vocabulary - An extensive dictionary for fiber optics in English and French. Highly technical - this is one definition: "mode - one solution of Maxwell's equations, representing an electromagnetic field in a certain space domain and belonging to a family of independent solutions defined by specified boundary conditions"

If you are interested in restoration - aren't we all? - you should also read this article in dpPro magazine by FOA President Jim Hayes: Damage Protection Requies Looking Overheas As Well As Underground - dpPRO Magazine - about the problems with aerial cables. His previous article for the magazine was New Techniques for Fiber Optic Installation.

How much fiber optic cable is manufactured each year? CRU Reports - unsurprisingly China is by far the largest market today

The Institute for Local Self-Reliance weekly newsletter has lots of interesting articles and links.

The Open Technology Institute at New America just published “The Cost of Connectivity 2020,”

US Ignite and Altman Solon issued “Broadband Models for Unserved and Underserved Communities

Universal access to broadband is a cornerstone to a strong economy, Achieving universal access will require community partnerships. by
Alfreda B. Norman, Sr. VP,  Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

FIBER TO THE FARM: The co-ops that electrified Depression-era farms are now building rural internet. Be sure to check out the high-tech equine installation equipment.

Next Century Cities Newsletter - News from cities around the US including Detroit and New York plus small

Infrastructure Get Some Respect, NY TImes "On Tech"   "The magic of the internet requires a lot of very boring stuff behind the scenes. "

DIRT Report On Damage To Utilities Common Ground Alliance (CGA) annual DIRT report provides a summary and analysis of the events submitted into CGA’s Damage Information Reporting Tool (DIRT) for the year 2018. The complete report is available for download here. In addition, there is an interactive dashboard that allows users to filter the data more  by factors contributing to damages.

Structured Cabling News - a website and weekly newsletter about cabling.

The Internet Master Plan for New York City. The New York City Internet Master Plan is a comprehensive framework for the infrastructure and services that provide connectivity to New York City residents and businesses. This Master Plan will guide City actions and public-private partnerships to transform New Yorkers’ access to this essential infrastructure for generations to come.

Fiber Trivia From Corning.

The Future Of Work Is Skills - So Stop Worrying About Degrees - The reality is the future of work is about skills, not just degrees. (FOA Newsletter Feb 2020)

The job market is hot. So why are half of U.S. grads missing out?  

VIAVI Books On Fiber Optic Testing (2 volumes) - They're back!

books  book 2

Besides the FOA reference materials, two JDSU/VIAVI textbooks, Reference Guide to Fiber Optic Testing, Volumes 1 and 2,  were used as references for some of the FOA courses and are recommended for instructors and students. The books are available from VIAVI as eBooks and the everyone should download them and recommend them to others.Download yours now. Volume 1. Volume 2. Viavi Books

Ciena's Submarine Cable Handbooks (4 to download)

Guidebook To MPO Testing OptoTest offers this complete guide to MTP®/MPO testing. In this guide, you will learn all there is to know about the different test methods, equipment options, troubleshooting, and best maintenance practices to ensure that you have the best testing experience. Go here to download the book.

50th Anniversary of The Development of Low Loss Fibers
A history of the development of low loss fiber, a fascinating story by Jeff Hecht on the OSA (Optical Society of America) website.

How OFS Makes Fiber

Interesting YouTube video on how fiber is made. Perhaps a little too much "show biz" but fascinating. If you have ever seen fiber manufacture, look at this video. You will be amazed at how big preforms have become!

How Nexans Makes Copper Cables - compare the process to fiber - don't most of the machines look similar?

The True Cost of Telco Damages (what backhoe fade or target practice can cost)

Rural Electric Cooperatives: Pole Attachment Policies and Issues, June 2019.

Clearfield-FOA Certification Training Clearfield is now offering their customers an FOA CERTIFICATION course. This course provides a basic understanding of fiber optic technology, as well as Clearfield product knowledge and how Clearfield’s integrated product systems work together in a fiber network.

Substandard Contractors - Fiber Optic Knowledge Doesn't Always Trickle Down  (EC Mag)

Another Source Of Articles On Fiber

FOA President and editor of this newsletter Jim Hayes has also been writing a column in Electrical Contractor Magazine for almost 20 years now. Electrical contractors do lots of fiber work and this column has covered some topics they are interested in including installation processes, network design, fiber applications and a lengthy series on dark fiber - what it is, how's its used and how it benefits the growth of communication. A recent web site redesign makes it easier to browse all these articles - just go to http://www.ecmag.com/contributing-authors/jim-hayes and you can see all of them.

Q&A

When readers ask us questions, we genrally refer them to FOA resources where they can find the answer to their question and many more. We first send them to the FOA Guide which is the table of contents for the FOA technical resources. There they can find pages indexed by topic and a search engine for the FOA website. It also links them to FOA videos and courses on our free online learning site Fiber U.

The FOA Fiber FAQs Page (FAQs = frequently asked questions) gathers up questions readers have asked us (which first ran in this newsletter) and adds tech topics of general interest.





Good Question!

Tech Questions/Comments From FOA Newsletter Readers 

More Q&A in the FOA FAQs Page  

Also see the two important questions above in the Technical section.

September 2022

Splicing Pigtails On A Cable
Q:
I seem to be having an issue finding fiber protection sleeves that can slide over the 3mm patch cable.  I bought a sleeve that said it with made for “single fiber fusion” but the thru hole which I would side the cable thru prior to fusion is too small for the patch cable.  When I try and look on-line for specifications for the thru-hole size, prior to fusion final melting of the glue in the sleeve, all I find are post-melting diameters, none which are even close to being able to handle the 3mm patch cable.
A: Splicing pigtails involves splicing the fibers only and the cables are secured separately. The usual method of splicing on pigtails is to splice the fibers and use the heat shrink tube to seal the splice and the fibers from the outside air and protect it from stress. The splice is placed in a splice tray. On either side, there is 2-3 feet of fiber exposed from the cables being spliced. The splice tray has clamps for all of the cables being spliced on the edges of the tray and the fiber to the splice is coiled neatly on the splice tray. The jacket of the pigtail is clamped at the edge of the splice tray but  ends there, so only fiber is coiled in the tray. If you try to coil fiber, the bulk of the cable can get to be a problem where it’s coiled with the bare fiber. You can get heat shrink protectors for fibers of 250 to 900 micron diameter buffers, but not for jacketed cables.


Important Questions From The Past


Managing And Maintaining a Fiber Optic Cable Plant During Its Lifetime.
Q: Are there guides / recommendations for optic fibre cable life cycle management? (outside plant) including rehabilitation / replacement timelines together with factors that may alter those timelines ( such as seismic activity, extreme weather, human activity-induced fibre cuts etc) also including typical performance deterioration over the life cycle, and the performance levels at which replacement / rehabilitation happens. Or does it happen (and is it normally expected) that operators replace entire sections of fibre (say 400 km) as part of routine maintenance?

A: There is a saying here in the US that in fiber optics “the most common cause of failure is “backhoe fade” in underground cables and  “target practice” for aerial cables.” In other words, damage caused by humans. We know of many fiber optic cable plants that have survived natural disasters like earthquakes - in fact there is a lot of work today using regular cables used in communications to monitor for seismic activity. Fire can be a problem in remote areas, but often it’s because the poles are burned causing the cables to fall.

Over the years we have questioned cable manufacturers about the lifetime of fiber optic cable. They don’t like to make definitive statements but we have been told that based on the cables installed in the past that 40 years is a probable lifetime for most cables. There are certainly cables in use today that are over 30 years old already. The glass fiber is not a problem, it’s the protection from the cables that will eventually fail. Installation techniques can have an effect on the longevity. For example splice closures should be sealed properly to prevent ingress of moisture or dirt. Cables should not be installed with bends below the rated bend radius or with excess tension.

FOA has always told users that fiber optic cables do not need maintenance (https://foa.org/tech/ref/user/maintain.html), a response to some people advocating periodic inspection and cleaning of connections, for example. That’s just more likely to cause damage.

When an accidental break in a cable occurs, we have guidelines for restoration (https://foa.org/tech/ref/restoration/rest.html), and planning for restoration when building the cable plant is very important.

Someday you will certainly want to replace cables, often well before the lifetime of the cable, but generally because you need more fiber or the older fiber will not support the network speeds you want for upgrades. Planning for more fiber by installing more cables can be eased by installing spare underground ducts when first installing cables - here in the US, we call this “Dig Once” (https://foa.org/tech/ref/OSP_Construction/Underground_Construction.html). Testing fibers for higher speeds is called "fiber Characterization” (https://foa.org/tech/ref/testing/test/CD_PMD.html) and is routinely done when speeds above 10G or certainly 100G are considered for older fibers.

Knowing that the lifetime of fiber optic cable plants are ~40 years, it makes sense to plan ahead for future applications, installing lots of fibers, leaving lots of open duct space and choosing network architectures that will not obstruct upgrades. See the article on Netly's network above.


Fiber Optic Color Codes Reference Chart
Q: Has anyone made a fiber optic pocket reference chart that has cable color orders, frequencies, or other commonly used info on it?
A: The FOA has a page on its Online Guide that covers color codes (https://foa.org/tech/ColCodes.htm). It is the most popular page in the FOA Guide! It works great with a smartphone.


More Q&A in the FOA FAQs Page  

 


Dig
                    Once

The word on the "Dig Once" program is getting out - FOA is getting calls from cities asking us for information and advice. Here are some links:

The DoT page on the administration’s Executive Order: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policy/otps/exeorder.cfm
From the Council of State governments: http://www.csg.org/pubs/capitolideas/enews/cs41_1.aspx
From the city of San Francisco: http://sfgov.org/dt/dig-once
An article about Dakota County, MN: https://muninetworks.org/tags/tags/dig-once

And the one to download and hand out:
A “How To” Guide from The Global Connect Initiative: https://share.america.gov/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/6.-GCI-Dig-Once.pdf



Is There A Standard For Fiber Optic Installation?

Another question we get often is "Is there a standard for fiber optic installation." The answer is yes, but not from the usual standards groups you might expect. Over 20 years ago, the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) asked FOA to help create a standard for installation. That standard, ANSI/NECA/FOA-301 has been updated three times already and is about ready for another update.

Unlike most of those groups who charge you a fortune for standards, FOA covers the cost so
ANSI/NECA/FOA-301 is available free from FOA.

NECA/FOA
                        301 Fiber Optic Installation Standard

Download your free copy of
ANSI/NECA/FOA-301 here (PDF)


Older questions are now available here.




Training
/ FiberU

News and resources to help you learn more and stay updated.

Find a listing of all the FOA-Approved schools here.

fiberu.org

Free online self-study programs on many fiber optics and cabling topics are available at Fiber U, FOA's online web-based training website.
Free online training at Fiber U


The FOA has >100 videos on videos 


FOA Network Of Approved Schools Continues To Grow

The need for more fiber optic networks to support broadband and wireless/5G networks has led to a strong demand for more trained and FOA-certified techs, and that has led to a demand for more training organizations. FOA has been adding new schools and certifying new instructors to meet the demand. Here are two new schools this month and more added recently.

New this month:

School 402: Bossier Parish Community College Bossier City, Louisiana

Schools added recently:
School 774: Arrow For Engineering, Amman, Jordan
School #401: Western Wyoming Community CollegeSchool 399: Team Fishel, Virginia
School 398, Telecom Tech, Colorado
School 396 Optconn, Boston, MA
School 395 Fiber Wizards (Knowledge on Demand LLC)
School 393, Carolina's Solution Group
School 394, Tri-County Career Center, Nelsonville, Ohio
School 388:  Global Com of Sterling, Virginia, USA
School 389. CWA-JATC Telecom Training Center, San Jose, CA
School 390  Northern Allied Communications, Nespelem, WA
School 391  Lewis-Clark State College, Lewiston, ID
School 392  Wallace Community College, Dothan, AL


Complete listing of FOA Approved Training Organizations
 



Need A Fiber Optic Course Onsite? Invite an FOA School To Come To You

FOA often gets inquiries from an organization that has personnel that needs training in fiber optics. Recent inquiries have included contractors, a manufacturer of high-reliability products using fiber optics and a cable manufacturer. In many cases, where there are several people needing training, FOA can recommend a FOA Approved School and Certified Instructor who will come to their location to teach a class. The advantage  is of course the savings in travel costs if the class comes to you, but it also offers the opportunity to customize the course to fit your needs, even use your equipment or work on your components, so the training is more relevant to those taking the class.

Contact FOA to discuss the idea of a custom, on-site class to see if it will better meet your needs.



FOA/Fiber U On-The-Job Training (OJT) Program

The FOA Fiber U OJT program for novices combines online study at Fiber U with OJT with mentoring by experienced co-workers and their supervisor to help new employees develop into FOA-certified technicians in only one year. 
OJT

The FOA Fiber U “OJT-To-Cert” program  includes both fiber optics and premises cabling (copper, fiber & wireless), so it covers techs working in both outside plant and premises jobs. 

Like other FOA programs, the OJT-To-Cert program is free. If you and/or your company is interested in the FOA OJT-To-Cert program, contact FOA.

To explain how OJT works and FOA's OJT-To-Cert program, FOA created a short video: Lecture 62: On The Job Training For Fiber Optics Using Fiber U     




FOA "Work-To-Cert" Program

Experience Plus Online Study At Fiber U = FOA Certification

Experienced fiber optic technicians can become FOA Certified using their experience in fiber optics and study for the FOA certification exams online at Fiber U. Thousands of industry professionals have applied to the FOA directly for certification without the need for classroom training, based on their knowledge and skills developed working the field. Since FOA certifications are based on KSAs (knowledge, skills and abilities), current techs can show the skills and abilities required through their field experience. FOA provides free online self-study courses at Fiber U for the knowledge part to prepare you for FOA certification exams which you can also take online.

If you are an experienced field tech interested in certification, and FOA is the internationally recognized certifying body for fiber optics, you can find out more about the FOA "Work to Cert" program here.

If you are already a CFOT, FOA also offers many specialist certifications you can obtain based on your experience as a field tech. See what's available at
Fiber U.




fiberu.org

Fiber U "Basic Fiber Optics" Online Self-Study Course Now In Spanish

El curso de autoaprendizaje en línea "Fibra óptica básica" de Fiber U ahora en español

El sitio de aprendizaje en línea de FOA, Fiber U, tiene más de dos docenas de cursos de autoaprendizaje gratuitos sobre fibra óptica y cableado de instalaciones. Como era de esperar, el tema más popular es el curso "Fibra óptica básica", que se utiliza para iniciarse en la fibra óptica y como curso de preparación para realizar el examen de certificación FOA CFOT.

Ahora el curso básico de fibra óptica está disponible en español, utilizando el libro de texto FOA en español, la sección de la Guía en línea en español y la capacidad de YouTube para traducir subtítulos de video al español. El curso funciona exactamente como la versión en inglés con 10 lecciones, cada una con cuestionarios y una opción para tomar un examen de Certificado de finalización.

Para presentar el nuevo curso de español Fiber U, el examen Certificate of Completion es gratuito, así que dígaselo a sus contactos.

Curso Básico de Fibra Óptica de Fibra U en español.


New Fiber U Course: Fiber Characterization 

FOA has added a new course at Fiber U on Fiber Characterization. Fiber characterization is the process for testing long fiber cable plants for its ability for carrying high speed communications. With so many networks now operating at 100, 200, 400 or even 800 Gb/s, fiber characterization is important, especially on older fiber optic cable plants.The free Fiber U Fiber Characterization course is available in two forms, as a standalone Fiber U fiber Characterization Course with its own Fiber U Certificate of Completion and as a separate Lesson in the Fiber U Fiber Optic Testing course. This course is recommended for those studying for the FOA CFOS/FC Fiber Characterization certification.

Fiber U MiniCourses: Got An Hour Or Less? Learn Something New About Fiber Optics.

FOA has introduced a new type of Fiber U course, the MiniCourse, a free online course you could take in a short time, perhaps as you ate lunch at your desk or took a coffee break. The topics of these courses should explain what they are about, and these are all very important topics to fiber optic techs.

Fiber Optics In Communications  

How Optical Fiber Works 

Fiber Optic Network Restoration 

Fiber Optic Connector Identification

Fiber U Color Codes 

The Mysterious dB of Fiber Optics
 

Fiber Optic Cable Bend Radius

Fiber Optic Link Loss And Power Budgets

Fiber Optic Connector Inspection And Cleaning

Fiber Optic Media Conversion  

Fiber Optic Cable Midspan Access  

Reading An OTDR Trace  

Reference Cables For Testing

Fiber Optic Attenuators
 

The courses have two components, video lectures and readings, that are complementary. As usual there is a self-test to allow you to check your comprehension. As with other Fiber U courses if you desire, you can take a short test for a Fiber U Certificate of Completion that costs
only $10.

All these free courses and many more are available at Fiber U.



What Fiber Techs Don't Know -

What We Learn From FOA Certification Tests

As FOA moves more testing over to our digital online testing system at ClassMarker, we have access to more data about our testing, including what questions and topics on the tests are answered incorrectly most often. Having this data gives us an opportunity to evaluate the questions and how they are stated, but more importantly it allow us to help our instructors teach the subjects and us to change our curriculum and online courses to emphasize these particular topics. These are some of the topics that we have noticed are answered incorrectly more often in FOA and Fiber U tests.

Most of the questions missed are on testing.

1. OTDRs - particularly what information is in the OTDR trace.

2. The difference between dB and dBm

3. Loss budgets - both the concepts and doing the math

4. Insertion loss testing - single-ended or double ended for testing patchcords or cable plants, how to set 0dB references

5. Units of measure - fiber is measured in microns, wavelengths in nanometers, etc.

At FOA, we're working to add Fiber U MiniCourses on these topics and working with our schools to emphasize these topics in their classes.

If you are going to be taking a FOA certification course or test in the near future, these topics should be on your final exam study list.

What We Learn From Hands On Labs
We learn about students performance in hands-on labs from the feedback of our instructors and our own experiences too. One big problem is the use of hand tools. Growing up today, you learn how to use keyboards, mouses and touch screens, but decades ago, you also learned how to use basic hand tools. This is big enough of a problem that we're considering adding some video lessons on basic hand tools to prepare students for cable prep, termination and splicing that require the use of hand tools.


FOA Guide "Basics Of Fiber Optics" Now Available Online in Portuguese (6/2020)

FOA
                            Reference Guide to Fiber Optics book

FOA has now translated the Basics of Fiber Optics textbook in our Online Guide into Portuguese, joining Spanish and French translations. For those speaking Portuguese, we have the technical information and for schools we also have curriculum available.

Here is the FOA Guide in Portuguese, Spanish and French translations.


Time To Learn - Online

Some schools have been closed during the pandemic, so FOA has been working with them to create new online learning experiences that can in some cases lead to certification online. FOA certifications are still based on the KSAs - knowledge from the classroom, skills from the labs and abilities judged by instructors or proven by actual experience.

ZOOMing
Much of what we're doing benefits from the capabilities of "Zoom." Others have created videoconferencing apps, but none work so well, especially with limited bandwidth. We've seen remote labs that have an instructor showing students how to use the tools they were sent then watching them duplicate their actions. We have worked out methods to use Zoom to proctor FOA's online certification exams.

Blended Learning
While most FOA schools have suspended in-person training during this period, some are offering a "blended learning" option. That means that students sign up for a FOA certification course, take the classroom sessions on Fiber U with the assistance of a FOA certified instructor. Now online instruction can include reviewing the labs using the
Fiber U Basic Skills Labs, then when it's possible to attend classes at the school, complete the hands-on labs and take the FOA certification exam.

Offline Fiber U
FOA has also created offline Fiber U modules to allow students with poor or limited Internet access to use the Fiber U Basic Fiber Optics and Premises Cabling programs without Internet access. Contact FOA for information on using this option.

Online Remote Labs
Alternatively, some schools are experimenting with "remote labs," where the students get sent tool kits and components and labs are conducted by videoconferencing. Before the labs, the students may watch demos by their instructor on videoconferencing and/or review the relevant "virtual hands-on" lessons in the Fiber U
Fiber Optics Basic Skills Labs  so they will already know the steps in the exercises.
And Fiber U has the new Fiber U DIY Basic Skills Lab lesson with directions on how to purchase inexpensive tools online and use them to learn basic fiber optic skills. Videoconferencing allows the instructor to remotely monitor their work and provide help as needed. Contact the FOA for more information.

exam
FOA Zoom Exam Proctoring

Online Certification Testing
FOA has all its certification tests available online, both for use by our schools and by our direct "Work to Cert" applicants. All FOA certification tests require a proctor to oversee the applicant taking the exam. In this time of social distancing, getting a proctor can be difficult, so FOA now has procedures for online proctors administering the exam.
Contact the FOA for more information.
 
OJT - On-The-Job-Training
Many novices get a job and learn on the job. They usually have an experienced tech who helps them gain the knowledge and  learn the skills they need to perform their job. Thinking about this in relation to the 
FOA KSAs, the knowledge, skills and abilities needed by a fiber optic tech,  the tech will learn skills but not the basic knowledge that helps them understand the processes involved. FOA can offer help here with our
FOA's OJT-to-Cert Program, using our Fiber U online self-study programs. While the tech learns on the job, they become a Fiber U trainee, getting the knowledge they need, while working under their "mentor" at work. This is particularly good for contracting companies who need techs but do not have the usual training courses available. Interested in OJT programs? Click on the link below or contact FOA for more information.

FOA's OJT-to-Cert Program  
 

fiberu.org

FOA offers free online self-study programs at Fiber U. Many users are preparing for FOA certification programs - taking courses at our schools or using the "Work-to-Cert" program. Some of our schools are requiring Fiber U programs as prerequisites for their classroom courses so they can spend more time on hands-on activities.


FOA School Offers Toolkit With Online Training

Slayton tool
                    kit

Slayton Solutions (FOA Approved School #156) is offering a simple fiber optic tool kit that includes a 29-piece set of fiber optic tools and a power meter along with training videos and online instruction for only $499. 29 Piece Kit includes all tools and devices a technician needs to install fiber optic connectors and test optical power.  Information on the kit is available on YouTube. You can contact them for more information at  slaytonsolutions@sbcglobal.net or https://www.fiberopticsinstitute.com




Publications
/ Resources

FOA
                        Guide





Cross Reference To FOA Tech Materials
FOA has so much technical reference material, we created a cross reference guide to the textbooks, Online Guide and Fiber U courses, all the FOA technical information. Besides the textbooks, online Guide and Fiber U, each section of the Guide also includes links to the 100+ FOA videos available.

Cross Reference Guide to Textbooks, Online Guide and Fiber U


FOA Guide To Fiber Optic Workforce Development

To help those new to fiber optic workforce development, FOA has created a web page we call  "Fiber Optic Workforce Development."  In this page, we share what we have learned about the fiber optic workforce, who they are and how they learn their trade. We discuss what defines a fiber optic tech and how they should be certified.

Read the FOA Guide To Fiber Optic Workforce Development online.




Planning A Fiber Optic Project?

The FOA Guide To Fiber Optic Projects includes this timeline and comments on project planning and implementation.



More New FOA Video Lectures On YouTube

Did you know YouTube will close caption videos in many languages? Here are directions.

FOA Lecture 73, The History of Fiber Optics - A Timeline fiber optics from the beginning.

FOA YouTube Video Describes On-The-Job Training (OJT) 

FOA Lecture 67 Fiber Optics At Electrical Utilities  

More New Videos Including FTTH Series

Like all our YouTube lectures, they are all short and easy to understand.



Did you know YouTube will close caption videos in many languages?

YouTube
                      translations
Sign in with Google to get translations for closed captioning. Click on the settings icon (red arrow.) Choose "Subtitles".  English is the default language. Click on the arrow after "English (auto-generated) >". In the new window click on "Auto-translate" and choose the language you want. 

FOA Loss Budget Calculator On A Web Page 5/2020

FOA has written many articles about loss budgets, something everyone involved in fiber optics needs to know and needs to know how to calculate. We recently discovered how to get a spreadsheet ported to a Web page, so we created this web page that calculates loss budgets. We have an iOS loss budget app, but with this web page, you can calculate loss budgets from any device, smart phone, tablet, laptop, or desktop computer that has web browsing capability.

FOA Loss Budget Calculator 

Bookmark this page (especially on your smartphone): FOA Loss Budget Calculator Online




FOA
                      Guide We are continually updating the Online Reference Guide to keep up with changes in the industry and adding lots of new pages of technical information. When you go to the FOA Guide Table of Contents to see the latest updates - look for New.

Recent updates:


FTTH Updates: Added a section on FTTH Network Design, updated Architecture and PONs (10G)
Color Codes For Fiber Optics   Includes print your own pocket guide and versions for your smartphone.

Fiber Optic Projects - the FOA Guide to projects from concept to operation
 

Coherent Communications Systems in the FOA Guide.

Go to  The FOA Online Fiber Optic Reference Guide.


FOA Reference Books



FOA FTTH                          Handbook

NEW: FOA's FTTH Handbook:
We've gathered all our information on FTTH from the FOA Guide and past issues of the FOA Newsletter and edited it into a 112 page "FTTH Handbook." We even added a section on planning and managing FTTH Projects.
The Fiber Optic Association Fiber To The Home Handbook is available from Amazon in print and Kindle editions.

FTTH Handbook in Spanish

Sitio web y manual de FTTH ahora en español

El Manual FOA FTTH se ha convertido en el libro FOA más vendido y tiene una calificación de 4.7/5 por parte de los compradores en Amazon.

FOA ha notado mucho interés en FTTH en otras áreas del mundo, especialmente en América Central y del Sur, por lo que tradujimos el sitio web de FTTH y el Manual de FTTH al español.


Disponible como libro de tapa blanda en Amazon o como libro electrónico en Amazon Kindle.  

El sitio web de FOA FTTH ahora en español.  


FOA Reference Guide to Fiber Optics book FOA
                        text in Spanish FOA Text in French FOA Reference Guide to Premises Cablng
                          book  FOA Reference Guide to OSP Fiber Optics
                          book   FOA
                        Reference Guide to Fiber Optic OSP Construction
                        book  FOA
                        Reference Guide to Fiber Optics Design book FOA Reference Guide to Fiber Optics Testing
                        book  FOA
                        Reference Guide to Fiber Optic OSP Construction
                        book
Fiber Optics (4 languages), Premises Cabling, OSP fiber and construction, Network Design, Testing and FTTH

   The FOA has it's own reference books for everyone working in fiber optics - contractors, installers and end users as well as for use as textbooks in classes at educational institutions. They are available as printed books or Kindle at much lower prices than most textbooks since we self-publish and sell online, cutting out the middlemen. Click on the book images for more information. The Reference Guide To Fiber Optics is also available in Spanish, French and Portuguese. The Design book is available in English and Spanish.

Click on any book for more information about it.

FOA has reprinted

Lennie Lightwave
"
Lennie Lightwave's Guide" on its 25th anniversary in a special print edition.
 
Lennie and Uncle Ted's Guides are online or as free iBooks on iTunes.
Lennie
                        Lightwave's Guide To Fiber Optics   Uncle
                        Ted's Guide to Premises Cablling
Click on any of the books to learn more.

Fiber Optic Safety Poster to download and print

Resources For Teachers In K-12 And Technical Schools
Teachers in all grades can introduce their students to fiber optic technology with some simple demonstrations. FOA has created a page for STEM or STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) teachers with materials appropriate to their classes. Fiber Optic Resources For Teachers.

 


Safety


On Safety

The FOA is concerned about safety!
FOA considers safety an integral part of all our programs, curriculum materials and technical materials. We start all our textbooks and their online versions with a section on safety in the first chapter, like this: Before we get started - Safety First!
 
There are pages on the FOA Guide on Safety procedures Including Eye Safety  and. Digging Safely 

And a YouTube lecture: FOA Lecture 2: Safety When Working With Fiber Optics
 
In our OSP Construction Section, these pages cover many safety issues including those related to the construction of the cable plant: Project Preparation And Guidelines, Underground Cable Construction, Underground Cable Installation and Aerial Cable Installation.
 
There is even a safety poster for the fiber activities: PDF Safety Rules For Fiber Optics
 
Other Safety Resources:

There is a toll-free "call before you dig" number in the USA: Dial 811. See www.call811.com for more information in the US. Here is their map of resources by states.

In Canada, it's "Click Before You Dig.com" They also have a page of resources by US states and Canadian provinces.

The Common Ground Alliance has an excellent "Best Practices Guide" online

The US Department of Transportation has a website called "National Pipeline Mapping System" that allows one to search for buried pipelines.   

Why We Warn You To Be Careful About Fiber Shards
fiber in
                      finger
Photo courtesy  Brian Brandstetter,  Mississauga Training Consultantcy

Safety Leader Magazine

Safety Leader
                      Magazine

Safety Leader, a new quarterly magazine, informs and educates electrical contractors on safety from various angles—electrical, workplace, PPE, regulations, leadership, line work, NFPA 70E, and more. Safety Leader is bundled with ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR in February, May, August and November. To receive Safety Leader subscribe to ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR magazine here or subscribe to the ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR newsletter here.


2023 Conference On Damage Prevention In Tampa
Safety Conference

Global Excavation Safety Conference

Tampa, Florida
February 14-16, 2023

GlobalExcavationSafetyConference.com:

 
dpPro

The magazine, dp-Pro, sponsor of the conference, has also published it's latest issue with an article by FOA on "New Construction Techniques in Fiber Optics" and a overview of the FOA. You can read the magazine here.



When You Bury Marker Tape, Bury One That Will Work (July 2021)

Signaltape

Signaltape® provides a visual warning by ensuring tape is brought to the surface, alerting the operator to the presence of a buried utility. It includes a 3,000-lb. tensile strength aramid fiber membrane, which ensures the tape is pulled to the surface to alert the excavation crew. Signaltape comes in two sizes: 12″ x 1000′ or 6″ x 1000′.



FOA Corporate Members - Products & Services

List of corporate member information provided by FOA corporate members listed on the FOA website.





FOA/About


About The FOA

Contact Us:  http://www.foa.org or email <info@foa.org>





FOA on LinkedIn


FOA has a company page and four LinkedIn Groups


FOA - official company page on LinkedIn
 
FOA - covers FOA, technology and jobs in the fiber optic marketplace

FOA Fiber Optic Training - open to all, covers fiber optic technology and training topics


Grupo de La Asociación de Fibra Óptica FOA (Español)  



What is The FOA? 

The FOA is a, international non-profit educational association chartered to promote professionalism in fiber optics through education, certification and standards. 

Founded in 1995 by a dozen prominent fiber optics trainers and  leaders from education, 
industry and government as a professional society for fiber optics and a source of independent certification, the FOA has grown to now being involved in numerous activities to educate the world about fiber optics and certify the workers who design, build and operate the world's fiber optic networks.

Read More  

FOA History  

FOA Timeline of Fiber Optics  


Contact Us
The Fiber Optic Association Inc.
https://www.foa.org or email <info@foa.org>
https://www.thefoa.org or email <info@thefoa.org>
Telephone/text: 760-451-3655

The FOA Home Page


FOA Guide
Want to know more about fiber optics? Study for FOA certifications? Free Self-Study Programs are on "Fiber U®." Looking for specific information? Here's the largest technical reference on the web: The FOA Online Fiber Optic Reference Guide.

fiberu.org

Free online self-study programs on many fiber optics and cabling topics are available at Fiber U, FOA's online web-based training website.


 

Contact Us
The Fiber Optic Association Inc.
http://www.foa.org or email <info@foa.org>
Phone: 1-760-451-3655

       
The FOA Home Page











Fiber Optic Timeline  








(C)1999-2022, The Fiber Optic Association, Inc.


 FOA Logo Merchandise

New FOA Swag! Shirts, Caps, Stickers, Cups, etc.
FOA T Shirt
The FOA has created a store on Zazzle.com offering lots of new logo merchandise. It has lots of versions of shirts and other merchandise with "FOA," "Fiber U," "Lennie Lightwave" designs and more so you should find something just for you! See FOA on Zazzle.
 

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 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!

Contact FOA at info@thefoa.org to get logos in file format for your use.



Privacy Policy (for the EU GDPR): The FOA does not use cookies or any other web tricks to gather information on visitors to our website, nor do we allow commercial advertising. Our website hosts may gather traffic statistics for the visitors to our website and our online testing service, ClassMarker, maintains statistics of test results. We do not release or misuse any information on any of our members except we will confirm FOA certifications and Fiber U certificates of completion when requested by appropriate persons such as employers or personnel services.
Read the complete FOA Privacy Policy here.