[CQ-Contest] Network cables

[Bill Coleman]

On 9/23/01 9:19 PM, Bob Naumann - N5NJ at n5nj at gte.net wrote:

>Regarding 100 vs. 10mb - the 10 mb is more economical and is certainly more
>than enough for a home lan environment.

Technically, 100 Mb Ethernet requires a higher qualify of cable (cat 5). 
However, I have wired my house entirely with unlabeled 4-pair wire (I got 
it surplus when a business re-arranged their offices and tore out all 
their existing network and phone wiring). I run 100 Mb with NO errors or 
dropped packets. Not even when I am transmitting. Note that I don't own 
an amplifier, so that may help.

The price difference between cat 3 (10 Mb) and cat 5 (100 Mb) cable is 
small. Wiring for 100 Mb gives you an option to upgrade. 

The price of the network adapters (if your computer doesn't have built-in 
support, which many modern units do), is under $50 for 10/100 Mb 
Ethernet. You can't even buy 10 Mb cards any more -- they aren't worth 
enough to sell. If you know someone who supports a big IT department, you 
might be able to get 10 Mb cards for free as they swap them out of 
services for 10/100 Mb.

Another alternative is to consider wireless 802.11b Ethernet such as that 
available from Lucent, and remarketed by Apple, Farrallon, WaveLAN and 
others. With no wires, it cannot pick up RF....

Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL        Mail: aa4lr at arrl.net
Quote: "Not within a thousand years will man ever fly!"
            -- Wilbur Wright, 1901


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