The day had more than one main events.
1) major wiring in the den.
2) washer and dryer
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I decided to take further advantage of all these wires that I have in the walls and eliminate, as much as possible, the wires lying on the floor of the closet and running under the shelves. Success !
First the TV. That was easy. Use one of the coax cables coming out of the wall, find the corresponding one on the patch panel, connect ... good to go. Scratch one cable.
Next the telephone. Add connector to wire coming out of wall and to wire in closet, add to patch panel, done.
Next the old big dish. Cut the wires. That was the easiest !
Lastly, the two wires that run to the Xplornet modem. That took some time ...
George has already read most of the following, since I was exchanging emails with him.
I
cut the coax that was lying on the floor, figured out which one was being used
for ground and which for signal, cut the cables close to the modem, essentially
using them as patch cables to the wall connectors etc. etc. Then at the patch
panel, used small coax patch cables that I'd purchased in 2005 when I bought all
this $hit along with all the wall plates, connectors, patch cables, 24 port
switch (yeah, I know that this is more hobbyist than needed because everything
is wireless now, but what the heck.)
Well, after a
suitable pause, turned the modem back on -- it "likes" about 10 minutes to reset
the service at the other end. Over and over and over again, the modem
is scanning, ranging, and then back to scanning. The IFL exclamation point is
on and off, meaning that there's some link problem. I retested the cables with
my ohm meter to ensure that I've got the right thing connected to the right
thing, and still not connected. I did something else, leaving the modem off for
20 minutes, same result. Rats. I hope I don't have to call for service because
that could take a month !
So ... perhaps
there's some connection problem and it doesn't like something ... so I made up a
20' cable and connected the ends together -- bingo -- scanning, ranging, ranged,
network entry, dhcp ... online. Interesting though, with a couple more
connectors in between, the attenuation is now slightly higher, acceptable
though. Huh. Ok, let's try this again using that new 20' cable that I just
made connecting the two places on the patch panel rather than the pre-made-up 1'
cable. Bingo, connected right away. Amazing -- the issue was the short
"video grade" (I guess) pre-made-up cable. So I made my own 2' cable and we're
connected again. Whew.
When it's very cold,
I get IFL issues (Inter Facilities Link) with the cabling between the cottage
and the dish. When it's wet, the attenuation soars, from a "normal"
10.something or at least in that range, to the mid-20's.
The attenuation is now 0.7 db. Why ? What's happened
to affect that number in a positive way ? It's fluctuating in the range of 0.3
and 0.7.
Perhaps I don't even
need that 1000' of high grade direct burial cable that is now awaiting me in
Reading ?
The Home Depot "RG6U
Quad Shield", which I've got everywhere, specifically says, when you read the
fine print -- not for direct burial, not for wet locations. I hadn't read the fine print before, thinking,
erroneously, that "U" meant underground. Nope. George figures that it means "utility".
The new stuff will
be heavy, NOT copper clad steel core (solid copper), and it has an attached
heavy ground wire as well as, obviously, the shield ground. I'll be interested
in seeing what it's like. I've also purchased a bag of waterproof connectors
and I already have the tool to install those. Seems to me that I'll have both
sets of wires in place and see what's providing the better connection when we're
here at Christmas and it's -30. I'll also be interested in seeing what happens
to my new low attenuation number when it's wet again.
So this morning, the attenuation is still running under 1.0. Late yesterday when we got some heavy rain, it went up over 1.0, so the "wet effect" is still there but not affecting the signal as much.
There's something weird going on because doing some searching, people seem to report attenuation numbers in the 10 range, like mine was. However, those tend to be people with connection questions, so perhaps a low number is more normal ? It really doesn't make sense that swapping 20' of direct cable for a few connectors and cables in the wall would improve the attenuation that much, unless there was some noise being picked up / induced into the wiring when it was lying on the floor. I would have expected a slight increase in attenuation, rather than a decrease.
... and that's the end, for now, of the cabling story.
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It was time to do something about the existing washer and dryer, before the delivery man arrived. Disconnecting was easy -- plugs and vents -- and then I hauled the dryer up to the barn with the hand truck. The washer was something else, since it's very heavy. Sandy helped with that one and we took it one-step-at-a-time up the "stairway to heaven" as my Grandmother used to call it - the concrete stairs up to the level of the driveway. I pulled/lifted with the hand truck and Sandy lifted from below. We got there, eventually, but going up is definitely harder than going down !
I also unhooked the drain plumbing for the sink and moved it up against the wall.
The delivery guy didn't come until mid afternoon and didn't look very happy. He said that most of his deliveries are in North Bay. At any rate, I helped him (he was by himself) get the things down the stairs using his hand truck and into the laundry room. That was, in many ways, the easy part.
With the delivery truck on its way, we unpacked the units and first muscled the washer into place, supply and drain hoses and AC plug connected. I then ran a "rinse and spin" but had to stop that in progress because the drain was partly disconnected at the sink ... duh.
The dryer comes with a steam feature and has a hose dongle / splitter to connect it to the water supply. That worked well. With both appliances muscled into place, we were ready for the next step but had to go into town first.
I needed a couple of 1.5" ABS couplings to extend the drain to the new location of the sink. Sandy came along because she wanted to check with Buchanan's for broccoli plants. They didn't have anything, only seeds, so she picked those up. I also picked up the mail and some milk. Just down from the General Store, which is still operational, thank goodness, is a guy who sells homegrown veggies and plants. She found some broccoli there and will plant those today.
Back home, I connected the drain which was a pain. I moved the dryer out part-way and worked behind while Sandy helped from the front, handing me stuff like a doctor and nurse in the operating room. Saw, pipe fittings, tape measure, saw again, abs glue etc. etc. That done, I gave it a rest or let the glue set, you choose.
It's a tight connection, my fault. I had a hard time getting the trap to seal because it must be slightly out of line but eventually I got there. I was able to finish that rinse & spin and then Sandy did some towels. What a difference between the old units and these !
They don't go as far back to the wall as the old ones and they do look a bit funny as a result. I'll put a removable shelf behind the units and the sink at some point to give it a finished look. Later ...
Somewhere in there we had steak for dinner, from the freezer. Beans, potato (Sandy), rice mixture (me), green beans and sauteed mushrooms completed the picture.
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Today's activites depend on the weather. I should go for a bike ride and I should do some packing. Tomorrow we'll have to finish packing and Monday we leave for Reading, or at least that's the plan.
Onward ...
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