The Cabling Technician's Toolbox Essentials for Success

Imagine stepping into the world of cabling with confidence, armed with the knowledge of the exact tools that will make your job seamless. That's what we're bringing to the table in our latest episode, where Jason from Jason's Labs joins us to transform newcomers into savvy installers. We don't just list tools; we dive into the philosophy of tool investment and how it can carve a pathway to career success. 

Our conversation is brimming with practical tips, like tool organization, which can be a game-changer for those transitioning into low voltage from entirely different careers. We share our top picks for tool bags and discuss how feedback-driven innovation, like the Milwaukee Packout system, is revolutionizing gear management. And let's not forget—this episode is a celebration of the technician's voice in shaping the industry, proving that your experience on the ground has the power to drive product evolution.

We wrap up by drilling down into the nitty-gritty of network cable installations, where the right tools make all the difference. From punch tools to PoE testers, we cover the spectrum, offering a masterclass in cable testing that will sharpen your skills. And it's not just about having tools—it's about mastering them, respecting them, and leveraging them to carve out a respected place among your peers. For the budding technician or the seasoned pro, this episode is an invitation to elevate your work and shape your future in the cabling industry.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hey Wiremonkeys, welcome to another episode of let's Talk Cabling. Today's show we're talking about five tools that a new installer should have on day one. Welcome to the show where we tackle the tough questions submitted by installers, technicians, project managers, estimators, area managers, ict personnel, even customers. We are connecting at the human level so that we can connect the world. If you're watching this show on YouTube, would you mind hitting the subscribe button and the bell button to be notified when new content is being produced? If you're listening to us on one of the audio podcast platforms, would you mind leaving us a five-star rating? And if it's not a five-star rated show, shoot me a message and tell me what I need to do to make it a five-star show. Those two simple little steps helps me take on that nasty algorithm so I can get my content out to more people, so I can educate, encourage and enrich the lives of people in the ICT industry.

Speaker 1: 1:10

Thursday night, 6 pm Eastern Standard Time. What are you doing? I do live streams on LinkedIn, youtube, facebook, instagram where you get to ask your favorite RCDD. And you know that's me. Don't try to pretend like it's not favorite rcdd. And you know that's me. Don't try to pretend like it's not your favorite rcdd your questions on installation, certification, design, project management. I even do career path questions, but I can hear you now. But, chuck, I'm driving my truck at 6 pm on thursdays, I don't want to get in an accident. I record them and you can watch them at letstalkcablingcom. And finally, while this show is free and it will always remain free if you would like to support this show, click on that QR code right there. You can buy me a cup of coffee. You can even schedule a 15-minute one-on-one call with me after hours.

Speaker 1: 1:56

Of course, and as always, we're always looking for vendor support on this show as well. Just remember we are vendor neutral, so that way, my audience can trust what I say is actually my opinion and it's not being bought off. So, like I said in the intro, you know some new people coming in the industry. One of the most common questions that we get is what tools should I need? And there's a lot of information out there and there's a lot of tools you can buy. But I always recommend to people when they first get in the industry make sure that you're going to stay in this industry right, because you don't want to go investing two grand in tools to find out six months later yeah you, you really a photographer, not a low voltage person, so make sure that you know you can stick in this career.

Speaker 1: 2:43

So I got to talking to a fellow content creator and we said you know, that would make a great show topic. And I said you know what? Let's get on the show and let's talk about it. So welcome to the show, mr Jason from Jason's Labs. How are you doing, my friend?

Speaker 3: 2:57

I'm doing great. Got myself a cup of coffee. It's early morning.

Speaker 1: 3:01

talking to you, that's a cup of coffee right there, buddy, holy smokes, have to have a cup of coffee. Uh, yeah, right before we fired the show, like I was telling you before show, we were coming back from the feed store and uh, so my wife's like, well, we need something, donald, to get breakfast. I'm like, um, I've got like literally like 17 minutes to get to the house, 17, and you know how mcdonald's is in the mornings. But anyways, I digress, I got ADHD. If you can't tell Same, yeah, we both have it. There you go. So McDonald's right now is having these Shamrock Oreo McFlurries. Ooh, that's too many for me. It's like a liquid. What was that? What's that Girl Scout cookie? Thin Mints it's like a liquid, thin Mint.

Speaker 3: 3:44

That should give you energy until lunchtime.

Speaker 1: 3:48

Oh yeah, oh yeah. Well, I'm going to need the energy because after I get off with you because today we're actually recording this on a Saturday After I get off with you I have to go out there and have to build a goat fence. So I need the energy, I need that sugar rush.

Speaker 3: 4:00

Did you leave anything for the goats though?

Speaker 1: 4:07

I've got five bags of feed in the truck for them. Five bags, they'll be hungry, they'll be ready to go. Absolutely so, jason, for those people who may not know you or your show, give us the 30,000 foot view.

Speaker 3: 4:17

I started the YouTube channel because you said it a couple seconds ago ADHD. A lot of people out there can read a manual. A lot of people don't comprehend what the manual said. So my channel is about showing people how to use stuff from a first person, using the device without any knowledge. A lot of my stuff that I open up I don't know how to use it. I'm saying to people I'm going to open it up, I'm going to show you exactly what you're going to get and how you're going to learn with me to use this product. Some people like that because diving into the instructions, you don't really get what you really want. You want to. Maybe you bought that tool for one thing and you don't know how to use it and the instructions kind of don't cover it.

Speaker 3: 4:59

My objective is to show people how to use it from nobody's ever used the tool Like when I got one of these, never used it. I did a video on that and everybody liked it, because if you watch other videos it's in depth and sometimes people don't want in depth, they just want simple. You know I mean so, having adhd myself. I can show that to people who want to grasp that with a video, a quick video or an, indeed a detailed video, and people like that. So I I, as you can tell, I like Jonah tools. They're really good to me. I have other tools on the venture that are that are really good to me and I'm taking all those clients, people who give me this stuff, to review, to show people how to use it, and that's where my channel is going and what's the name of your channel?

Speaker 1: 5:43

for those who can't read the sign behind you, oh, my camera's right over there.

Speaker 3: 5:47

It's Jason's lab. It's just off to the side. I can move my camera, but I'll leave it where it is and I leave it so remember this goes out to audio podcast too, so some people can't see you. Oh yes, my bad. Yes, like and subscribe my, my channel too, because that would help too and I and I and I.

Speaker 1: 6:02

If you're following me, you should be following jason. I love jason's channel because he is unapologetically brand spanking. I don't say brand spanking new, but he tells you himself two years this is the first time I'm touching this yeah, I say that in every video because I get all the haters oh, you're not doing that properly.

Speaker 3: 6:18

You're not doing that properly. My comments always the same thing. I am learning. I had to be in the same position as you are. You may know how to do it, that's fine, great, awesome, but you were in the same position as me, so help me or go away, because I can't learn if you're not going to give me a tip.

Speaker 1: 6:33

Exactly so. You know, in content world, I don't know how long you've been doing your channel, but I've been doing YouTube videos for like seven years. Yeah, not Talk Kid. We had the Bowser Journal YouTube channel. I've been doing content for a while. You're always going to have haters. The key is, what do you do with those haters? What I'm saying is, if you take that negative energy and you absorb it, that's going to affect you. If you take that energy and you use it to make yourself better, you're using their negative energy against them.

Speaker 2: 7:10

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 7:10

Right. My best thing to people back to them is you were in the same position as I was. It was like the same thing as building a house. You've never used a skill star in your whole life. You maybe watched somebody how to use it and you think it's easy. You go to use it. You cut the line wrong. Okay, you're learning. You're going to make mistakes. I'm making mistakes and you know what? I'm not afraid to show people the mistakes, because that's what um, one of the companies that I deal with, um vertical cable. They said you know what we like, that we we see a lot of people showing you how to use the tool perfectly, but what about the perfect part before that where you made all the mistakes? People like to see what you can make the mistakes, so they don't make the mistakes. Not many people show that. So I said I'm going to leave them in there. And they like that.

Speaker 1: 7:48

Yeah, vertical cable Mike. They get a bad rep sometimes. Awesome guys. I'll tell you what their customer service is above and beyond reproach. They are absolutely spot on.

Speaker 3: 8:00

Spoiler alert there's a package coming from them that's a big box. I've been told that they said you know we like your fiber content. Something's coming your way. So strip break, have fun, do whatever you need to do to make content, and it's on the way.

Speaker 1: 8:14

Here's why I like the way you do your show, Because again, you unapologetically say look, I'm new at this, I know I might be doing it wrong, but here's the thing when you open up that, that that box from vertical cable, and you start playing with stuff, you're going to ask questions that another person who's brand spanking new would ask. Now see, if I would open it, I'd be looking at it through 40 years of experience and I may not think of the question that you might think of. That's why I love your. That's why I love your show.

Speaker 3: 8:46

Yeah, people want to see the. There's a lot of people and I'm seeing it now Cause we all follow oh, what's it called? Now it's escaping me the nation one, the yeah, so there's a lot of guys on there joining fiber. There's a lot of guys joining how to use crimping and toning and all that kind of stuff and they want to see how to start off Exactly our video posture right now. People want to see what it's like to join it before they actually get into it. How hard is it to actually strip a cable? How hard is it to put a keystone on?

Speaker 2: 9:13

All that kind of stuff they want to see the basics and stuff of that. Yeah, you just need to learn how to do it.

Speaker 1: 9:19

Yeah, live. All these Nations has just grown leaps and bounds. Oh, it's huge and Blake's doing a phenomenal job with that. And I don't know if you caught that Actually, I think I did see you comment on it.

Speaker 3: 9:28

I comment on a lot of stuff.

Speaker 1: 9:30

Yeah, I think he just did this last night, I think. You know one of the things there was always this huge pass-through versus traditional mod and connector thing and finally Blake came down with a hammer and said and finally Blake came down with the hammer and said anybody who starts a debate will get banned. And then there's like six or seven people right in a row who you know joke, you know little vulgar guys.

Speaker 3: 9:51

I commented on it too and I was like finally, really, Because it's traffic, Little vulgar guys.

Speaker 1: 9:56

We're sarcastic, so of course they're on there. Well, maybe I should pass through this, and then not really. And then bam, I was like yes, yes, Loved it.

Speaker 3: 10:05

Loved it. It comes down to what works for you and I mean I'm not going to get into the debate of pass-through versus the other version. I mean, if it works, you have no problems and you terminate and you have a clean blade and you cut it. Unless you're working at a data center and you have like $3,000 crimper tools and you get a new blade every six crimps and you're working with ends that are $50. I mean, really half the time the people that are on there are crimping cables for like home networks or cameras or something basic, I mean Right right.

Speaker 1: 10:40

Yeah, I don't want to get in the whole pass-through versus traditional, you know mod-in on this show because that's not the topic of the show. But you know, I just did a show two shows ago, maybe three shows ago. I had an engineer come on and we talked a little bit about pass-through versus MPTLs and the key there was have a good quality tool, maintain that tool.

Speaker 3: 11:00

The blade at the end that cuts the wire, that makes everything flush is the most important part about it.

Speaker 1: 11:05

Oh, absolutely Absolutely. So you heard the subject for today's show Top five tools that somebody brand spanking new we're going to come from the position of this guy was literally or girl was flipping hamburgers two weeks ago.

Speaker 2: 11:20

Now it must have been more money.

Speaker 1: 11:23

Now you can probably make more money, fast food, right. And they said you know, I want to have a career, not a job. Yeah, you know there's not a real, there's not a real career path here working flipping hamburgers, so. But this low voltage thing seems kind of cool, right. So they go get hired by low voltage company and of course, they put in two weeks notice at mcdonald's. They got a week. Well, not necessarily mcdonald's any fast food place. So they're going to be starting in a week and they're probably thinking man, what kind of tools am I going to need for this job? Because I've got the basics like screwdrivers and stuff, but what specific kind of tools am I going to need day one? That's the parameter that I want to approach this show from. So I'll let you go first. What is the one tool that you would recommend that person buy?

Speaker 3: 12:06

The first tool I would buy coming out and I probably have some hand tools is a bag, because what am I going to put all my tools in to move around the site? Now you probably see on my posts online I really love the Jonar Tools Backpack. This thing goes wherever I go. If I go to work, I take it with me. Even if I don't use it. I take it with me because it's got stuff in there I can can use. I would invest in a bag, something that you can zip up and take with you and put all your tools into it, something that's organized so when you put your tools in there you can open it up and go.

Speaker 3: 12:39

I need this tool, put it back in there, something that is expandable. You're going to probably not have every tool for this bag, but it's going to grow and you're going to buy tools that are going to fit in the bag and work with you, probably going to have even multiple bags if you get bigger and bigger and bigger. The one thing I really like about the Jonard one is it's got a rubber bottom on the back and it's built very well and for I think it was $129 American, maybe a little bit less. It's built. It's going to last you 10 years. That's why I got it, because I need something that I could use it. The rubber bottom. I could put it on a dirt floor or on the ground getting out of my truck. It's going to survive my other bags that I have no.

Speaker 1: 13:17

Yeah, yeah, there's a lot of people that make the backpacks. Milwaukee has one, klein has one, gennard has one, klein has one, jannard has one Future potential show for you and I the Jannard tool bag versus the Milwaukee tool bag versus the Klein tool bag.

Speaker 3: 13:35

Show off for the tool bag I don't know how to say this. The Klein bag and the Jannard bag, I think, come from the same manufacturer.

Speaker 1: 13:43

That wouldn't surprise me they look exactly the same One. That wouldn't surprise me. That wouldn't surprise me.

Speaker 3: 13:45

They look exactly the same One's orange and one's blue.

Speaker 1: 13:50

When you look at the modular toolboxes right, the Milwaukee packouts and the Klein Mod boxes and all those, a lot of those come from the same company in Israel.

Speaker 3: 13:58

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 13:59

A lot of people don't realize that happens a lot in manufacturing. Yeah, a lot of people don't realize that happens a lot in manufacturing. Yeah, a lot of people don't realize how much it takes to gear up, to design, make your own thing, go through the process of beta testing it and then rolling out to a market. That's a lot of stuff and sometimes you know they'll take a product that's already there, so you might be competitors and they'll take that and they'll rebrand it as their own.

Speaker 3: 14:28

But they do that and they're paying royalties back to the original company, or what they'll do is they'll take the exact same thing and they'll put something on it too. They'll look back at all the feedback. People are like, oh, I don't like that bag because it doesn't have this. And they'll be like oh, we're going to take that same design because people like it and we're going to add this thing to it because people.

Speaker 1: 14:42

Well, that's what. That's exactly what modbox did, right. So they looked at. They looked at milwaukee. We're not going to argue milwaukee is the king when it comes to the modular pack. I mean, they got the most accessories. You know, they're all over the place they got my birthday's on monday, and guess what's here tomorrow?

Speaker 3: 14:58

what?

Speaker 2: 14:58

a paco kit one of these.

Speaker 3: 15:01

Yeah, I got one of those. The guy that I do some work for said merry christmas or happy birthday. Here we go. This is for you, and okay.

Speaker 1: 15:07

Well, I'm sorry, but happy, happy early birthday, by the way thank you very much yeah, milwaukee has obviously the the the biggest following and, and you know, if you can't, if you go to facebook and you type in milwaukee packet, you'll find 10 million facebook channels.

Speaker 3: 15:21

Right, you'll be there for hours.

Speaker 1: 15:22

So what Modbox is? Because they kind of came after Packout did was they listened to the complaints that people had about the Milwaukee Packouts and then they made those changes with the Modbox right. But on the flip side of that, the Modboxes they're great but they don't have the same breadth of options that Milwaukee does yet Yet.

Speaker 3: 15:44

What about Klein? Klein just dropped something. I think you saw blake's new post about that orange paco kit.

Speaker 1: 15:49

That's, that's the mob box, that's the yep, yeah, I'm currently working my way through a series uh, pack out versus mod box. I already already released the episode where I talked to milwaukee I mean klein uh, milwaukee. After chasing them for several months, they kind of finally came back and said, yeah, no, we're not interested coming on the show. Okay, then the next episode is going to be I've got a pack out kit and I've got a mod box kit up in the new pipe I wish I can't get them in canada.

Speaker 3: 16:18

Up here in canada we don't get them. They're gonna be months and months and months away and I don't want to. I don't know who I would message and say, hey, give me one because it's a big box and it's expensive. But when they start becoming familiar, I'm going to be like I might want to try one myself.

Speaker 1: 16:31

Right, right, okay, so your, your, your. Your suggestion is buy some type of a way to carry those tools, and I like the fact that you pointed out you can be organized, because when you organize, if you just throw everything I did one of my on Wednesdays I had this name, this tool thing, a graphic that I put out. So the one I put out this week or last week was a Klein bag, a canvas bag a lot of linemen use, and you would just throw your tools in that. Well, the problem with that is you got to dig through it to find what you want.

Speaker 3: 16:59

How many times have you jammed your hand with a? What do they call those?

Speaker 1: 17:07

A be jammed your hand with a. Uh, what do they call those?

Speaker 3: 17:08

uh, a bit, any drill bit, right, right, exactly, so, exactly because you threw it in there and forgot that you oh, I'll put it away later, right?

Speaker 1: 17:11

exactly so. It was example like the gennard tool bag that you've got. Um, when you open up, it's got a place for everything. So what that does is, a keeps you from getting injured, you know from like you just said and b you can do a quick inventory at the end of the day to make sure you put all your tools back. You can just open up, because if you put your tools in the exact same spot every time, it'll be glaringly obvious there's an open spot there. What tool goes there? And then you've got to okay, where did I use it? Because how many times have you found a tool in the ceiling Because somebody forgot to go back?

Speaker 3: 17:51

I did it. I helped a guy last week and I went up there and I'm like, oh, hey, look a pipe cutter. The plumber was up here plumbing some guys because they got a new um, one of those um I can't um wireless tank, the hot um, what do they call them? The uh, hot water on demands. That's uh, it's naturally gas powered, right, so it heats the water real quick. And I went up there into the attic to run some wire and I'm like, oh, pipe cutter, oh, look a screwdriver.

Speaker 1: 18:08

Hmm, somebody didn't check their inventory before they left, exactly right, and that's exactly what tool organization will do for you. Right, you can, you can scan quickly and realize, hey, there's something that saves you money too, because now you're not going back to buy a tool. I like that point, I like that point.

Speaker 3: 18:22

So my first job is like oh, I left my $50 tool off. Do I go back and get it or do?

Speaker 1: 18:27

I buy a new one, yep, yep. So my first pick would be a good pair of cutters, a good pair of snips, right? Or some people call them scissors, you know, and there's different kinds. You know there's the old version kind that I learned how to cut on. And then you know, snippets has a really cool set and milwaukee has a really cool set. They got the extended hand, so it kind of goes across your palm stuff, because you're going to need that to cut four pair cabling, your. Some people use them to strip the jacket off the cabling to terminate, although technically that's not the correct way to do it, but I'm not going to argue that. But, um, it's, it's a tool that you will use all the time and, matter of fact, I I think they are so valuable. I've got three or four of them here on the farm and I use them.

Speaker 3: 19:07

I use them. I don't know if I have the right one, though yeah, well, which one do you have?

Speaker 1: 19:12

um, and I don't. I won't be back in my tool bag. I'll never be the person to say that that's the right snips or that's the wrong steps. It really it. That's a personal decision. That's the right snips or that's the wrong snips. That's a personal decision. That's like asking boxers or briefs right? Oh yeah, absolutely, those are a great set. Those are absolutely a great set.

Speaker 3: 19:32

These are just cheap ones. I bought a cheap pair just to see if I like them or not. Exactly, I didn't know if I'm going to like this kind of scissors or if there's other pairs and stuff like that. They're okay, so now I might go up and buy a better pair now. So they're just like Amazon, asterine or something like that. They got the little grab so you can put wire in there and cut it Right, right, right and sharpen it.

Speaker 1: 19:50

They look a lot like the Nippix. They look a lot like the Nippix.

Speaker 3: 19:53

Yeah, they do, they do.

Speaker 1: 19:55

I think they're like a clone of that, but they probably are so later on, and you know that actually brings up another point before I flip it back over to you, for your next tool is let's talk about quality of tools. Right, don't again brand speaking new to the industry. If you've been in the industry for 15 years, buy the best because it's going to last you a long time. But again this show is approaching it from persons day one coming in the industry. They're still not 1% sure. Buy the best tool that you can afford. What I'm saying is buy the best tool that you can afford. Right, that may not be the best of the best, because and if you do that, then you know, if you do decide to stay in the industry, it'll last. And I would also suggest to try to buy tools that have multiple uses. What I mean by that is, again, I talked about the snips, right? No-transcript.

Speaker 3: 20:56

I came back to doing wiring and stuff like that, I didn't know what kind of tools I was going to need, because I didn't know what kind of stuff they were going to push me into. I, my boss, said to me, or one of the other bosses said to me he goes, work with the other guy. Try, if he's, if he's okay, borrow his tools. See what tools that they that you're going to be borrowing from him for a week. Go out and buy those tools for yourself.

Speaker 3: 21:20

Don't go out buy stuff that people necessarily 100 recommend to you, because because they use those tools doesn't mean that you're going to use those tools. So if you go to your um, your your partner that you're being trained with or something like that, and you're always using a pair of side cutters from him and they work for you and you can afford them, buy those if, if there's other tools that he has that you don't use, do you really need them? So buy tools that you're going to really use but also work for you too, because borrowing from them gives you the chance how to use it but to say, oh yeah, this is a tool I should go out and buy. I'm going to need this in my bag. So now I'm going to go out and buy it Absolutely.

Speaker 1: 21:59

So technicians will absolutely loan their tools. But yeah, yeah, I got a list of 146 pro tips on my website and I just we were just talking. I just thought of another one to add to. So I now going to have 147 pro tips because I'm adding this one. And this pro tip is if you borrow somebody else's tools, return them in better condition than you borrowed them and put them back where you got them from. Yeah, because, again, remember true organization.

Speaker 3: 22:22

If you lose it, go to the person and say I lost your tool, I'm going to go out and buy you a new one right now, because that's your responsibility. You borrow you replace it Right.

Speaker 1: 22:29

I mean, if something happens, an accident, the party will understand, but if you lose it, I mean it's fair, some technicians, more senior technicians, you know, maybe like a lead tech or something like that, and they know that they're always working with newer people. Sometimes they will keep extra tools in their bag because they know that people are going to be borrowing them and so what they might do is, for example, they might buy the knockoff snips, like you just showed right. And then they realize you know what I really want to. I bleed Milwaukee red, I want to have you just showed right. And then they realize you know what? I bleed Milwaukee red, I want to have the Milwaukee ones, right. So they go buy the one.

Speaker 1: 23:04

Now. They got two right. So now when a young apprentice comes and they say, can I borrow your snips, they're not going to give them the Milwaukee's. They're going to say here, have these, Just make sure you put them back. So some technicians will carry a few extra tools of each kind because they know that that apprentice may ask to borrow them. And if the apprentice forgets to bring them back or they lose it, it's not quite so painful when they lose that knockoff, as opposed to where they lose that Milwaukee tool.

Speaker 3: 23:33

Yeah, I mean, tools cost a lot of money. So after a while you start to gather in your in your head okay, I bought this cheaper tool, it got me through. This is something I'm really going to rely on. This is my bread and butter. I'm going to go out and buy a proper pair of side cutters or whatever you need. That's going to be doing like crimping tools. You can go out and buy a client kit. That's 39 and it comes with the ends. It comes with a bunch of stuff and it's a crimper. It gets you going. Later on there's better ones out there. Yeah, like the better ones. Can you replace blades?

Speaker 2: 24:02

Yes, that's what you want.

Speaker 3: 24:04

It just depends. Like you said, the name of the game is what tools do I need? What do I need to invest in? Do I need a pair of side cut? Do I need money on this tool? It just depends, right.

Speaker 1: 24:20

So what is your second tool? Your first tool was a backpack. My first tool was snips. What's your second tool?

Speaker 3: 24:28

My second tool is one that I just actually bought myself. I don't touch high voltage, anything above low, low voltage. I don't do any ac wiring. I had to do it but I just refuse to. I come into many situations where I have to put power or a ethernet jack or something near a power outlet and when you're at a customer's house or a business and you need to turn off the power or know where the power is if you need to turn it off, you can't just start flicking switches, because if you've got computers or networking gear somewhere.

Speaker 2: 25:02

You're turning somebody off, you're going to cause an issue.

Speaker 3: 25:04

So I went on, bought this 50 client digital circuit breaker finder. The reason why I really bought it is because, one, it'll tell me if I hit the breaker right and if there's no power near this outlet. And second, it'll tell me if I'm turning off the right one. Because if you're working in an office where people are working on the computers and you flick the computer off and you lose all their data, you're probably going to be escorted out or you're going to become frowned upon. So I went out and bought this $50 tool that can allow me to do this.

Speaker 3: 25:35

I'm not going to be using the test AC wire, I'm just making sure that the plug I'm working near is on or off. Um, what do you call those in the united states? There, where you have a double gang? It's kind of like a back box, but you can put them behind tvs. Electrician will run wire into it and one side's for plugs, the other side is for, um, low voltage, like we just call them double gang boxes. Uh well, these ones set in and they sit in the wall. I'll give you a picture after and you can put a description in the video if you want. But many times I've done those, but I don't like touching AC wires, so I'll use this exact tool to say, yeah, it's on or off.

Speaker 3: 26:12

So that way I can become comfortable to move the box and do work with it and stuff like that.

Speaker 1: 26:15

And $50 is what it comes down to for me. And $50 is cheap insurance, right? I mean because number one, like you said, if you throw the wrong circuit breaker and somebody's computer goes down in the middle of that legal brief that they've been working on for a couple of days, trust me, you're going to hear it.

Speaker 3: 26:34

You're probably going to get dragged out by your overalls or pants real quick and you're not coming back.

Speaker 1: 26:39

Or you might get sued for loss of productivity. And what's a lawyer charge per hour? $250, $500 per hour.

Speaker 3: 26:49

Depends on what lawyer's office you're at. Right, right, right.

Speaker 1: 26:50

Exactly, exactly. That's actually a good tool. $50 tool Perfect $50 tool.

Speaker 1: 26:55

I didn't really never. I never thought about that tool. Perfect, I didn't really never. I didn't ever thought about that tool. But you know, 50 bucks, cheap insurance, absolutely, absolutely. So my second tool that I would recommend would be a punch tool. Right, don't buy the, don't buy the, the, the cheap plastic ones that come with the kids I'm talking about. Go buy the punch tool, that's, and try to buy the one that you can get, the, the different types of blades that'll fit into it. Right, that you can buy the reverse.

Speaker 1: 27:26

Yeah, so you know they. They come with six, six blades, one 10 blades, big blades. There you go, Perfect, perfect example. So, and right now, last time I priced in Lowe's I want to say it was like $40, $50.

Speaker 3: 27:41

I don't even know who this makes. I don't know who this makes.

Speaker 1: 27:44

That's the one that's got the tools in the sides too, that you can pull out and you can use it to pick wires out of the termination frame.

Speaker 3: 27:50

I think that's what that's for. Yeah, that's exactly what it's for.

Speaker 1: 27:53

I didn't even notice it until now. Large phone frame where there's lots of cross-connects and you're working with one tiny pair. That's exactly what that hook's made for. You open it up, you can grab just that one conductor and pull it out of the termination. Because if you do it with your fingers what will happen is you could cause an adjacent cross-connect to go down. So a total investment for a punch tool it's probably going to be under $100.

Speaker 3: 28:18

Yeah, under $100.

Speaker 1: 28:20

And the reason you need it now. I'm not saying, I'm just saying by the punch tool and by the most common type of IDC, that you're going to terminate Right, and most likely it's going to be in the U S. It'll probably be one tens up in your neck of the wood, it'll be Bix, right, yeah.

Speaker 1: 28:37

I don't do any, bix works, but mostly, if I do it, it'd be keystones is what I'd use my right. Well, that's. That's exactly why I'm recommending the punch tool, because you're gonna be terminating jacks right, and that's the tool that you terminate jacks with.

Speaker 3: 28:49

That's the tool that you terminate patch panels with now I think there's a tool that goes along with your tool too, that saves your hand when you some of those I've seen online they come with a piece that you could put your keystone into so when you punch onto it you don't punch into the wall or you don't punch into your hand. There's a tool that you're certain I think the person like, if you're using levington, we'll use that, because I see a lot of levington people use that. Levington makes their own. Yeah, it's a tool that you put your keystone. That right there saves your hand. So let's add to your punchdown tool that if you're going to buy a punchdown tool, please go buy that. That will save you from going home. You can without a hole in your hand so so I don't.

Speaker 3: 29:23

Yeah, 11 is not a sponsor of the show, no, but I just use it as a name because I see it up here yeah, yeah, exactly right.

Speaker 1: 29:29

So the advantages of this type of a tool and there's different ones, yeah, I do happen to think this is the best one, because this one actually fits the palm of your hand, not the old round ones. They never fit your hands right? No, you get, and it's got this like neoprene type material so it sticks. But here's the thing like you said, it saved you from an injury, right? How many times have you well, I know I've seen next to this they got the jack in the palm of their hand or punch it down. Then the jack rolls over and, bam right, the tool saves that. It keeps from doing that. And technicians, especially newer technicians, they're pushing it. So when that happens, like, okay, I'm not doing that in the palm of my hand anymore, so what am I going to turn? They'll put the jack against the wall. Oh, yeah.

Speaker 1: 30:11

And then now that's going to leave an imprint on the wall Again, you can use this and it will save that as well, and that tool I think you can buy that tool Check your workout.

Speaker 3: 30:21

It looks at the wall and there's all those, those stone marks, or you, you rolled it on the wall and you put a hole in the wall, so you got.

Speaker 1: 30:27

Right, and that tool there. Like I said a lot of times, when you buy a lot of jacks, sometimes they'll throw it in there. Yeah, and again, it doesn't have to be the Levin brand. I just happen to have one here in the office.

Speaker 3: 30:39

I think Amazon $9. Yeah, yeah, I was going to say less than $10. $10 for that, $50 for a tool that's going to last forever.

Speaker 1: 30:45

Absolutely so. Even if you buy the punch tool, the 110 blade or the 66 blade or whatever blade and again, in the US 110 is going to be the most common and you get one of these, you're still under $100. Oh yeah, 100%, still under $100. Yep, right, so that was my second tool. What's your third?

Speaker 3: 31:05

tool. I'm going to reach over to two tools Now. This show is about buying tools under $100. This one tool that has, I think, $110. It's a simple I'm going to go with network cable checker. I'm not going to say anything about that because it doesn't do anything more than that. Jonar Tools I think this is about $110. It does coax and it does phone and it does RJ45. Simple, very, very simple. It will get you perfect for a couple of years or maybe months, to get you to know that your basic uh how do I want to say this? A basic test. You got continuity on the end. So one to eight, one to four, or your your coax, no shorts on that. It's working.

Speaker 3: 31:56

If you get into the business and you're making good money and you're liking the job, go and buy one that does much more.

Speaker 3: 32:04

My next tool that goes with me now I'll come from a point that I have some very expensive tools on my bench in my bag that I take with me when I go do jobs and stuff like that. The first tool I always grab instead of my $3,000 Navitek from Trend Networks, I grab my PoE Pro Basic. It does PoE, it does testing of how long the cable is and it does a lot more. You don't need a $10,000 tool to do home networking, slash business networking if you're not verifying stuff. So I would say buy a good tester If you're getting good money and you're not verifying stuff. So I would say buy a good tester if you're getting good money and you're doing a lot of testing stuff that go up on next level and buy something that's going to work with you. I recommend the jonar tools because it comes as a complete kit for that budget starting and stuff like that. But after that I would say the poe pro is the next in line to buy for a awesome well to do.

Speaker 1: 32:57

Well, that tool would be absolutely perfect for if you're putting in a new job like I said, home network, you're not really looking to certify that cable right or for basic troubleshooting.

Speaker 2: 33:10

Basic troubleshooting.

Speaker 1: 33:11

If you're in the business installing structured cabling and clients are paying you, this is not a tool that I recommend that the new person go out and buy. Okay, if you're in the business of putting in cabling that you're selling to a customer, you should absolutely test it with a certifier. Now we can have the conversation on whether or not you sell those test results to the customer, but you should be using a certifier because From my point of view, it's my own. Did.

Speaker 3: 33:41

I do a good job, and is it working?

Speaker 1: 33:44

Exactly so. My point is here's. Here's why I recommend a certifier. I mean, don't be wrong, there's a place for what you actually showed me. It's called a ver. Testers are three types. You have certifiers, qualifiers and verifiers. What you just show was a verifier. You're verifying there's no opens, no shorts, no reversals, no transposals. That's exactly what that tool is made for, right, perfect. I'll give you a scenario of what I would use that and this is actually a service call.

Speaker 1: 34:08

I did one time I went to do a job. I got assigned to do a job for a law firm. I used to work in DC, so I used to do the site. I have three guys on my crew. We pull up to the loading dock and we're doing this job. It's like 50, 60 cables, right. So I tell my crew look, unload the truck and then bring everything up. I'm going to go up, but I'm going to meet the customer, right. So I go up and meet the customer. I had my backpack with me with my tools and stuff, and so I get up there. Was it working yesterday? And they go yeah, okay. Well, am I going to use the verifier that's in my backpack or am I going to go all the way back down to the loading dock to get that $10,000, $20,000 certifier.

Speaker 1: 34:53

See, there's a specific use for each of those tools. Now, like I said, as a business owner, if I'm being paid to put cable in a customer's office, I would use a certifier as the final test. You can still do verification testing and then do certification, because what it does is it gives you I don't know if you watch Ed the old tech guy he calls it this. I was like it's a brilliant term it gives you a birth record for that cable. So now you've documented that that cable works perfectly on this day. So if something happens to it afterwards, you have justification for going to charge for that service call. And what the certifier is going to do that your verifier won't do is a certifier will tell you if there's problems with crosstalk. It'll tell you if there's problems with return loss. It'll tell you if there's problems with EMI or RFI, right, so certifiers will do all that. The four-pair tester, the verifiers, won't. Don't get me wrong. There's a place for verifiers, but that's not neither here nor there. So I'm sorry, I'll give you my soapbox.

Speaker 3: 35:58

If you're there to bill out to fix a Britain issue and you have that tool, that's what that tool is for. If you're there just to put a keystone on the end or run a camera or something like that, I mean, then the verifier is perfect.

Speaker 1: 36:10

Then the verifier is absolutely perfect for that, absolutely, absolutely. I just want to point that out because that's a common argument that you hear. Want to point that out because that's a common argument that you hear. You you'll see it in all of the low voltage communities, low voltage nation um tech, telecom technicians, tkw, they all, they all had the same arguments. You know, you know I don't want to use a certifier. You know what?

Speaker 3: 36:31

I went to home depot in this, this name brand. I'm not gonna throw any brands on them because I got lots of them myself. This one says I got one to eight. Look, all the lights are lighting up. Okay, well, that shows continuity. I could do that with a meter that I have in my pocket. Exactly the same thing, right, that's not what. And that comes to the, the electricians, high voltage don't understand low voltage stuff because the crosstalk and noise on the line, right, it, yeah, it's got continuity, but that all that's doing is sending small voltage down there to say you've got a pair that's lit up with an LED on the end, that's all it's doing. Yep, now you put a certifier on there and it goes fail because there's so much AC line voltage.

Speaker 1: 37:06

Right, Because the cable, the cable's laying on top of a fluorescent light fixture, right?

Speaker 3: 37:11

Oh no, it's even worse, the electrician put the wire in. There wire staple was the cat six and the and the AC line together in the same room, so they're like millimeters apart. So what?

Speaker 1: 37:21

what you're not supposed to staple? High performance data cabling.

Speaker 3: 37:23

No, no, no, Zip, tie them all together all the way up the wall.

Speaker 1: 37:28

Oh, there's another hot topic Zip ties versus Velcro. Not getting into that today, not getting into that, all right. So my third tool. So technically, that puts us at six tools already. My third tool is some type of a cable stripper. Right, you can use the snips for stripping cable, although in today's world, best practice, you're not supposed to.

Speaker 3: 37:49

So that depends on what kind of cable. If you're stripping speaker wire, who cares really? Or 16-2, maybe for a light fixture, maybe okay, because you can't dent it.

Speaker 1: 38:00

Make sure I clarify this, because there's more than one kind of cable stripper out there, right, I'm not talking about the ones that got the little notches in. I'm talking about the one that you can strip UTP, stp and coax right. And again, they're cheap. You can buy them for under $20. There's some you can get for under $10. And the reason I recommend this for the new person is because the new person there's a lot of tech technicians that will use their snips to strip the wire right. The issue with doing that is, if you dig in too deep, you're going to scar the conductor. That's called a shiner, and you don't see that when you do the termination. But what happens is, once you scarred that copper conductor, once you terminate, and then you push that faceplate back into the wall.

Speaker 3: 38:45

It breaks, yeah, and then you got no continuity. Then you're finding out did it, was it?

Speaker 1: 38:47

that and that broke, or is it this and that? Broke and then you're wasting keystones and time not, not for a technician who's been doing this for like 20 years and they've always used nips. You've developed the muscle memory. Okay, I'm fine with that, but the brand again. This conversation is geared towards the person who's flipping hamburgers. Two weeks ago they haven't developed it.

Speaker 3: 39:04

He's watching you do it, thinking it's easy to do, and then just doesn't realize.

Speaker 1: 39:07

Right. So the wire strippers, what they're going to do is they've got that little metal blade and some of you can actually even adjust the blade for different thicknesses I thicknesses. I have one right here that I'll show you. Yeah, yeah. So so you only scar the conductor. You never scar the dielectric on the conductor. You'll never have an issue.

Speaker 1: 39:27

And some of the new manufacturers because the correct way of using snips and I know there's a lot of guys out there don't do this is, after you lightly scar it, you bend it to here it's snap right, pull off the jacket. That exposes the conductors and also expose what's called the rip cord. Yeah, take that rip cord and you pull it down the vertical axis and splits the jacket. That exposes the conductors and also expose what's called the rip cord. Yeah, take that rip cord and you pull it down the vertical axis and splits the jacket. You're supposed to peel the jacket back and then cut off that jacket, so that way, where the conductors come out of the jacket, it has never been touched by a tool, right? Yeah, the problem is manufacturers are moving to cables without rip cords.

Speaker 3: 39:59

Yeah, I've seen it um what side is it?

Speaker 3: 40:05

on, because this bag's really oh, it's right here. Well, I, I keep putting it in here, but sometimes I put it on the top, but I know exactly where they are. So this is an adjustable one. So when I go to site and before I start cutting wires I take a piece of wire that's hanging out of the wall that's maybe sometimes too long and I go preset this to all the wires. So I go up there and preset it to make sure it is the the jonard one, I think is 29 or something like that. Because the jack moves around, you can change the blade and it does coax and stuff like that. It's not just four, um, cat five, cat six and stuff like that, but you can adjust it by pushing this up and down, right. So when you do that, you go around once, check it, pull it off. Is it scored? Snap it oh, perfect.

Speaker 1: 40:47

And I always check every one of them to make sure that's a good good practice and the more complex the stripper, the higher the price is going to be. Like I said, 29 is on the higher end of prices for strippers, but it's because you all have all those options. You have all those options.

Speaker 3: 40:59

There's a lot of options that doesn't do just. That's exactly why there are cats and rg40.

Speaker 1: 41:05

Yeah there are other and I'll tell you why I like those better than the generic ones. Because the generic ones they they will have like one strip for cat 6a, one strip for 5e. Right, and the reason they got that is because the outside diameter is different. So the outside diameter 5e on average is 0.18 inches. The outside diameter on a Cat6A cable, depending on the manufacturer, it can be anywhere from 0.23 to 0.357.

Speaker 3: 41:32

So it's a big thing. I find that with this too. So when you put this on top of the wire, if you can go side to side, you get a different piece of wire.

Speaker 1: 41:37

Right, exactly, and you can adjust it down. That's why I like that tool. It's a tiny bit more expensive, but you can adjust it for the different types of cable, the generic ones. It's a generic number and if you get a cable that's a little bit bigger than the average, you might actually cut in a little too deep.

Speaker 3: 41:52

That's right, and you want to be careful with it. Data wires are sensitive.

Speaker 1: 41:56

They are sensitive. I don't know what you're talking about, I'm sorry. All right, so what's your third tool?

Speaker 3: 42:07

I think I'm on my fourth tool. Are you on your fourth tool? I've lost track. I would say I'm going to agree with you with the wire stripper. This and my bag are something I use a lot of. Plus, I use my keystone, or no, my keystone Not this one, it's on the other side.

Speaker 2: 42:23

I flipped it.

Speaker 3: 42:24

It's on this side. Yeah, Keystone or no, my Keystone not this one. It's on the other side. I flipped it, it's on this side.

Speaker 1: 42:30

Yeah, crimper, Well, okay. So the reason I didn't mention those for a new person a new person is not going to be crimping mod ends on when they first start pulling cable. That's going to be a little while. That's why I didn't recommend and that's also why I didn't recommend. You mentioned vertical cable. They have a tool that you can lace out your Keystone jack and then you crimp it and it cuts all the conductors and sits them all the time. That's a little bit more expensive than that traditional 110 tool. That's a tool I would get after I've made the decision that I'm going to stay in this field for a while. Exactly right, the decision that I'm going to stay in this field for a while, Exactly right, Exactly right. So that's what? So that's why I got one too. Actually, in my, in my case, in the back. I should, I should just buy me a tool bag, Cause I got. I got tools in that box. They're tools in this box over here.

Speaker 3: 43:20

We should talk to Jonah and tools and see if we can get you one of these and say hey, let's get Chuck to do it, and then you can do a video on what it's like.

Speaker 1: 43:25

I am vendor neutral. I would absolutely do that. I would absolutely do that. I think that should happen. See, now you need to distract me. Now I forgot what I was saying with my ADD. We were talking about oh, crimpers, they're doing the mass terminations, so vertical cable has one. And then a lot of people don't know this fluke. As a tool that can determine, do the same thing for different types, you got to make sure you have the right one for the type they got, one for leveraging, one for paying to one for other people and all this stuff. That's another one. It's right. I didn't recommend that for the new person right out of the gate because, again, a punch tool is only a hundred dollars, right, and the punch tool can do everything that that one can. It might take you a little bit longer, but it can do everything. But if you decided to stay in the industry and let's say that your company has standardized on vertical cabling, then I would absolutely get one of those.

Speaker 3: 44:14

Yeah, you got to look at what the company uses for a standard, cause you don't want to go buy tools. Aren't going to work at the company standard products? Are they a Levington only? Okay, well then you need to adapt to their tools and what they're going to use. If they're going to be using vertical cable or any other brand. Right, right, exactly right.

Speaker 1: 44:29

For example, if they've decided Belden is because companies do this right, they'll enter into professional relationships with different types of connectivity manufacturers. So you might be working for a company that all the and I don't want to say all the majority of what they do is Belden, right. Well then you're going to want tools that work well with Belden cabling. That's right If they, if they're using Panduit, then you're going to want to use. You know, panda's got lots, lots of cool little tools and stuff that you can get. So you want to make sure that relationship that they've established with whatever connectivity manufacturer.

Speaker 3: 45:08

Right, yeah, yeah, I think it comes down to when you're a junior. We'll see your junior because you're learning. Look around and see what the other guys are using, ask questions. Can I try that tool? What does it do? How does it work? Learn, and if you're going to buy a tool you got, and if you're going to buy a tool, you gotta think to yourself is this tool going to make me money in this job or do I need to go and buy this tool? Right, I think. Which tools do I need the beginning and can I afford to buy the top quality? Or should I just buy the basic, lower end tool to get me going to see if I'm going to if it's going to be a good tool, and invest in stuff like that?

Speaker 3: 45:41

yeah, yeah absolutely in the beginning. You don't want to go and spend $3,000 on tools the first day of work.

Speaker 1: 45:45

Exactly, I don't like this job. Yeah, well, if you've been in the industry for 20 years, that makes sense to have that kind of investment in your tools, yeah, but brand spanking new when you haven't decided yet, like I said, just kind of feel your way out until you make that mental decision. I love this Because, let's be honest, some people the low voltage installation world used to be a springboard to go to a different career path. So what I mean by that is there was a lot of people who they want to become a PBX engineer or they want to become a network engineer. Well, a lot of companies won't hire you right out of the gate unless you know somebody. So what they'll do is they'll go work for a cable company putting in cable and then get exposure to that equipment and then they'll use that as a springboard to become a PBX engineer or a network engineer.

Speaker 1: 46:31

Now you're starting to find, because of all the cool stuff that we're doing as an industry, like single-pair Ethernet, power over Ethernet, fault-powered managed systems, building automation, stuff our industry is becoming really hot right now. So a lot of people are like, no, I want to go back to doing cabling. Yeah, and, let's be honest, pulling cable, terminating cable, testing cable is a lot less complex than trying to figure out. You know a port on a switch and how to set it up and why it's not working. Because you got it set on one setting wrong on the one end, or at least for me it is. I find it a lot easier to figure out, you know hey because I'm an IT technician.

Speaker 3: 47:13

I understand both aspects, so that's why I like it. But some guys don't want to dive into learning how to program a switch. They want an out of the other parts of it.

Speaker 1: 47:24

Yep. So my final recommendation tool recommendation. And actually I literally just changed this five seconds ago because I had a tool in my head, because you know, when you and I talked about doing this show, I didn't really pick the tools until we sat down and started recording. Again, that's just how I do things, right. So what I recommend and again, this is going to be a cheap tool. I mean when I say cheap, it's going to be under $25.

Speaker 1: 47:52

Either a torpedo level or it's actually a torpedo level. I was going to say the box, the templates, like Genard has them. It looks like a work box but it's got the levels both sides. Then you can do the tracing. You cut out the drive, we'll put in. Yeah, get that too. But if you're going to buy one, buy the torpedo level first, because you can use the torpedo level to make sure that your ladder rack is level. You can use the torpedo to make sure that your two post rack is straight up and down. You can use the torpedo level to make sure that that square that you're going to cut in the wall is actually level.

Speaker 3: 48:28

What's a torpedo level? Is that one of those little small ones?

Speaker 1: 48:32

It's a level that's like six inches long or less. That's called a torpedo level. There you go.

Speaker 3: 48:37

See, look at that. I didn't know they were called torpedo levels. Yep, they're called torpedo levels. I've had this thing for 15 years and I haven't lost it. I'm amazed.

Speaker 1: 48:48

There you go. So that's my final recommendation. So I think we actually did more than five tools.

Speaker 3: 48:53

I think we did more than five tools, but those are things that give people options to what they want to buy, because I think all the stuff we just named is probably under $200 per person If they were to go out and buy and shop around for that. So instead of coming to the site with $2,000 of tools, they spent $200.

Speaker 1: 49:15

And here's what this is going to do. This is what this is going to do. If you're the brand spanking new Louisville person and you went out and you spent, I don't even think, except for the expensive one that you showed. I think we're well under $200.

Speaker 3: 49:26

Yeah, the most expensive thing here is the backpack. If we don't bring in my poe pro that's.

Speaker 1: 49:29

That does talk about the po pro. Yeah, so if you're under 200, or well, actually you said that was 129 the uh punch tool was going to be about 100.

Speaker 1: 49:38

I think it's 99, 250 bucks, less than 250 bucks us right? Yeah, you will show up on day one and I'm gonna tell you right now this is what that's going to do for the brand spanking new coming in here. They are going to get respect, yeah, from the, from their lead tech, because the lead tech is like look, this person is showing up prepared. I don't have to loan all my stuff and have to, you know, track my tools, and you're going to get respect from day one and that is going to help build that relationship and that person might take you under the wing and mentor you even more than if they just view you as, oh, you're the guy that just kind of showed up on day one and I had to tell you you can't wear Crocs on a job site.

Speaker 3: 50:20

You can't why. But, I got a heart helmet on. I've got Crocs. I have nothing against Crocs I I wear them on the farm all the time place for those things.

Speaker 1: 50:33

My friend, I do, if I'm, if I'm good, you you know, you know I'm a yeah, I have a farm. So if I'm going out to, like, just feed the goats in the morning or or do some of the changes, I am not going to put on my boots, I'm going to throw on my crocs, go, and then when I come in I can kick them off, because whatever shoes we wear in the pens, we don't wear them in the house, right? So the Crocs, you can kick them off right outside, walk right in, no transference or nothing. So I have Crocs, I have nothing against Crocs, crocs are good shoes.

Speaker 3: 50:58

There's a time and place for everything.

Speaker 1: 50:59

Yes, absolutely so. For those of you who are listening, if you have a suggestion for a tool that somebody brand spanking new should buy that you think we missed, you're screaming at us all the time, Chuck. What about this, Jason? What about that? Put it in the comments below. Put it in the comments below. Let us know.

Speaker 3: 51:18

Yeah, yeah, exactly right, and then maybe we could do another video and we'll go. What is your favorite tool, no matter what the price is, that you buy, that you use on a daily or regular basis?

Speaker 1: 51:28

Maybe we'll do another show of saying what's the most expensive. Well, I can tell you right now what that would be for me. I can tell you too All right, let's do this, all right. All right, you go first. What tool would you buy, no matter what the price is, that you would just love to have?

Speaker 3: 51:44

I would go out and buy a Navitek or the Lan Explorer Pro, a very high-end networking tool. I have a new one coming. I'm not going to spoil it, but I have a new tool that Trend Network's sending me to. The reason for that is because I'm an on-site technician and I barely take my laptop and most of the stuff I'm troubleshooting is is there network connectivity to this port or this system? The tool that the NaviTech that I use? I can plug into the network. I can turn it on and go yes, auto test. I got POE, I got LAN activity, I got an IP address. I got DNS. I can do outbound traffic testing. It does it all in one shot. Which direction am I going to troubleshoot this network? So that would be my favorite 100% right now.

Speaker 1: 52:23

Okay, so mine, if I were to win the lottery and I could just buy any tool that I want, it would be you ready for this? A UCL Swift KF4A Fusion Splicer.

Speaker 3: 52:39

Oh, you got me, you got me. I'm actually trying to get one of those myself, because we all know I'm trying to learn fiber, and I reached out to them and it looks like they're going to send me one to try and play with, because I'm going to show you guys how.

Speaker 1: 52:53

I know how to not do this Right right, right, yeah, yeah, I'm good friends with UCL Swift and uh and uh, I'll tell you I mean I, if, if, if I could, if I could just justify to the wife to take $5,500 out of our savings account and buy one dude, I would have one here on Monday, monday.

Speaker 3: 53:13

They look very, very nice and a lot of guys that I talk to that do high-end fiber splicing would recommend that I mean, you could buy a $1,000 one, it will work. It's not going to be nice, yes.

Speaker 1: 53:26

But the thing I like about the Kf4a is it's all inclusive. You don't need anything else no, it's there, everything's there.

Speaker 2: 53:32

Cutter, stripper, wire, everything it does it all, testing everything?

Speaker 3: 53:35

yes. What would you pair that with, though?

Speaker 1: 53:39

oh, wow, oh, that's a good question you got a fiber.

Speaker 3: 53:42

You got a connection, but now what are you going to use to test to make sure that?

Speaker 1: 53:45

works. So an optical loss test set. Actually, tempo Communications, they make OTDRs and optical loss test sets and they just came out with a brand new thing called a fiber trainer. It's actually going to be on in two weeks. Their show is going to come out in two weeks, okay. So I would buy a power meter from them, because a lot of people don't realize this. They think OTDRs are the best. Otdrs are great tools for troubleshooting. A power meter is more accurate. It's going to measure the actual loss.

Speaker 3: 54:23

I've been learning this and I've been learning this and I've been saying in some of my videos when you're doing fiber, anybody can get light. At the other end, the light is not the problem. So you can use your vfl, you got light. What you want to know is your loss. So just because you got a vfl on there, you're shooting a lot of power and a lot of light through that big deal. But when you're plugging it into something like a um, a transceiver, it doesn't have 60 milliwatts of uh light to go through that. So what is your loss? Your loss is your battle. That's your battle point between you're trying to get a near as you're never going to get it zero loss, but you're trying to get the lowest number right of loss before you can.

Speaker 3: 55:02

You succeeded your job. That's the whole point of loss before you succeeded your job. That's the whole point of Fiverr Yep.

Speaker 1: 55:07

Jason, it's been an absolute pleasure, my friend.

Speaker 3: 55:09

Thank you very much for having me on here. Go like and subscribe both of our channels. Thank you very much for having me, my pleasure. I apologize for the sun coming in right now because my light's changing, because I'm beside a window.

Speaker 1: 55:19

We gave you more than your money's worth. I know we said five, but we went well beyond that and had some pretty interesting conversations. So, again, if we've missed a tool that you think they should have put it in the comments below. And, as Jason said, make sure you like and subscribe to both of our channels, because you'll get both ends of the spectrum there. It's a great way to learn. Until next time, knowledge is power.

Speaker 2: 55:42

That's it for this episode of today's podcast. We hope you were able to learn something. Make sure to subscribe so you don't miss out on future content. Also, leave a rating so we can help even more people learn about telecommunications. Until next time, be safe.