December, 2004
Previous Issues: 10/04,
9/04, 8/04,
7/04, 6/04,
5/04, 4/04,
3/04, 1/04,
12/03, 11/03
10/03 9/03,
8/03, 7/03,
6/03, 3/03,
10/02 , 8/02,
5/02
- No November Newsletter!
- No time last month, as we were
working overtime on the third edition of the Fiber Optic Technicians
Manual, due out next summer. Updates include new material on
fiber choices (e.g. laser-optimized fibers), termination, testing,
networks, etc. to bring it up to date as of the end of 2004.
Look for the book intro from Delmar in June.
- JH
- NECA/FOA Installation Standard
Published
- NECA 301-2004, Installing
And Testing Fiber Optic Cables,
produced by The FOA in cooperation with NECA (The National Electrical
Contractors Association), has been approved and published. This
second revision of the document now is an ANSI-approved "American
National Standard" of the NEIS (National Electrical Installation
Standards" expands the original standard to cover much more
detail, describing the installation and testing of fiber optic
cable plants.
- Users now have a reference document
for defining the installation and testing of fiber optic cable
plants in a "neat and workmanlike manner." Contract
documents can be written simply to say:
- "Fiber optic cables shall
be installed in accordance with NECA 301-2004, Installing
And Testing Fiber Optic Cables"
- Copies of NECA 301-2004 can
be obtained from NECA by calling the NECA Order Desk at 1-301-215-4504,
fax to 1-301-215-4500, email orderdesk@necanet.org or online
at http://www.neca-neis.org/
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- Two Models To Help Understand
Fiber Optic LANs
- There are now two models available
for users to evaluate models for FO LANs. The TIA Fiber
Optic LAN Section has a model that was created by a multi-vendor
consortium to allow fiber/copper comparisons. Now Corning
has created a model also that goes beyond cost to include more
detailed design data and technical requirements for 1 and 10
Gigabit Ethernet networks. Access to the Corning model requires
registration with Corning.
- If you are considering a
FO backbone or fiber to the desk installation, these can be valuable
resources for your design work.
- What's The Reaction To Our
Proposal For A Standard FO Connector For Premises Cabling?
Last
summer we proposed that
the fiber optic industry again look at the idea of a "standard connector" - not
a connector for every application, which is not realistic, but
a small duplex connector for patch panel to equipment connnections.
We have publicized the idea and gotten lots of interest.
What Is The Reaction To The
FOA Proposal?
We received lots of positive
feedback on the idea, but lots of skepticism that any new connector
would be accepted and developed by manufacturers. That's understandable,
as bringing a new connector to market is a very expensive process,
even when it's basically a repackaging of some standard parts.
But many responses we have received indicate that a new "de
facto" standard exists - the duplex LC. Practically all transceivers
for gigabit and 10 gigabit networks already are in the LC format.
Furthermore, the MT-RJ has termination and technical problems
(like singlemode performance) plus is very hard to test, so it
is fading. None of the other SFF connectors seem to have made
any real impact on the US market either.
What do you think? Is the LC the new de facto connector standard?
What do you think? Send your
comments to conn@thefoa.org
UCLA Research Yields Silicon
Lasers
Why is this so important? It means
that lasers can be integrated with the circuitry that drives all
the systems and networks that communicate over them. It's been
a major roadblock to integrating fiber optics into electronic
instruments from the beginning. Driving copper cabling is simply
an electrical process, easily added to ICs, but low cost silicon
ICs have until now not been capable of generating optical signals.
Realize, of course, this is just the beginning, and it will take
years for the process to become commercial. But when it does,
fiber will finally be able to compete with copper on a more even
basis.
Read More
FOA Website Expands To Support
Fiber Optic Educators
Instructors' Home Page And
New Online Train-The-Trainer Program
The FOA has always focused on creating better educational opportunities
in fiber optics - it's our charter: we're a non-profit educational
organization. We've done two things recently to expand that commitment
- both here on the FOA website.
We have over 120 schools and hundreds
of instructors teaching at those organizations, and we'll notify
them about these new web pages, but we invite any instructor interested
in fiber optics to dig in and use these pages too.
First, we've created a home page
for instructors where we'll cover topics just for them, like our
TTT program and resources just for instructors. It's at http://www.thefoa.org/instructors/index.html
Secondly, we've put our TTT seminar
online, in both PPT and PDF format at http://www.thefoa.org/instructors/index.html
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- Our online TTT program is the
beginning of qualifying for the FOA CFOS/I Instructor Certification.
Soon we'll have the program set up for instructors to register
to begin qualifying for the certification.
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- FOA Proposes TIA-568 Standard
Revision
- Work has begun on the third
revision of the TIA-568 premises wiring standard and the FOA
is providing considerable input to the fiber optic sections.
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 be attending TR-42.8
meeting in January to work with the committee in developing 568C
and representing the interests of our organization and our CFOTs.
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- Tech Puzzler
- What was the miniture version
of the Biconic connector called? The "full size" one
was the LA-1A.
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- Answer
below
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- FOA Certification Top Choice
The FOA CFOT and CFOS programs continue to gain momentum in fiber
optics. Almost 14,000 CFOTs have been certified by over 120 schools
as the FOA completes its 9th year. Since our founding in July,
1995, we have dedicated ourselves to promoting fiber optics and
professionalism in fiber optics personnel, focusing on education
and certification. We are continuing to add new schools and more
CFOTs as users of fiber optics learn that a CFOT is the indication
of a professional, well-trained fiber optic technician. Now with
FTTH (fiber to the home) finally taking off, demand for CFOTs
is rising and schools are responding by expanding programs rapidly.
- The FOA now has approved programs
at 114 organizations, welcoming new additions like Corning Cable
Systems for their installation training programs and NASA's Goldstone
Tracking Station. The complete list of FOA-Approved schools is
at http://www.thefoa.org/foa_aprv.htm.
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/
How Optical Fiber Is Made
Singlemode Fiber Nomenclature
Plastic Optical Fibers (POF)
Wavelength-Division Multiplexing
Fiber Amplifiers
Proposed
Fiber Optic Cable Jacket Color Codes
The
Effect Of Termination and Splicing on Bandwidth
FOCIS
- Fiber Optic Connector Intermateability Standards
Calculating
Link Loss Budgets
Specifications
for Fiber Optic LANs and Links
EAI/TIA
568 B.3 For Fiber Optics
What
Loss Should You Measure When Testing Fiber Optic Links?
Don't miss 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.
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- To
Contact The FOA:
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- The
Fiber Optic Association
- 1119 S Mission Road,
# 355
- Fallbrook, CA 92028
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- 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
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- 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
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- 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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Want to write for the FOA
Newsletter? Send us articles,
news, anything you think might be interesting to the rest of the
membership!
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(C)1999-2004, The Fiber Optic Association, Inc.
- Tech
Puzzler: The miniature
Biconic was the LB-1B. It was used on the fiber optic backplane
of the #5ESS switch.